PCB board, integrated circuit module and POS terminal

Abstract

This application relates to a PCB board, an integrated circuit module, and a POS terminal. The PCB board is generally rectangular and has opposing first and second sides, as well as opposing third and fourth sides. A chamfer is provided at the corner where the first and third sides intersect. The PCB board has a front and a back. The front side includes a CPU chip, a memory chip, and a non-volatile memory chip. The CPU chip is approximately located in the center of the front side. The memory chip is adjacent to the CPU chip and located between the CPU chip and the second side. The non-volatile memory chip is located between the memory chip and the third side and is adjacent to the memory chip. Both the memory chip and the non-volatile memory chip are signal-connected to the CPU chip. The chip layout in this design is reasonable and compact, effectively ensuring hardware performance. Both the integrated circuit module and the POS terminal include the aforementioned PCB board.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of integrated circuits, and more particularly to a PCB board, an integrated circuit module including the PCB board, and a POS terminal. Background Technology

[0002] In current integrated circuit module designs (such as Android smart modules), highly integrated chips are used to minimize module size, with eMCP chips being the primary memory component. An eMCP (embedded multi-chip packaging) chip is a storage solution that integrates eMMC (embedded multimedia card) and LPDDR SDRAM (Low Power Double Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory) into a single multi-chip package. However, with advancements in chip technology and changing market demands, low-capacity eMCPs will gradually become obsolete. Nevertheless, the need for low-capacity eMCPs remains in some low-cost smart terminals (such as POS terminals).

[0003] To address the eMCP supply issue, the memory design in the integrated circuit module is changed from eMCP to discrete LPDDR chips (or DDR chips or other memory chips) and eMMC chips (or UFS chips or other non-volatile memory chips). At the same time, the module size is reduced as much as possible. In this case, a reasonable layout is required to ensure hardware performance. Utility Model Content

[0004] One of the purposes of this application is to provide a reasonable chip layout on the PCB board when the memory design is changed from eMCP to discrete LPDDR chips (or other memory chips such as DDR chips) and eMMC chips (or other non-volatile memory chips such as UFS chips) (i.e., one more chip than before), so as to minimize the size of the integrated circuit module while ensuring hardware performance.

[0005] To this end, this application provides a PCB (Printed Circuit Board), which is generally rectangular and has a first side and a second side, as well as a third side and a fourth side. A chamfer is provided at the corner where the first and third sides intersect. The PCB has a front side and a back side. The front side includes a CPU chip, a memory chip, and a non-volatile memory chip. The CPU chip is approximately located in the center of the front side. The memory chip is adjacent to the CPU chip and located between the CPU chip and the second side. The non-volatile memory chip is located between the memory chip and the third side and is adjacent to the memory chip. Both the memory chip and the non-volatile memory chip are signal-connected to the CPU chip.

[0006] In this application, "generally rectangular" means that the overall shape of an object is basically rectangular (including squares), even if there are minor changes in shape (such as chamfers, waves, and serrations) in some parts, as long as it does not affect the overall impression that the object is rectangular to the observer.

[0007] In this application, "foolproof chamfer" is a slanted or rounded corner structure designed at the corner of a PCB board. Its main function is to avoid installation errors when the PCB board is assembled, soldered, or combined with other components (such as housings, connectors, and motherboards) through differentiated physical design.

[0008] In the above scheme, the layout with the CPU chip in the center of the PCB board is most conducive to the distribution of CPU pins. It can bring out all CPU functions in a minimal area and ensure the performance of each signal connection. Furthermore, the positions of the memory chip and non-volatile memory chip ensure the shortest possible trace path for the memory chip, and the traces for high-speed digital signals are all below the CPU chip, thus ensuring the integrity of high-speed signals. This layout is compact and effectively guarantees hardware performance.

[0009] Other optional features of the PCB board that can be used individually or in combination as described above:

[0010] - The memory chips are either DDR chips or LPDDR chips. DDR is an abbreviation for Double Data Rate SDRAM, which is double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory. LPDDR is low-power DDR.

