What Does A PCB Engineer Do?

May 19, 2025

What does a PCB engineer do?

PCB engineers are mainly responsible for the design of PCB circuit boards and related debugging work. Specifically, a PCB engineer is a professional technician who designs PCBS, tracks the PCB manufacturing and SMT processes, resolves related technical issues, and creates and maintains standard PCB packaging libraries and standard wiring modules. The following are the specific responsibilities and job requirements for PCB engineers:

PCB design: Based on the circuit schematic diagram and functional requirements, use EDA (Electronic Design Automation) tools to design the layout and routing of the PCB.

Package library production: Produce and maintain component package libraries to ensure the accurate placement and connection of components on the PCB.

SI/PI simulation: Conduct signal integrity (SI) and power integrity (PI) simulation analysis to optimize PCB design to meet the requirements of high-speed signal transmission and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC).
PCB board delivery: Submit the designed PCB files to the board manufacturer for production, and track the progress and quality of the board delivery.

Testing and Verification: Test and verify the fabricated PCBS to ensure they meet the design requirements and functional specifications.

Technical support and assistance: Provide technical support and assistance in PCB design for the project, and solve technical problems in design and production.

Document writing: Write PCB design documents, test reports, user manuals, etc.

What does PCB mean?

What is a high-speed and high-frequency PCB board?

PCB (Printed Circuit Board, printed circuit board), because it is made by electronic printing technology, is called a "printed" circuit board. PCB circuit boards are hidden in various IT and electronic devices, ranging from servers to smart terminals, from electric vehicles to satellite communications, serving as the "carrier" for signal transmission and connecting hundreds or even thousands of components.

Generally speaking, high-speed and high-frequency PCB boards refer to printed circuit boards with frequencies above 1GHz. This definition may vary in the industry. Its various physical properties, precision and technical parameters have extremely high requirements, and it is often used in communication systems, automotive ADAS systems, satellite communication systems, radio systems and other fields.

Furthermore, in addition to the radio frequency system, a device also has a digital processing and interface section. Driven by consumers' various demands for faster Internet connections, mobile high-definition video and the Internet of Things, high-speed and high-frequency PCB boards must also support the demand for high-speed digital data transmission. Commercial applications such as IoT, 5G and big data centers, as well as an increasing number of personal applications, are constantly refreshing the requirements for the speed of digital communication systems. According to statistics, the bandwidth of high-speed digital systems almost doubles every three years driven by data rates, as shown in the following table.

What are the important parameters of high-speed and high-frequency PCB boards?

The production process of high-speed and high-frequency PCB boards is basically the same as that of ordinary PCB boards. The key to achieving high frequency and high speed lies in the properties of the raw materials, that is, the characteristic parameters of the raw materials. The main material of high-speed and high-frequency PCB boards is high-frequency and high-speed copper clad laminate, and its core requirements are to have a low dielectric constant (Dk) and a low dielectric loss factor (Df). In addition to ensuring a lower Dk and Df, the consistency of Dk parameters is also one of the important factors in evaluating the quality of high-speed and high-frequency PCB boards. In addition, another important parameter is the impedance characteristics of the PCB board and some other physical properties.

How to measure the parameters of high-speed and high-frequency PCB boards and materials?

Just now we mentioned that the production process of high-frequency and high-speed PCBS is basically the same as that of ordinary PCBS, and its characteristic parameters mainly depend on the characteristic parameters of the PCB materials. Therefore, to produce high-speed and high-frequency PCB boards that meet the requirements, in addition to adopting the corresponding processes, it is more important to use suitable PCB synthetic materials. Therefore, as PCB manufacturers, R&D and design personnel must first test the materials of the PCB to confirm the characteristic parameters. Before making the sample, the high-speed and high-frequency PCB board is modeled through design simulation software, and the characteristic parameters are fitted to generate the sample of the PCB. Then, the sample is verified and tested, and continuously iterated. Only after meeting the requirements can mass production be carried out. During the mass production process, high-speed and high-frequency PCB boards are tested by random inspection or full inspection as needed.

The testing stage in the high-frequency and high-speed PCB manufacturing process

As a provider of PCB materials, it is necessary to understand the characteristics of one's own materials and formulate the characteristic parameter specifications of the provided materials for customers to confirm whether they can meet the requirements of the customers' PCB characteristics. Therefore, it is necessary to test the raw materials by oneself. These materials include various corrugated cloth materials and various resin materials or synthetic copper clad laminates, etc.