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If you’re working with a high speed device, you’ll likely need to route differential pairs between components. Many high-speed PCBs include differential interfaces that require specific odd-mode/differential impedance values, and the PCB layout designer will have to specify those geometry constraints in their PCB Editor to ensure traces have the right impedance values. The fastest and most accurate way to do this is to fuse the impedance...

            OnTrack Newsletter  December 2018  VOL. 2 No 8 ALTIUM ® 19 HAS ARRIVED! See the New Features of Altium 19   Altium 19 has just been released and features several exciting new and enhanced capabilities. Get a first look here at some of the functionality that defines the latest version of Altium .   ...

PCB via fabrication relies on a specialized process of drilling and plating, where the drilling step is executed in two possible ways: mechanical drilling and laser drilling. Mechanical drilling is the practice used for standard PCBs where the hole sizes are not too small. HDI (High-Density Interconnect) design practices can be used for mechanical drilling, but only down to a certain limit. Eventually, laser drilling will be needed to fabricate a...

If you’ve ever opened up an old cell phone, you’ve likely noticed the intricate dance between traces and vias. These elements tango with the signal traces on inner board layers, and sizing them properly is as much art as it is science.  Your vias are critical for accessing the inner layers in a multi-layer PCB. So how do you choreograph the balance between your vias, traces, and components? Your vias should be sized appropriately if they are...

Unless you refuse to get out of the house on a Friday night (like me), you’ve probably been at a concert and had the privilege of being bathed in multi-colored lights from the stage. LED arrays provide a great concert experience, but I think that learning what makes them tick is far more interesting. Kingbright (KPKF) surface-mounted LEDs are probably my favorite LED to use on a PCB. They look clean on your board and they are available from a...