Portable 103 - PCB

Projects / F103 Pod  Original post date:07/18/2018

Maybe this is the one?  I'll procrastinate a little longer and hope to find some fault or better routing than this.

When the lead time is 4+ weeks, a few extra days of thinking over is better than rushing things only to respin again.  I rarely have a board that need a few simple mods to get running.

Here is the top stop mask showing that the buttons pads are indeed free of resist.

Silicon Labs: AN0046.pdf

I won't be able to match impedance due to the lack of space for wide tracks needed. 17cm is a lot of leeway.

I have done skew matching because of skew introduced by routing swap that was needed to match the connector pin orientation.  It was within the limit, but was easy enough to fix.

• Fixed up the stereo connector - a bit shorter with slightly different footprint.
• Fixed up footprint of SPDT switch at the 4 corners.
• Modify 3D model for stereo connector
• Mod footprints to keep silkscreen away from pads.  Don't rely board houses to clean them up.
• Move & resize/thicken Reference Designators away from pads and vias.
• Move text away from vias
• Check for component clearances and buttons in 3D models

This is what it looks like.  I don't have the 3D models of MicroSD connector and special Mini-USB socket.

Board is on order.  Too late to change anything.  :P

I have done enough procrastinations, so at some point I need to send the board out.  I did find a small list of issues that could have caused me a board spin had I rush the layout a few days ago.

The Chinese MP3 player uses 0.6mm PCB. I really don't have much of a choice on the dense PCB, but to go with OSH Park 0.8mm 2oz.   They have 10 mil via for the higher density I need and ENIG (soft gold) for the buttons pads.

It would normally take 2-3 weeks for the 0.8mm PCB to be made and added anywhere between 2-3 weeks for the shipping.  You get the picture.  Lots of waiting again.  Probably not going to see the PCB until after the closing date of this round of the contest.

Here is the order link (untested PCB)

  - do not order this version.
I made a couple of mistakes so far due to stereo connector footprint issues.

It's getting into the tracking hell hole as UPS doesn't list the Canada Post tracking number.

It took about a week for the 0.8mm PCB and another 2 weeks for shipping.