[0011] - Non-volatile memory chips are either eMMC chips or UFS chips. For an introduction to eMMC chips, please refer to the background technology section above. UFS chips are Universal Flash Storage chips, which offer higher data transfer rates and better overall performance than eMMC, but are also more expensive.

[0012] The front side also includes a PMU (Power Management Unit) chip, an Audio chip, an RF (Radio Frequency) transceiver chip, and a WIFI / BT (WIFI / Bluetooth) chip, all of which are connected to the CPU chip. It also includes an RF PA (Radio Frequency Power Amplifier) ​​chip and an RF FEM (Radio Frequency Front-End Module) chip required for RF support. The PMU chip and Audio chip are located between the CPU chip and the third side, the RF transceiver chip is located between the CPU chip and the first side, and the RF PA chip, RF FEM chip, and WIFI / BT chip are located between the CPU chip and the fourth side.

[0013] - The PMU chip is located above the non-volatile memory chip, and the audio chip is located above the PMU chip and adjacent to the foolproof chamfer.

[0014] - The WIFI / BT chip is located near the corner where the second and fourth sides intersect. The RF FEM chip is located above the WIFI / BT chip, and the RF PA chip is located above the RF FEM chip.

[0015] This application also provides an integrated circuit module comprising a PCB board as described above. According to one embodiment, the integrated circuit module is an Android smart module.

[0016] In this application, an "integrated circuit module" is an electronic component with independent functions formed by integrating one or more integrated circuit chips and related electronic components (such as resistors, capacitors, inductors, connectors, etc.) on the same substrate according to specific functional requirements and through packaging processes.

[0017] This application also provides a POS terminal, which includes the integrated circuit module described above.

[0018] It should be understood that the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only, and are not intended to limit the present invention. Other features, objects, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the specification, drawings, and claims. Attached Figure Description

[0019] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of this application, the accompanying drawings used in the description of the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. It will be readily understood by those skilled in the art that these drawings are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of protection of this utility model. For illustrative purposes, these drawings may not be drawn to scale.

[0020] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the layout structure of a PCB board according to an embodiment of this application, which schematically shows different modules.

[0021] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the layout structure of a PCB board according to an embodiment of this application, which schematically shows the approximate location of each chip and its signal traces with the CPU chip.

[0022] List of reference numerals

[0023] 10 PCB board; 10A First side of PCB board; 10B Second side of PCB board; 10C Third side of PCB board; 10D Fourth side of PCB board; 11 RF transceiver circuit module; 12 RF PA and FEM circuit module; 13 WIFI / BT circuit module; 14 Baseband signal module; 111 RF transceiver chip; 121 RF PA chip; 122 RF FEM chip; 131 Wifi / BT chip; 141 Audio chip; 142 PMU chip; 143 CPU chip; 144 Non-volatile memory chip; 145 Memory chip Detailed Implementation

[0024] Exemplary embodiments will now be described in detail, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. When the following description refers to the drawings, unless otherwise indicated, the same numbers in different drawings denote the same or similar elements. The embodiments described in the following exemplary embodiments do not represent all embodiments according to this application. Rather, they are merely examples of apparatuses consistent with some aspects of this application as detailed in the appended claims.

[0025] Figures 1-2 A PCB board 10 for an integrated circuit module according to an embodiment of this application is schematically shown, wherein the integrated circuit module is, for example, an Android smart module. Figure 1 As shown, the PCB board 10 is generally rectangular (including square) and has opposing first sides 10A and second sides 10B, as well as opposing third sides 10C and fourth sides 10D. A chamfer 15 is provided at the corner where the first side 10A and the third side 10C intersect. In this application, for convenience, reference is made to... Figure 1 and Figure 2The orientations described herein are as follows: the orientation of the first side 10A is defined as "up," the orientation of the second side 10B is defined as "down," the orientation of the third side 10C is defined as "left," and the orientation of the fourth side 10D is defined as "right." Therefore, the anti-foolproof chamfer 15 is located at the upper left corner of the PCB board 10. The PCB board 10 has a front and a back. Figure 1 and Figure 2 Only the front side is shown; the back side is the opposite side of the front side shown. In the illustrated embodiment, the PCB board 10 has a single-sided component layout, that is, all components are located on the front side of the PCB board 10. This makes it easier to solder the PCB board to other components using the back side, which is free of any components.

