A working reference for electronic and hardware engineers: size the board, plan the layer stackup, pick the laminate, and get trace, via, copper and clearance numbers that hold up at fabrication. Built by the engineers behind PCBSync.
Set your layer count, board size, copper weight and target impedance. The stackup redraws live and the readouts flag anything that will slow a fab quote down.
The base material sets your thermal headroom, signal loss and cost floor. For most control boards FR-4 is the right answer — reach for the others only when the design forces it.
Glass-epoxy laminate that covers the vast majority of control, logic and power-supply boards. Cheapest to fabricate and stocked everywhere.
Same family, tougher resin. Survives lead-free reflow, hot enclosures and boards that dump heat — motor drivers, PSUs, automotive.
Aluminium or copper base with a thin dielectric. Pulls heat straight out of high-current and LED loads where FR-4 would cook.
Low-loss, stable-Dk laminates for RF front-ends and multi-GHz links. Specify only when signal loss actually drives the design.
Bendable substrate for wearables, hinges and tight enclosures. Combine with rigid sections for rigid-flex assemblies.
Not the base, but it decides solderability and shelf life. Match the finish to your assembly and fine-pitch parts.
The details that separate a board that works from a board that gets re-spun — trace, hole, layer, copper and clearance, in plain terms.
Width sets how much current a copper trace carries before it overheats. Rule of thumb on 1 oz outer copper: about 0.5 mm per 1 A at a 10 °C rise. Double the copper weight to shrink the trace or push more current.
Standard vias sit around 0.3 mm drill with a 0.6 mm pad. Going smaller means laser or blind/buried vias and a higher quote. Stitch power and ground planes with multiple vias to cut resistance and inductance.
Put a solid ground plane next to every signal layer so return current has a clean, low-impedance path directly beneath the trace. It is the single biggest lever on EMI and signal integrity — worth adding layers for.
Flood unused area with ground copper, but don't leave floating islands — tie every pour to the ground net with vias. Keep copper balanced top-to-bottom so the panel doesn't warp during reflow.
Signal spacing can be tight, but mains and high-voltage nets need real clearance and creepage distance to prevent arcing. Widen the gap as voltage climbs and keep high-voltage sections physically separated.
Place bypass capacitors right at each IC power pin with the shortest possible via to the plane. Keep sensitive analog away from switching regulators and route crystals tight with a ground guard.
The order that keeps a control-board project moving without expensive back-tracking.
Capture the circuit, assign parts and lock the net list before any layout.
Fix layer count, board outline and laminate using the planner above.
Group by function, seat connectors and thermals, plan the power path first.
Route power and criticals, fill ground, then run DRC against fab rules.
Export Gerbers & drill, confirm the stackup, and send it to be built.
When your stackup is settled, move from planning to a real design service and a fabrication house.
Hand off schematic capture, layout and stackup engineering to the PCBSync design team, or use their tooling to finish your own control board.
Go to PCB Design FabricationSend finished Gerbers to RayPCB for prototype and production fabrication and assembly across the material and layer options covered here.
Go to PCB fabricationTell us about your control board — layers, size, materials, quantities. The PCBSync engineering team will get back to you with a design or fabrication path.