Managing Your PCB Design Through BOM Planning: What’s Important Back in my younger days, I was infatuated with Legos. Every chance I had, I would run into the toy store with a pocket full of change from weekly chores swiping as many sets as I could afford. Looking back on these days, I’m surprised at how complex these structures were that I (at the ripe age of 8) was actually able to assemble. It never seemed like it was too difficult of a task either. I never felt incredibly overwhelmed with the procurement Read Article PCB Design BOM Planning: A Balancing Act The balancing act of knowing how much or little info is needed when designing your BOM is often convoluted and muddied. If done incorrectly, you could be stuck in a communication loop with a confused manufacturer, frustrated engineer, or a designer. This will inevitably cost you money, time and effort that otherwise would have been avoided. In order to assist us, today we’ll assume that you’ve begun to wrap up the final stages of your design, and Read Article Isolated vs Non-Isolated Power Supplies: The Right Choice Without Fail Learn the advantages and disadvantages of isolated vs non-isolated power supply design. Read Article High Currents and High Temperature: PCB Design Tips for Heat Management I remember the first (and hopefully the only) time one of my circuits caught on fire. It started with the resistors and quickly spread to a nearby decoupling capacitor. Thankfully, the destruction was minor and most of the components were salvageable. Why did this happen you ask? No, this was not due to a short circuit. Very simply, I did not take into account the high current PCB layout. As electronics continue to be miniaturized, the thermal Read Article Universal Language: PCB Design to Minimize EMI in Communications Systems Can you imagine what a world without lines would be like? At first, it seems wonderful to not have to wait around anymore, trusting that people will figure their business out. Disneyland, happiest place on Earth, receives about 44,000 people per day. Imagine a thousand people all rushing to get on the next available log flume. No longer just a tower of terror, but a whole theme park. When designing PCBs, your traces are the lines and each has a Read Article Be the Expert When it Comes to Designing Your Power Distribution PCB Editorial credit: Paolo Bona / Shutterstock.com Around my house, we seem to undergo a transformation to obscure-sport experts every four years, and coincidentally it occurs at the same time that the Winter Olympics is taking place. Yes, I’m talking about the sport of curling. We have all become subject matter experts in the “button,” the “hammer,” the “house,” “sweeping,” and of course the “curl.” Rest assured, by next month we will have Read Article Design Medical Devices for Internet of Things and Your Hardware Capabilities It seems like everyone I know has a smartwatch or fitness tracker. I gave mine to my mother when I felt like it was making me act weird (I sometimes put my laundry away one item at a time instead of using a laundry basket to get those extra step counts). There are days when I still covet graphs informing me of my status sleeping, walking, and eating. Fitness trackers barely scratch the surface of capabilities for medical IoT, though. Medical IoT Read Article How To Find Circuit Design Software Online: Search Parameters and Powerful Tools Often, designers and companies will choose a certain PCB design tool based on factors other than what the tool is capable of doing for them. The chosen software may have a very low price tag associated with it, but does it do everything that you need it to do? This question goes much deeper as well. Not only does this software do what you want it to—but does it really excel? You may invest in an application that satisfies your needs today--but Read Article Increase Component Density in Multilayer PCB Design with Blind Vias When I was still a novice circuit designer, my boards would be crammed with components. I later learned how to place components on both sides of the circuit board, freeing up some desperately needed real estate. If only there was a way to free up space by hiding traces below the surface of the circuit board... Newer devices are taking on smaller form factors, and the increasing demands for more capabilities will require that more components be Read Article PCB Floorplanning: The First Step to PCB Design Integrity You’ve just received your first protoboards, and you are excited to put them into the product and fire them up. You love your design and you are ready to rock. The product goes into the EMI chamber, and it fails emissions. The product is noisy. You dive in with the test engineer to investigate. As you slowly unplug cables to isolate the noise, you find out your PCB is the cause. You think, no problem, I put filters on the board. You start Read Article Optimizing PCB Panelization Can Reduce Costs and Increase Yield Once you have finished designing your board, you are probably ready to move on to the manufacturing stage. Back in my research days as a grad student, our group always looked at ways to get the most out of our fabrication processes. But how do you maximize your device yield while still working within tooling and client constraints? The most efficient way to do this is to optimize your board arrangement during panelization. An analogue of Read Article Circuit of Life: The IoT in Medicine and Healthcare I once took a friend from work to the hospital when she was having sudden chest pains. We got moved through several sections of the emergency room where tests were done multiple times, and other areas where I wasn’t sure why we were there at all. It turns out her husband had also been searching for us for nearly an hour and didn’t find us until she was being discharged home for bed rest. Working the ER must be an incredibly challenging job but as Read Article Nothing Less Than Gold When Working With Software for PCB Design Ester Ledecka’s gold in women’s Alpine skiing Super-G during the Winter Olympics this year was a surprise to all, even Ledecka herself whose speciality is snowboarding, not skiing. She was the 26th skier down the mountain, and wasn’t expected to place anywhere close to the top. Ledecka went on to win gold in the parallel giant slalom for snowboarding making her the first woman to win gold medals in two different sports at the same Winter Olympics Read Article Build Your RF Circuit Design Away From a Catastrophic Crescendo The art of music composition combines different elements such ranging from chord progression to the melody. A composer usually creates from experience, may learn from other musicians and builds from an understanding of music theory. Successful music composition relies on tried and true methods, formulas, schemes, and models. Music composition also depends on the respect for fundamentals like reading, writing, and thinking music notation while Read Article PCB Designers Get on the fast track to efficient, scalable growth and become an expert PCB Designer. Become an expert PCB Designer when you use Altium Designer software. Here we have a collection of PCB design articles related specifically to PCB Designers. Click the PDF above to read more about PCB Design careers in this Ebook. Or read the original, full-length content here: Implications of Growing Automotive PCB Market Share for PCB Designers PCB Designer Read Article 5 Noteworthy Women in PCB Design Women in technology is a hot topic, especially how to get more women involved in technology-related fields. What I find most interesting about this subject is what motivates people to pursue a career in technology in the first place. In general, there are a lot of men in this field and, as a woman in tech myself, I think attracting new people to the industry is always positive. I encourage people to pursue careers in technology, no matter their Read Article Error Checking to Avoid Disaster PCB design has become increasingly complex—now containing even more rules with regards to electrical requirements and configurations. The PCB Editor in Altium Designer has some ways to verify that you are following these requirements, but if you manage to somehow step outside of them, you run the risk of creating an error. This paper highlights key tools that will help you keep track of violations in real time or identify where a violation may Read Article Pagination First page « First Previous page ‹‹ Page154 Current page155 Page156 Page157 Page158 Page159 Next page ›› Last page Last » Load More