[0026] As described in the background section of this application, to solve the supply problem of eMCP chips, one solution is to replace the eMCP chips with discrete LPDDR chips and eMMC chips. In this case, it is necessary to minimize the module size as much as possible while ensuring hardware performance. To this end, this application provides an optimized chip layout on a PCB board.

[0027] like Figure 2 As shown, the front side of the PCB board 10 includes a CPU chip 143, a memory chip 145 (preferably a DDR chip or LPDDR chip, but other memory chips can also be used), and a non-volatile memory chip 144 (preferably an eMMC chip or UFS chip, but other non-volatile memory chips can also be used). The CPU chip 143 is roughly located in the center of the front side. The memory chip 145 is adjacent to the CPU chip 143 and located between the CPU chip 143 and the second side 10B. The non-volatile memory chip 144 is located between the memory chip 145 and the third side 10C and is adjacent to the memory chip 145. Both the memory chip 145 and the non-volatile memory chip 144 are signal-connected to the CPU chip 143. In other words, the memory chip 145 is located directly below the CPU chip 143, and the non-volatile memory chip 144 is located to the left of the memory chip 145. Since the CPU chip 143 is located in the center of the PCB board 10, it can extend outwards in all directions, facilitating the connection between the CPU chip and other devices. In other words, this centrally located CPU chip layout is most conducive to the distribution of CPU pins, allowing all CPU functions to be deployed within a minimal area while ensuring the performance of each signal connection. Furthermore, since the memory chip 145 is directly below and adjacent to the CPU chip 143, and the non-volatile memory chip 144 is located to the left of the memory chip 145, the routing path of the memory chip 145 is minimized, and the routing of high-speed digital signals is all below the CPU chip, thus ensuring the integrity of high-speed signals. This layout is compact and effectively guarantees hardware performance.

[0028] like Figure 2As shown, the front side of the PCB board 10 also includes a PMU chip 142, an audio chip 141, an RF transceiver chip 111, and a WIFI / BT chip 131, all of which are connected to the CPU chip signals, as well as RF PA chips 121 and RF FEM chips 122 required for RF support. The PMU chip 142 and the audio chip 111 are located between the CPU chip 143 and the third side 10C; the RF transceiver chip 111 is located between the CPU chip 143 and the first side 10A; and the RF PA chip 121, RF FEM chip 122, and WIFI / BT chip 131 are all located between the CPU chip 143 and the fourth side 10D. Thus, as... Figure 1 As shown, the baseband signal module 14, composed of Audio chip 141, PMU chip 142, CPU chip 143, non-volatile memory chip 144, and memory chip 145, is located on the left side of the PCB board 10. The RF transceiver circuit module 11, composed of RF transceiver chip 111, and the RF PA and FEM circuit modules 12, composed of RF PA chip 121 and RF FEM chip 122, are located on the upper and right sides of the PCB board 10, respectively. Therefore, the RF (radio frequency) signal and the baseband signal are well isolated, preventing them from interfering with each other.

[0029] In the above embodiments, such as Figure 2 As shown, PMU chip 142 is located above non-volatile memory chip 144, and audio chip 141 is located above PMU chip 142 and adjacent to the foolproof chamfer 15 (i.e., located at the upper left corner of PCB board 10). WIFI / BT chip 131 is located near the corner where the second side 10B and the fourth side 10D intersect (i.e., located at the lower right corner of PCB board 10), RF FEM chip 122 is located above WIFI / BT chip 131, and RF PA chip 121 is located above RF FEM chip 122. This layout facilitates the signal connection between WIFI / BT chip 131 and CPU chip 143, and minimizes the signal traces between RF PA chip 121 and RF FEM chip 122.

