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Integrated circuits (ICs) are integral to modern electronics, packing millions — or even billions — of components into a single chip. From consumer devices to aerospace systems, these microelectronic powerhouses handle everything from computation to signal processing with unmatched efficiency. But what exactly goes into a circuit, and how do the microscopic circuit elements in ICs work together to drive today's technology? This guide reviews the...

Training an AI model from scratch, even with existing datasets and help from friends, can be quite challenging. As we’ve seen in Understanding Neural Networks and Building Neural Networks on FPGAs, implementing the simplest embedded AI pipeline on hardware contains stumbling blocks every step of the way. In this article, we’re going to look at a relatively new platform that does all of the heavy lifting for us, leaving the AI training...

Simple systems often use switches to control power flow and power-up, assuming they use anything at all… Production-grade systems go further and include multiple circuits for transient protection, toggling and timing power regulators, and ensuring reverse polarity protection. One of the simplest yet most important portions of a power system with multiple rails is the power sequencer circuit, which toggles power to peripherals in a specific order...

PCB stack-up decisions might not be the most glamorous part of the design process, but they’re one of the most telling. If you want your board to perform reliably, pass inspection, and make it through manufacturing without costly surprises, the stack-up is where you begin. And if you're working on advanced technologies like flexible circuits or Ultra HDI, your stack-up provides strong information about performance, reliability, and buildability....

Complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs) are digital devices with some level of silicon programmability by the system designer, sitting somewhere between an MCU and an FPGA. Traditionally, CPLDs are only used in digital applications, where logic is implemented on a dedicated chip without the need to run firmware for an embedded application. This means logical functions can be instantiated permanently in a chip on silicon, reducing the overall...

When we talk about design for manufacturability, it’s easy to get caught up in building the board itself. But there's another critical piece to the puzzle that deserves just as much attention: designing for inspection. Good inspection practice can be the difference between a board that performs reliably and one that ends up causing headaches after it leaves the factory floor. Why Inspection Should Be on Your Radar Inspection is about more than...

While Agile has revolutionized software development, most electronics teams are still working within the rigid confines of waterfall-style development. Traditional methods are too slow and too inflexible for the demands of today’s electronics industry. It’s time for a smarter path forward. In this whitepaper, agile hardware experts from the MAHD Framework outline how to adapt agile principles for the realities of hardware development. Fill out...

If you've ever been on the receiving end of a circuit board that failed during first-pass assembly, you know how frustrating it can be. The board looks good, the design checks out electrically, but something goes wrong during fabrication or assembly, and the result is a costly delay. When it comes to designing PCBs, especially in advanced applications like Ultra HDI or flex, getting it right the first time isn’t just about pride, it is about...

Integrated circuits have driven huge levels of integration, bringing digital logic and basic analog functions into the same package, known as mixed-signal ASICs. The digital side has always been programmable to some extent, with application logic being built into firmware or hard-coded into the silicon. Programmable logic as found in CPLDs or FPGAs is unique in that the core digital functions can be reconfigured and rewritten as needed, but this...