PCB design combines many of the fundamental concepts in electrical and electronics engineering with a focus on designing a physical product. Why Include PCB Design in Engineering Courses? A PCB design course can help prepare students to tackle both sides of the design and manufacturing equation, ultimately making them more valuable when they enter the workforce. Circuit board design and manufacturing also draws on other areas of engineering beyond electronics. The reality is none of the electronics we enjoy or rely on can work properly if circuit boards are not designed and manufactured correctly. The result is that PCBs are sometimes seen as an overblown way to connect computer chips together. Understandably, the semiconductor industry has taken a place of prominence due to the massive engineering challenges involved in keeping up with Moore’s Law. The PCBs in electronic devices, ranging from smartphones to the home appliances, have to be precisely engineered and carefully manufactured, otherwise products will not work correctly.ĭespite the importance of PCBs in virtually every electronic product released to market today, you’d be surprised at how little the university system has focused on fostering educational programs focusing on printed circuit design and manufacturing. Modern electronics as we understand them today would not be possible without PCBs, and the use of PCBs as packaging for electronic components is not going away any time soon. If semiconductors are like the organs in the human body, then a printed circuit board (PCB) is like the skeleton and vessels that give an electronic device its structure.

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