Four-layer stack-up design in PCB Design - Real Business Scenario

Scenario Mode

👤 Your Role: You are a PCB design engineer at an electronics manufacturing company.

📋 Request: Your manager wants a report showing the cost and signal integrity impact of different four-layer PCB stack-up designs to decide the best option for a new product.

📊 Data: You have data on four common four-layer stack-up configurations including layer order, material cost per square inch, and measured signal integrity scores from lab tests.

🎯 Deliverable: Create a dashboard report comparing the four stack-up designs by cost and signal integrity, highlighting the best trade-off option.

Sample Data

Stack-Up ID	Layer Order	Material Cost ($/sq.in)	Signal Integrity Score (1-10)
SU1	Top Signal - Ground - Power - Bottom Signal	0.50	8
SU2	Top Signal - Power - Ground - Bottom Signal	0.48	7
SU3	Top Signal - Ground - Power - Bottom Plane	0.52	9
SU4	Top Plane - Signal - Signal - Bottom Plane	0.55	6

1

Step 1: Load the stack-up data into your BI tool.

Import the sample_data table with columns: Stack-Up ID, Layer Order, Material Cost, Signal Integrity Score.

Expected Result

Data table with 4 rows and 4 columns loaded.

2

Step 2: Create a calculated measure for Cost Efficiency by dividing Signal Integrity Score by Material Cost.

Cost Efficiency = [Signal Integrity Score] / [Material Cost ($/sq.in)]

Expected Result

New measure 'Cost Efficiency' with values: SU1=16, SU2=14.58, SU3=17.31, SU4=10.91.

3

Step 3: Build a bar chart showing Material Cost for each Stack-Up ID.

X-axis: Stack-Up ID; Y-axis: Material Cost ($/sq.in)

Expected Result

Bar chart with 4 bars showing costs: SU1=0.50, SU2=0.48, SU3=0.52, SU4=0.55.

4

Step 4: Build a bar chart showing Signal Integrity Score for each Stack-Up ID.

X-axis: Stack-Up ID; Y-axis: Signal Integrity Score

Expected Result

Bar chart with 4 bars showing scores: SU1=8, SU2=7, SU3=9, SU4=6.

5

Step 5: Build a bar chart showing Cost Efficiency for each Stack-Up ID.

X-axis: Stack-Up ID; Y-axis: Cost Efficiency

Expected Result

Bar chart with 4 bars showing efficiency: SU1=16, SU2=14.58, SU3=17.31, SU4=10.91.

6

Step 6: Create a summary table listing Stack-Up ID, Layer Order, Material Cost, Signal Integrity Score, and Cost Efficiency.

Display all columns and calculated measure in a table.

Expected Result

Table showing all data and calculated Cost Efficiency for easy comparison.

7

Step 7: Highlight the stack-up design with the highest Cost Efficiency as the recommended option.

Identify max Cost Efficiency value and highlight corresponding Stack-Up ID.

Expected Result

SU3 is highlighted as best trade-off with Cost Efficiency 17.31.

Final Result

Four-Layer PCB Stack-Up Comparison Dashboard

Stack-Up ID | Material Cost | Signal Integrity | Cost Efficiency
-------------------------------------------------------------
SU1         | $0.50         | 8                | 16.00
SU2         | $0.48         | 7                | 14.58
SU3         | $0.52         | 9                | 17.31  <-- Recommended
SU4         | $0.55         | 6                | 10.91

[Bar charts displayed for each metric side by side]

✓SU3 offers the best balance of signal integrity and cost with the highest cost efficiency score.

✓SU4 has the highest material cost and lowest signal integrity, making it the least favorable.

✓SU1 and SU2 have moderate cost efficiency but are outperformed by SU3.

Bonus Challenge

Add a filter to the dashboard to allow users to select a minimum acceptable signal integrity score and see only stack-ups meeting that criteria.

Show Hint

Use a slicer or filter control on the Signal Integrity Score column to dynamically update the charts and table.