Where can I find a good online PCB design course? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: m4l490n
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: April 30, 2015, 03:19:43 pm
content: Hello everybodyI'd like to know where can I find a good online PCB design course? I'm looking for a complete course not just a tutorial and it does not matter if it costs money since I'm aware that this kind of knowledge is difficult to find for free. I have design simple to medium complexity PCBs from 1 to 4 layers but I need to learn how to properly design complex PCBs.I need to learn how to properly design high speed PCBs for microprocessors like the iMX6 with speeds from 800MHz to maybe 2GHz with depending on the model. Also I need to design PCBs for FPGAs and circuits with digital and analog circuitry mixed, I mean on the same PCB.I know some rules for designing PCBs and I had been having success until now. I tried to design a PCB with digital and analog circuitry but I think it did't went well because is giving me trouble.Also I need to design some FPGA based PCB wit external SDRAM and since these components are BGA we are talking about a 6 maybe 8 layer PCB I think.I heard once about a person that used to design PC motherboards that has an online course but I can't find the site.Any way can someone point me in the right direction?Regards.

author: HighVoltage
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 30, 2015, 03:28:07 pm
content: A few years ago I looked for the same thing and could not find anything good that would have fit my needs.I was surprised, because there are tons of good coursed for mechanical CAD software packages, like Solidworks and AutoCad and they are not cheap. One would think that there is a market for such courses for layout and schematic software.

author: Warhawk
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 30, 2015, 05:36:47 pm
content: Quote from: m4l490n on April 30, 2015, 03:19:43 pmI found this couple weeks ago:http://www.fedevel.com/academy/schematic-pcb-design-course-online/but have no Idea about the quality.

author: John_ITIC
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 03, 2015, 09:56:24 pm
content: I'd recommend reading books:1)http://www.thehighspeeddesignbook.com/This book (volume 1 & 2) is absolutely gold for actually designing the PCB.2) Howard Johnson's books ("Black magic")https://www.sigcon.com/This is good for actually designing proper transmission lines (pre-route).Overall, high-speed PCB design is all about maintaining a proper (characteristic) impedance of traces in combination with proper signal termination. Then, you have the issues involved with power distribution design (power supplies and the power planes required to support ripple-free voltage/current to the circuitry). This will bring you into the domain of Hyperlynx and other software. Of course, there are limitations what can be manufactured for a reasonable cost; the #1 book above covers much of the practical stuff.Also check out Amazon.com for "Signal integrity" and "power integrity". There are a bunch of books on the subject.Your board design software hopefully has good documentation. I know Altium Designer comes with a gold-mine worth of PDFs that explains much of what is needed. The key is to read, read, read until you know nothing additionally is needed to do your board.../John.

author: Wilksey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 03, 2015, 10:50:18 pm
content: The Fedeval course might be your best route, as Robert Feranec has some fantastic YT videos, and i'm sure if you contact him (he is on this forum as: robertferanec) he will point you in the direction of the correct course to take, and I believe he makes the courses on that website, it will be in Altium designer, but Altium use HIS designs as their material! Just type in "Altium Tutorial" on YT to find him, he has some really good content.HTH

author: Hansh
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: May 18, 2015, 07:11:14 am
content: I have seen a web: electroniccircuitsdesign.com that specialized in dealing with Electronic Circuits Design question, it offers various circuit projects including circuit diagrams, materials, articles, tutorials and ideas for design digital and analog circuits projects. You can come and have a see.

author: Alex Eisenhut
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 19, 2015, 11:18:13 pm
content: http://frontdoor.biz/HowToPCB/HowToPCB-PageOne.htmlSeems pretty complete to start, but you might want to override that font...

author: mrpackethead
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 19, 2015, 11:51:17 pm
content: I found this couple weeks ago:http://www.fedevel.com/academy/schematic-pcb-design-course-online/but have no Idea about the quality.Amazing. Best money you will spend on Altium Training. Don't waste your time and money on the Altium Courses.

author: kaveendra
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: May 20, 2015, 02:33:34 am
content: Not sure about online courses, but its worth reading some books! I would suggest "Designing Circuit Boards with EAGLE", among other books. The knowledge you acquire from this is not limited to Eagle, but to any CAD for circuit design. This may cover general needs on micro-controller stuff.If you are aiming particularly on high-speed signal design, then you may need to read few additional stuff, such as impedance matching, EMI effects etc which can play a big role messing a PCB design in terms of signal quality, timing, cross talk etc. That would cover mostly on scholar articles, reviews etc., which drags you more into academia.

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 20, 2015, 03:55:43 am
content: In Dave's wiki:http://www.eevblog.com/wiki/index.php?title=Online_Electronics_Tutorials_and_Books

author: kaveendra
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: May 20, 2015, 04:59:39 am
content: This can be a course in its own righthttp://www.alternatezone.com/electronics/files/PCBDesignTutorialRevA.pdf

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 20, 2015, 07:55:14 am
content: Quote from: m4l490n on April 30, 2015, 03:19:43 pmIt sounds like you aren't interested in learning which button to push in a specific CAD tool, rather you are interested in general principles as applied to specific types of ICs. Good.A couple of points...The maximum frequency is dictated by the edge transition time, not the clock rate. For a given technology, the highest frequency in a 1Mb/s signal is exactly the same as in a 1Gb/s signal.For FPGAs the general principles are still applicable, but to understand what they mean for a specific ic, you will have to look at the manufacturer's app notes. These will contain very specific information about decoupling capacitors, trace lengths, land patterns etc etc.

author: Josephine85
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: July 29, 2015, 11:21:16 am
content: have you ever tried the webinars or on-site-trainings of cadsoft eagle? find it here:http://www.cadsoftusa.com/training-service/I´ve done such a webinars, works out for me. but i didn´t know if there are any actual webinars scheduled, seems not. but you can have a look in the next weeks.or did you already find what you were searching for?

author: DutchGert
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 30, 2015, 07:31:33 am
content: Quote from: mrpackethead on May 19, 2015, 11:51:17 pmAmazing. Best money you will spend on Altium Training. Don't waste your time and money on the Altium Courses.Quality is indeed amazing. I did the Advance PCB ayout course (http://www.fedevel.com/academy/online-advanced-pcb-layout-course/) as research for my first DDR3 design and it is very good. Highly recommend it!