Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs)

PCBs are made of core fiberglass material (most commonly FR4) with various layers of copper in which traces connect various components together.

Layers

Complex PCBs such as PC motherboards can have upwards of 14 layers, however PCBs can get as simple as just 1 layer. For keyboards, 2 layers is generally all you need.

Vias

What are PCB vias?

Vias act as pathways between layers, connecting traces and allowing signals to hop from layer to layer. They are important, but should only be used when necessary. I’ll be going over via usage further in depth later.

The below image shows a 6 layer pcb, and how vias connect traces between the layers:

image

Good videos about PCBs (second video is pretty informative)

WIP

  • SMT/D and THT
  • Component “form factors” (packages)
  • Symbols
  • Footprints

Continue:
USB