So I've just finished up my first complete PCB board. The layout is 4-layer based, set up as ((1*2)*(15*16)) —not sure if it should be ((1+2)*(15+16)) or ((1*2)+(15*16)) instead, please advise— and uses a power- and ground-plane as layers 15 and 2, respectively. This was a layout that was recommended in a blog post from Autodesk EAGLE, so I figured that'd be the way to go — however, it failed to mention the aforementioned syntactic setup — on that note; should I specify the depths, or is this determined by the manufacturer? Furthermore it has all components atop, and only out of necessity I route signals through via's, as recommended.
I need help with the remaining problems; the ground and power planes do indeed show up and I've verified the connections where appropriate, so the polygons have poured copper in the correct places. Although, EAGLE still complains about air wires on every single power and ground connection — these show up as direct errors, so how do I fix this?
With the respect to the wiring I'd also like to ask if my clearance is good enough. I had to lower the clearance distance to get signals out to pin headers among other things (see attached image). The default (and only used) net class has been set to a width of 10mil, drill of 20mil and clearance of 6mil.
Are there other things I need to consider or check? Please advise. I hope you have a lot of great feedback on this matter so I can patch this thing up and order my very first PCB 😀
Hope to hear from you guys soon, and thanks in advance — have a good one! 😀
Best Answer
I've finally figured out why Eagle isn't happy with me; the air wires are a complete brainfart — sorry! Obviously SMD component don't punch through to those layers, and thus have to be routed. Taking a break from things allows one to see such things a lot clearer, and I had been working tirelessly for two days straight — haha! :D
Any further comments and advice on finishing up the board is welcome! Thanks! :D