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BOOSTXL-DRV8305EVM: Changing properties in BOOSTXL-DRV8305EVM gerber file

M.D
Prodigy 200 points
Part Number:

Hi

You shared the gerber file of the BOOSTXL-DRV8305EVM. I want to have this product produced with the given gerber file. You have shared various information about production in the PCB file: Stack layer, Colar, Thickness etc. Changing such information for production prevents the system from working? There may be structures that will affect the performance of the system, but what are the concepts that prevent the system from working when it changes? I am sharing two photos below. Does the chan ge of such structures prevent the system from working?

  • 0
    Prodigy 200 points

    Mucahit Durarslan said:

    Part Number: BOOSTXL-DRV8305EVM

    Hi

    You shared the gerber file of the BOOSTXL-DRV8305EVM. I want to have this product produced with the given gerber file. You have shared various information about production in the PCB file: Stack layer, Colar, Thickness etc. Changing such information for production prevents the system from working? There may be structures that will affect the performance of the system, but what are the concepts that prevent the system from working when it changes? I am sharing two photos below. Does the change of such structures prevent the system from working?

  • 0 in reply to M.D
    TI__Mastermind 18900 points

    Hello Mucahit,

    I'm not sure how to help with your question. If you're asking how "changing the thickness or weight, material, etc. affects actual PCB performance", then you should refer to other sources as we are not PCB manufacturing experts. We can give rule of thumb "more copper thickness and thinner solder mask layers means higher thermal performance as the thermal resistance decreases" but I'd suggest to seek expert advice elsewhere: https://www.altium.com/solution/pcb-copper-thickness 

    However, I'm assuming "Changing such information for production prevents the system from working" means "changing the thickness or weight, material, etc. prevents my software from working". 

    Gerber files do not contain the stack up and board information, intrinsically. It looks like you're importing the gerbers and then selecting the options for PCB stack with a software I'm not familiar with. If this is the case, then this sounds like an import error that I cannot help with as I do not support whatever software you're using. To reiterate, any board thickness information is not contained within gerbers that allows for easy import within the system.

    We have included the stack up information on Mechanical Layer 12. This will show the table you have described. When manufacturing your own board, you can generate your own mechanical layer 12 and repackage the gerbers and give them to the manufacturer. Also, you can speak with the manufacturer directly and outline which gerber files need which thickness.

    If you are using Altium, I was able to import the project and change the layer thickness using the Layer Stack up Manager (PCB View -> Design -> Layer Stack up Manager). In this example I changed the signal layer 1 to 3.5mm thickness as an example:

    Best,

    -Cole

  • 0 in reply to Cole Macias
    Prodigy 200 points

    Thank you for your answer. I have a bad english. You gave a very descriptive answer above. In fact, my main goal is to choose a cheaper production feature instead of the selected production properties in the original gerber file of the product. When making this selection, I don't know which selected production features might prevent the system from working. For me, which of the features in the pictures above and the features selected in the original gerber file prevents the system from working.


    Best regards.

  • 0 in reply to M.D
    TI__Mastermind 18900 points

    Hello Mucahit, 

    I understand, thanks for clarification.

    Here's what I recommend to keep so the system works.

    • Outer copper layers thickness > 1.4 mil (1 oz)
    • Inner copper layer thickness > 1.0 mil (0.5oz < thickness < 1 oz)

    I recommend these because heat dissipation is very important and thicker copper will allow for lower thermal resistance of the board.  

    I can't comment on the dielectric thickness. Because we are not too concerned about EMI, it can be as thin as you are comfortable. As you decrease the dielectric, you are also more likely to have manufacturing problems or increase susceptibility to physical stress. 

    To my knowledge, you can't save money on solder so no recommendations there.

    In general, main costs for manufacturing are reducing the Bill of Materials (which means reducing the schematic), or making the layout more compact so more boards fit on one panel for the manufacturer. As such, you might be able to reduce cost by stripping the EVM of components you don't want and then doing another layout of the board without those components to make it smaller. Most of the essential components are given in the datasheet to guide you of what's actually needed.

    Best,

    -Cole