Hi

What is a basic way of designing a PCB where the required tracks hardly fit on a dual sided PCB, let alone a "ground" copper pour? I can add an aluminium sheet under the whole PCB to act as a ground plane, but that still leaves a lot of tracks that hardly fit on the board.

Thanks

 

How about a four layer board?
Maybe if you post a schematic and what you have got on the board so far we can be of more help. Also making the board larger or switching to different packages might help too.

 

multilayer boards, alternate component placement. Lots of vias to transition from 1 side to the other,etc.. The cost of a 4 layer multilayer vs double sided is very minimal..usually

Component placement can make or break a design.. I've had many occasions where I thought I could never run all the traces and then simply moving a few parts made all the difference in the world.

 

I typically pay 76 UK pounds for 4 copies of a 20cm x 15cm, dual layer board, and 4 copies is minimum quantity. I dread to think how much a 4 layer board would cost. A nice technique is to separate sub-circuits and build vertically, and on simpler boards, maybe prototype boards, and keep the main board thus smaller and easier to design too.

Refering to my original post, is there an advantage of using a copper pour ground plane over simply adding a piece of aluminium foil under the board ?

 

Refering to my original post, is there an advantage of using a copper pour ground plane over simply adding a piece of aluminium foil under the board ?

Do you even need a ground plane in the first place is a better question?

 

Refering to my original post, is there an advantage of using a copper pour ground plane over simply adding a piece of aluminium foil under the board ?

That really depends on the circuit in question.