The eLearning Center for Gatlin Education Services

Overview

This course is targeted at the professional (engineering manager, marketing personnel, purchasing agent, materials engineer, mechanical engineer, new electronics engineer) who is not familiar with printed circuit boards (PCBs) but would like to become familiar with the basics of the process of designing and procuring prototype PCBs.

This course will provide the student with knowledge of the constituent parts of a printed circuit board, PCB design considerations, and the process of procuring prototype PCBs. The student will also be introduced to various vendors that can provide inexpensive or quick-turn PCB prototypes. In addition, the student will also learn the types of design files that are required by those vendors to produce prototypes.

The student must take a multiple-choice quiz consisting of ten (10) questions at the end of this course to obtain PDH credits.

Specific Knowledge or Skill Attained

This course teaches the following specific knowledge and skills:

  · Basic construction of a PCB
  · Types of solder masks, including LPI and screened
  · Silkscreening to facilitate PCB inspection and rework of defective PCB assemblies
  · Traces, lands and holes on a PCB
  · PCB layout software options
  · PCB design considerations, including EMI, component package types, and PCB grouping
  · File types needed for ordering a prototype PCB
  · Design considerations for cost reduction
  · Typical cost and delivery for a PCB, as well as for expedited delivery

State Board Acceptance

This course can be used by professional engineers to fulfill PDH requirements mandated by state and provincial licensing boards. Decatur Professional Development is an approved provider of continuing education in all states that pre-approve course providers. In all other states that mandate continuing education for engineers, it is the individual engineer's responsibility to determine the suitability of activities for PDH credit. The state boards typically accept online* courses that cover technical, managerial** or ethical content and which are relevant to the practice of engineering. The course must have a clear purpose or objective with a content that will maintain, improve or expand the skills and knowledge of the licensee's field of practice. For questions about your mandatory PDH requirements, visit the website of your state licensing board.

*Online courses are accepted by all state licensing boards that mandate continuing education. Other than New York (which limits online courses to 18 PDH) and Iowa (which limits online courses to 6 PDH), there are no limits placed by other states on the number of hours that can be earned through online continuing education. Consult with your state licensing board if you have any questions about the acceptability of online courses.

**The New York State Board of Engineers does not accept general office management courses, but will accept project management courses that are offered by an approved provider and that are technical in nature and contribute to the engineer's professional practice.