Responsibilties of Layout person

[gujju73]

Guys,

I read almost all the threads in this forum, but still can't figure it out clearly that the responsibilities for the Layout people.

Do they have to decide on which component to be use ? I guess schematic will be provided to layout person and all they have to do is arrange the parts ( layout ) and build the interconnections.

Then again question is who takes care of schematics and so on.

See if you guys shade some lights on responsibilities from start ( concept design ) to end ( PCB fab ).

Thanks,

 

[Johnson]

Sch and PCB are not seperated, and note that PCB design is teamwork!

 

[gujju73]

Thanks for update, but now how would I generate schematic.
I mean what information should I have.

I believe all I will have is the block diagram of major part. If that's the case then who will decide about the PLL, By pass caps, Stitching CAPS and so on..

 

[Rame]

Hi Gujju,

Well,it depends again,in some cases circuit designer ( hardware designer) hand overs the final schematic to you,from where you need to generate the netlist and proceed component placement,routing etc..Nevertheless,i do have Pcb designer folks,who captures the Schematic and the inputs is given by the Circuit Designer(Hardware Designer) themself.

Remember the Pcb designer responsiblity may/may not to capture schematics.

But then,circuit designer responsiblity is to give the part,data sheet details,before implementing both in schematic and pcb,since he is the one who works on the project and would be knowing the part specifications better than anyone.In most of the cases,circuit designer will give the inputs to the Pcb Designer about the part(components) to be implemented in the design.

Moreover,he can always ask his component engineer to do the testing for the component against the specification provided by him.

Hope you understood.

Warm Regards

Ramesh

 

[gujju73]

Great !!! Thank Ramesh...

Please see below.. Edit / Add your thoughts..

Circuit designer : Concept Design, Logic Diagram, Block Diagram, Schematic Capture, Design for Test ( DFT )
Component Engineers : Part Search ( as per requirement of Circuit Designer)
PCB Designer : Schematic Capture, PCB Layout, Netlist and Gerber Generation
Mechanical Engineers : Thermal Design, Mechanical Design, Assembly Design

 

[mhtplsh]

I will divide this into two.
1) Electronics design : Starts from concept to prototype. Here circuit designer with pcb designer work together.
2) Mechanical design. : final mechanical design as per the requirement of the product for marketing including asthetics.

 

[buenos]

is it impossible to find a job where i can design sch AND pcb for complex, high-speed hardware? i mean both.

i already have one, but what f i want to change to another company? will i have to give up one of the areas? does any big company exist where its possible?

 

[verg]

The Circuit Designer usually initiate the capture of the schematic until it is ready for board layout. Interim changes after that is a team work. Some Circuit Designer do the changes or just directs the layout person to do it for him. So, updating the schematic is a colaboration between the designers after. Both should at least check that the schematic and layout sync after.....and that is a must....

 

[Rame]

Hi,

As verg says its team work,the schematic is always initiated by the circuit designer,he may capture the schematic himself or pcb designer may help him to do that,it again depends upon the circuit designer with whom ur working,in my case the circuit designer is responsible to give me the final schematic,from there on, its my responsiblity to take it forward.

Hope now it is clear.


Regards

Ramesh

 

[gujju73]

So, does it mean that " PCB designer may not be using the schematic capture tool or they don't need to use it" ?

 

[touringmike]

It means what ever you want it to mean.

There are companies that want the design engineer to do it all;
Schematic and board layout, and all supporting documentation.

There are companies that employ 3 + job descriptions to do the same thing;
Design engineer to design the circuit.
Schematic capture designer to document the schematic.
Board layout designer to design the PCB.
Documentation specialist to create Bill of Materials, Assembly and Fab drawings, etc.
I've worked in places that have employed some variation of what is listed above.

It all depends upon the company and how they are structured.

 

[Rame]

Hi Gujju,



The last comment about the company & structure is the right term by touring mike which answers your query....



Hope now you understood

Regards

Ramesh

 

[atul.takbhate]

As explained by Ramesh and touring mike, responsibly may vary depends on depth of project and Capacity of the Layout person.

But Layout person need to use Schematic capture at least to update the Decal/footprint information and netlist generation

Atul