[0030] Preferably, the chips used in the embodiments according to this application are chips manufactured by Qualcomm, but chips from other manufacturers, such as MediaTek and Unisoc, can also be used. This application does not impose any restrictions on this.

[0031] Another aspect of this application provides an integrated circuit module comprising a PCB board as described above. According to one embodiment, the integrated circuit module is an Android smart module.

[0032] Another aspect of this application provides a POS (point of sale) terminal, which includes the integrated circuit module described above. A POS is a multi-functional terminal that, when installed in merchant locations and connected to a computer network, enables automatic electronic fund transfers. It supports functions such as spending, pre-authorization, balance inquiry, and fund transfer, and is safe, fast, and reliable to use.

[0033] Unless otherwise defined, the technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. The singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” used herein are also intended to include the plural forms unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It should also be understood that the term “and / or” as may be used herein refers to and includes any and all possible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

[0034] Terms such as “upper,” “lower,” “left,” “right,” “front,” “back,” “thickness,” “radial,” and “axial,” used herein to describe the relationship of one feature relative to another, as shown in the accompanying drawings, are for illustrative purposes and are not limited to a single location or spatial orientation. It is understood that, depending on the product's placement, the terms describing spatial relative positions may be intended to include different orientations besides those shown in the figures, and should not be interpreted as limiting. Furthermore, the descriptive term “horizontal,” as used herein, is not entirely equivalent to being perpendicular to the direction of gravity and allows for a certain angle of inclination. The terms “comprising” or “including,” as used herein, indicate that the elements or objects preceding “comprising” or “including” encompass the elements or objects listed following “comprising” or “including” and their equivalents, but do not exclude other elements or objects. It should be understood that the terms “first,” “second,” and similar terms used in this application specification do not indicate any order, quantity, or importance, but are merely used to distinguish different components.

[0035] The above are merely preferred embodiments of this utility model and are not intended to limit this utility model. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc., made within the spirit and principles of this utility model should be included within the scope of protection of this application.

Claims

1. A PCB board, the PCB board being generally rectangular and having opposing first and second sides, and opposing third and fourth sides, having a chamfer at the corner where the first side and the third side intersect, the PCB board having a front side and a back side, characterized in that, The front side includes a CPU chip, a memory chip, and a non-volatile memory chip. The CPU chip is located approximately in the center of the front side. The memory chip is adjacent to the CPU chip and located between the CPU chip and the second side. The non-volatile memory chip is located between the memory chip and the third side and is adjacent to the memory chip. Both the memory chip and the non-volatile memory chip are signal-connected to the CPU chip.

2. The PCB board as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The memory chip is a DDR chip or an LPDDR chip.

3. The PCB board as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The non-volatile memory chip is an eMMC chip or a UFS chip.

4. The PCB board as described in any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that, The front side also includes a PMU chip, an Audio chip, an RF transceiver chip, and a WIFI / BT chip, all of which are connected to the CPU chip, as well as an RF PA chip and an RF FEM chip required for RF support. The PMU chip and the Audio chip are located between the CPU chip and the third side, the RF transceiver chip is located between the CPU chip and the first side, and the RF PA chip, the RF FEM chip, and the WIFI / BT chip are all located between the CPU chip and the fourth side.

5. The PCB board as described in claim 4, characterized in that, The PMU chip is located above the non-volatile memory chip, and the Audio chip is located above the PMU chip and adjacent to the foolproof chamfer.

6. The PCB board as described in claim 4, characterized in that, The WIFI / BT chip is located near the corner where the second side and the fourth side intersect. The RF FEM chip is located above the WIFI / BT chip, and the RF PA chip is located above the RF FEM chip.

7. An integrated circuit module, characterized in that, Includes the PCB board as described in any of the preceding claims.

8. The integrated circuit module as described in claim 7, characterized in that, The integrated circuit module is an Android smart module.

9. A POS terminal, characterized in that, Includes the integrated circuit module as described in claim 7 or 8.

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