What type of components do you have on your board?  Maybe you can shrink your design by using smaller parts and more integrated parts.  The cost of the parts maybe higher but the final cost of the whole PCB maybe lower because you may need less layers.  When we have problem with space, we use FPGA or CPLD to pack as much logic as possible, resistor network,...

hope this help and happy Steve's day for tomorrow.



Yvon Hache
Design Engineer
Concept + Inc.

T: 506-863-2467
F: 506-858-4075
[log in to unmask]
www.concept-plus.com

>>> Dennis Ward <[log in to unmask]> 02/18 10:19 am >>>
Good morning,

I was hoping some of you experienced PCB designer would
share a few pearls of wisdom with me.

Our design team is ramping up for our next design and
there are some real concerns if everything will fit on the
board.

When a design is first initiated how do you determine the
proper amount of space versus layer count??
Right now we are using a 16.5 X 11.2 board, populated
both sides. Right now we're hoving at 10 -12 layers per
board. Is there some formula, methodology, metric, etc,etc
that actually works??

Right now would would like to keep the 16.5 X 11.2 size,
but if the board becomes so packed that it becomes a
nightmare to manufacture there is no gain in keeping
our current size.

thanks for the help
Dennis

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