Automated Printed Circuit Board Development Dec 03-09 Team Members Colin Burnett – CprE & EE Khawaja-Shahzad Butt – CprE Christopher Rieck – EE Christopher Sosnowski – EE Faculty Advisor Dr. Gary Tuttle Client ECpE Senior Design Many ECpE senior design projects require the fabrication of a circuit board. To aid these projects, the focus of this project is to provide documentation on the available choices to obtain a circuit board by means of “do-it-yourself” methods or out-sourcing to a commercial company. The documentation will be in the form of an interactive web site and a printed document and will contain a flow chart and step-by-step instructions. Abstract Estimated Resources Financial Budget and Other Resources Table 1 Introduction Problem Statement To reduce research time spent by other senior design groups on circuit board fabrication by providing documentation on how to fabricate or obtain a circuit board Operating Environment Operating environment to be determined by end user Intended Users ECpE senior design students Intended Uses Guide the user in obtaining or fabricating a circuit board Expected End Product Tutorial and flow chart document: Flow chart for determining which process to use for circuit board fabrication Fully documented procedures for each fabrication process List of commercial circuit board fabricators and their capabilities Interactive website: An online version of the flowchart Assumptions and Limitations Server to host interactive website is sufficient Students have access to web site via the Internet Students are capable of generating a board layout Materials and facilities are available Personal Efforts Figure 1 Proposed Approach and Considerations Proposed Approach Execute each fabrication process and document with digital pictures Create the flow chart from process execution and research Technologies Considered Static vs. dynamic web page languages for the interactive website Available fabrication techniques: milling, wet etch, & commercial fabrication Testing Considerations Test scenarios to check accuracy and correctness of flow chart Use previous senior design projects as additional test scenarios Interactive website results match the flow chart for identical test scenarios Interactive Website Project Schematic Project Requirements Design Objective Concise, non-intimidating, thorough documentation of each process Functional Requirements Provide documentation to help senior design students obtain a circuit board Provide step-by-step instructions to fully explain how to create a circuit board User friendly website Design Constraints No physical constraints Fabrication process complexity Milestones Problem definition Technology and implementation consideration and selection Process design Process testing Process demonstration Process reporting Outsource Easy do-it-yourself steps Desired Circuit Board Summary Many ECpE senior design projects have the need for a circuit board. To save these projects time, effort, and money this project will guide the user to the best decision for their project’s requirements and specifics. To accomplish this important task we will: Research the numerous available methods Document the steps Set up the MRC PCB lab Design & implement an interactive website Provide a document containing full instructions and images to perform each process The interactive website will compliment the document by being more readily accessible and usable. Through this project other senior design projects will be able to focus on their designs and not have to research about obtaining or producing a circuit board. Your Circuit Board Solution Guide