Board Fabrication Tips and Myths Board Fabrication Tips and Myth busting to help you navigate post PCB design processes with ease and a holistic view. Join expert Amit Bahl from Sierra Circuits. Read Article PCB Librarians and SMART PCB Component Management In the 1972 classic movie “The Candidate”, Bill Mckay, played by Robert Redford, ran for the State Senate. Although he was a long shot and an underdog, McKay ends up surprising everyone with an incredibly close win. After the concession speech of his opponent, a vast mob surrounds McKay. He fights through the crowd, trying to reach his campaign Manager Marvin (played by Peter Boyles). Finally reaching him, he pulls him aside into a hotel room Read Article How to Establish a PCB Creator Library for Your Design Practice When we think of a library, we first think of a building which holds materials of some kind. In April of 1800, when the seat of the government moved from Philadelphia to Washington, one of President Monroe’s first acts was allocating $5,000 to purchase books for Congress to use. Once established, the Library of Congress originally held a total of 740 books and three maps. Now, it contains 32 million cataloged books and other print materials in Read Article Parametric Information and PCB Data Management In the words of Tim O'Reilly, the founder of O'Reilly Media and a major proponent of Open Source & Software Development, “We're entering a new world in which data may be more important than software.” I tend to disagree with that; I believe that data is enhanced by software especially when we are talking about data related to PCB Management. I’m a long-time user of Altium software and very pleased with the way the software has evolved. So get Read Article How Can You Make Sure PCB Design Data Is Both Accessible and Secure? As a grandfather, one of the great joys of my life is to play with any of my five grandchildren. On top of their fun list is to play on the teeter-totter at the playground. They usually enjoy it until grandpa gets on one side and they try to lift me. Then the poor little tykes get a harsh lesson in leverage, balance, and just how heavy grandpa is. In PCB Design, it is all about balance. IPC-2221 reminds us that the design process comes with its Read Article Operational Process Improvements and PCB Data Management Is it practical or indulgent to look at exactly how the principles of good PCB Data Management can and should change our normal PCB Design processes? It is practical and necessary for operational processes to benefit from continual improvement. Let’s explore how to do so with PCB data management. Root Causes You need to allow specific PCB Data to change your operational processes so you can analyze and find the root causes of problems. However Read Article Printed Circuit Assembly and Design for Cost The design process for an electronic system requires decisions that will influence the cost and performance of the printed circuit assembly (PCA). General Principles There is value in being able to quickly estimate the impact of design on cost. Because of the increasing pressure to shorten time to market, design engineers may not have the luxury of using trial and error and price quotes to fine-tune a new design. In addition, the further down the Read Article High-Speed PCB Design: Just How Fast Is Fast? As noted in several previous blogs, these days, “high-speed PCB” is pretty much ubiquitous in our industry. And, as cited, we always say that regardless of the end product or implementation every PCB is high speed by virtue of the IC technology incorporated in it. A few years back, we started saying that what was important was the edge rates of the components, or more specifically, the interconnections between the component edges and the boards Read Article Comparing Static and Dynamic Flex Design: Rigid Flex PCB Bend Radius and other Mechanical Considerations Static and dynamic flex PCB design is as much mechanical as it is electrical. Here are some design tips for both types of PCBs. Read Article Embedded System Power Supply Guidelines for Power Integrity Embedded systems design and development is a broad area of electronics, spanning from developing code for an Arduino to designing custom computing systems with huge I/O count. On the more advanced end, where we see complex embedded systems for imaging, radar, modular computing, and edge computing, power regulator module design is a major determinant of system performance as it must ensure power integrity and signal integrity. These systems are Read Article The Rough Journey of a Hardware Engineer and Assembly Options Life, for a hardware engineer, is a continuous battle. Every day, every single decision, circuit, connection, net, trace, VIA or pad is a fight between Physics and the demanding, albeit important requirement that has been thrown on the desk by the archenemy of the poor hardware engineer: the colleague working for the marketing team. A good (and at the same time sobering!) thing is that Physics always wins. The task of the hardware engineer is Read Article Weekly Digest: Altium Designer, Viewer and Concord Welcome to the weekly digest where you can get a birds-eye view of all the latest articles, video and podcast. Read articles by Industry Experts to see inside Altium Designer with pro tips on deployment, modular design and other advanced techniques. Listen in with Judy Warner as she explores suggestions and strategies for PCB assembly with industry insiders Chao Vang and Sebastian Weber from Advanced Assembly. And remember to tryout our latest Read Article Process Engineering for Advanced Assembly with Chao Vang and Sebastian Weber What is the first step for process engineering? Review files for special assembly notes, identify designs that aren’t necessarily the best for manufacturing and communicate on issues immediately. Read Article Best Methods For Design That Satisfies Power Integrity Parameters with Kella Knack In my previous articles, I addressed Power Delivery System (PDS) design , the myths surrounding it and ways to implement a successful working PDS. At the core of all these efforts lies power integrity. What is it? What are the challenges associated with it? How can it be successfully incorporated into a fully-functioning PCB implementation? This article will address the beginnings of power integrity, the various facets of component functionality Read Article Rigid-Flex Prototyping Tips Question: What are a few key tips for flex and rigid-flex prototyping? My answer to this question is simple: OVER COMMUNICATE with your fabricator! Typically, prototypes are needed quickly, yet approximately 75%-80% of new part numbers go on hold for engineering questions and clarifications. This can have a significant impact on scheduling. Before you can work on ways to communicate clearly with your fabricator, you need to select the right Read Article PCB Layout Tip: Save Time with Reusable Blocks To survive today’s business environment for PCB Designers, design reuse is crucial for quick PCB layout. We must always work faster and smarter. That means whatever available methods might streamline the process to make it more straightforward and faster the better. However, when things go faster, usually more mistakes occur, and they are generally not caught. One strategy that helps tremendously is using reusable designs. A common practice in Read Article Continuous Integration and Deployment in ECAD Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment have become widely adopted practices within the software world. The concept of Continuous Integration and Deployment don’t need to be limited to just software - they can be extended into the ECAD world as well. In this article we will address both concepts and how they can be leveraged in ECAD tools. Continuous Deployment Designers will frequently make changes to their code and check it into the Read Article Pagination First page « First Previous page ‹‹ Page98 Current page99 Page100 Page101 Page102 Page103 Next page ›› Last page Last » Load More