Circuit Board Layout for SMT Power Electronics

Power consumption and heat dissipation have always been critical in PCB Fabrication, but with designs trending smaller each year, and components shrinking to match, these concerns are more important than ever for PCB designers and manufacturers alike. Bittele Electronics has been providing clients with High Quality PCB Fabrication since 2003, and as such we are very familiar with the most important aspects of design for power electronics. This article is intended to help Bittele’s clients manage the layout process and footprint selection for their SMT Power Electronics components in order to maximize quality and efficiency during the PCB Assembly Process.

Bittele provides a variety of options to facilitate an effective high-power PCB, such as PCB Materials with High Temperature and Dielectric Constant. Among these specialty materials are High-Temperature FR-4, as well as Metal-Core PCBs including Aluminum PCBs. We also offer many Heavy Copper PCB options to manage your current-carrying requirements while maintaining a reasonable trace width. We strongly recommend that you check dielectric characteristics, trace width vs. current requirements, and Part Spacing vs. voltage requirements carefully during the design phase of your project.

If you find yourself with any lingering doubts about these characteristics, please feel free to reach out to our PCB Customer Service Experts, and we will be happy to refer you to our engineering team. We are experienced in requirements for specific certifications, such as UL, IPC, and IEC. We also provide a handy PCB Trace Width Calculator on our website for your convenience.

If you choose Complete PCB Assembly with Bittele, we recommend that you make a note in your PCB Design Files to let us know that your design is intended for high power operation. For these applications, we must use water soluble flux, and perform a thorough cleaning operation after PCB Assembly is finished. We use a no-clean flux by default, but any residue left behind on a high-power PCB can cause shorts and even arcing under certain conditions. Since this cleaning process is not a part of our Standard PCB Options, you should expect some additional cost and lead time to be involved. We also recommend that you include the specific voltage and current levels that will be present on the final product in order to help our Quality Management team with the initial DFM Check on your PCB.

If you still find yourself with any questions about Bittele’s requirements and recommendations for power electronics components and high power PCB projects, please feel free to Contact Us any time! You can reach us over email at sales@7pcb.com, or call us toll-free at 1-888-812-1949.

Bittele is a full-service provider of low-cost Canada-Based PCB Assembly solutions. In business since 2003, we have established ourselves as a leader in the PCB production industry, and we offer a variety of tailored solutions to meet your specific needs.

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