Space Qualified PCB Design Techniques

In recent time, because of advancement in chip-technology, PCB designs are undergoing revolutionary changes with respect to the size and weight while increasing the clock speeds on the board. With increasing use of high VLSI density devices like FPGA, ASIC etc., PCB design also becomes more and more dense, complex and challenging. These PCB design challenges include placement and routing of high pin count/fine-pitch components, handling of highly dense interconnections, blind/buried/microvias, electrical issues like Signal Integrity (SI), Power Integrity (PI), Electro Magnetic Compatibility (EMC) and thermal management.

Space-grade PCB encounters more or less same challenges as commercial-grade PCB designs, albeit with minor differences and additional challenges. The process of designing space qualified PCB is very critical and involve stringent design constraints. On the Earth, surrounding atmosphere protects the circuits from Space radiations that can cause a failure in the circuit. The well defined PCB guide lines and procedures have to be followed to meet the objective of a critical Space mission.