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Let’s set the scene: you’ve gone out of your way to attract engineering talent to apply at your company; you’ve created job postings, scoured LinkedIn, poached people from freelancing sites, and even worked with a recruiter. Now that you have a pool of decent candidates, how do you narrow down to the right PCB designer for your project? Personally, in all the hiring decisions I’ve had to make, I often think back to how others have interviewed me...

If you’re not familiar with the Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC from XIlinx and you’re in the Embedded + FPGA space, now is the time to get acquainted with it. It comes packed with an ARM Cortex-A53 Quad core, 2 ARM Cortex-R5 cores, and an FPGA fabric all on a single system on a chip (SoC). When it first came out the barrier to entry was quite steep. Over time several companies started to introduce System on Modules (SoM) that came with board support...

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Continuing with this short series on high-speed signal integrity misconceptions, there is one formula that pops up again and again in elementary signal integrity discussions. This formula is the so-called knee frequency formula, and it is used interchangeably with some -3 dB frequency. What is interesting is that this is so often quoted as a value for the highest frequency contained in signal's bandwidth, which is not correct. Before even...

In this OnTrack episode, we are very excited to bring you Tim Wang Lee, a Signal Integrity Application Scientist and the High-Speed Digital Application Product Manager at Keysight. Tim will share his early days as a prodigy with Dr. Eric Bogatin. We will also discuss the importance of simulation and measurement to achieve signal integrity for your PCB design. Listen to Podcast: > Download this episode Download this episode Watch this Episode...

LCR meters measure inductance (L), capacitance (C), and resistance (R) – hence the name. LCR meters can be powerful tools for supporting the development of electronic circuits. However, to get the best from your meter, you must understand precisely how they work and the benefits they bring to the development process. In this article, we'll look at how LCR meters work, how to choose the best meter for your needs, and what benefits they can bring...

Conformal coating is a lightweight material applied to PCBs that acts as a protective layer. It protects circuit boards and components against various environmental factors, including heat, humidity, moisture, ultraviolet light, chemical contaminants, and abrasive materials. Conformal coatings also have thermal and electrical insulation properties to help manage your circuit's operating characteristics. The key benefit of applying a conformal...

There is one high-speed PCB design rule that has been over-communicated and misunderstood ever since its inception: the transmission line critical length rule. This rule is also known as the 25% rise time rule. The rule basically states conditions under which you don’t need to calculate trace impedance by stating: if the length of a trace is less than 25% of the distance traveled by a digital signal, then the trace impedance does not matter. ...

IPC continues to develop resources to bring awareness about the electronics industry to the young generation. In this episode, we are very fortunate to have Charlene Gunther, the Senior Director of the IPC Education Foundation. We will talk about IPC’s efforts to involve students in engaging activities that will introduce the electronic industry to them as early as high school. Join us and watch through the end. We added some great resources...