Altera Technology

PCB design falls under the Hardware (HW) design category of engineering. It ties in electrical, mechanical, software, systems, test, and manufacturing disciplines to include electrical (ECAD) and mechanical (MCAD) designers.

PCB design requires many inputs and details from multiple disciplines and their respective domains to help define, validate, and produce the final product. An example of these are as follows:

*System level requirement/architecture definition
*Mechanical, Electrical, Software, Systems, and Test requirements/constraints
*Signal Integrity (SI) / Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC), Power integrity (PI) / Thermal analysis
*Design for Manufacturing (DFM) and Producibility guidelines
*Supply chain resilience regarding component sourcing

Reflecting on the original question: “What is PCB design?”, one can see why there is so much that encompasses PCB design and why it requires more than a simple definition. PCB design has evolved into printed circuit engineering of electronic systems design. Simply put, PCB design has become a multi-discipline, multi-domain, process that requires collaboration/integration and digital transformation. Visit our PCB design solutions page to learn more.

Source:
By Stephen V. Chavez
https://blogs.sw.siemens.com/electronic-systems-design/2023/02/15/what-is-pcb-design/

Regards;
MFMA😉