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How Integrated Tools Ease Multi-board PCB Systems Design How Integrated Tools Ease Multi-board PCB Systems Design If you’ve ever taken apart a computer, then you know that the entire system can’t fit on a single PCB. The most complicated devices used in a variety of applications are multi-board systems, and designing these systems takes imagination, planning, and the right design software. Rigid-flex PCBs are just another type of multi circuit board system, and the same design concepts when designing each portion of the board, as well as the flex ribbon that Read Article
Design Guidelines for Your Next Wireless PCB Design Guidelines for Your Next Wireless PCB As a child, I used to watch Star Trek and always marveled at all the technology. Anything wireless on the show was particularly fascinating, especially to a 5-year old. As I aged, and as so many cool things from science fiction became reality, I realized that all these capabilities start with great PCB design. Whether you’re building a better Wifi router, GPS system, or two-way radio, you’ll need to decide which type of antenna to use and how to Read Article
How Autorouters Help Expedite Design How Autorouters Help Expedite Traces Design Routing traces around on your PCB is like knitting a quilt. Not only can it take forever, but it requires very precise steps to ensure that all your stitches fit together seemlessly. If you get your stitches wrong, then everything can fall apart. Just like we have automatic threading sewing machines that increase productivity, autorouters can do the same for your PCB. But be wary: not all autorouters have the same capabilities. The best PCB Read Article
Electronic Component Distributors Harnessing the Power of One-Stop Shopping Electronic Component Distributors Harnessing the Power of One-Stop Shopping Every year, I spend time working on my house and car to keep them maintained. Trips to the hardware store include adding parts to my stash at home and I try to keep the trips to a minimum so I can enjoy my downtime. There’s nothing worse than chilling to tunes in my garage on a warm summer day only to find that I don’t have a part. Dropping everything to make a run to the hardware store means completely disrupting my afternoon. So managing my Read Article
Layer Management as a Design Tool Priority Layer Management as a Circuit Board Design Tool Priority Rome wasn’t built in a day, and the same could be said for printed circuit boards. PCBs are similar to cities in that they contain pathways connecting components. Components have dimension into the surrounding air space, as well as into the thickness of the board itself. Hidden subsystems similar to underground wiring and cityscape piping reside within the thickness of the boards. Printed circuit boards mimic cities with their layers of Read Article
Design Rules to Fanout a Large BGA Design Rules for Large BGA Fanout I have known people during my career who insisted on hand-routing every PCB design that they worked on. They would say that their manual routing performed better, looked better, and was just better in general. I’m not going to argue one way or the other on that, but I will say that there is one thing that can not be argued with; all of that manual routing took them a much longer time to complete than if they had used automated routers. With today Read Article
Asymmetric Striplines in Your Next Multi-layer PCB Asymmetric Striplines in Your Next Multi-layer PCB The beauty of symmetricity in art, science, and nature, in general, is something of a wonder. The visual balance between elements in a painting or drawing can make or break a piece of artwork. PCB design is as much art as it is engineering, and symmetricity plays as much of a technical role as it does an aesthetic role. Ever since its humble beginnings as a replacement for high frequency coaxial cables and waveguides, striplines are a mainstay Read Article
Building Your Next Multi-Level Bill of Materials Building Your Next Multi-Level Bill of Materials My wife and I always argue about what goes on the grocery list each week. I’m a total carnivore, while she prefers I get everything we need from local farmers. Planning out our shopping trips in multiple lists does more than just allow us to plan our Saturdays coherently, it helps ensure marital bliss. Any PCB that you intend to manufacture will need an associated bill of materials. If you’re building a complex product that includes multiple sub Read Article
Managing 3D models Managing 3D Electrical MCAD/ECAD Models for Data Transfer Communication is tricky when oppositional semantics fail to play well together. This sentence is a good case in point. When ill stated, information is rarely understood. The same goes with software infrastructures. Many do not play well together when information in one is defined differently in another. 3D models of components for use by mechanical and electrical CAD programs are historically represented quite differently across platforms. This Read Article
Sizing Vias in Your Next Multilayer PCBs PCB Via Size Calculators: Sizing Vias in Multilayer Designs 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 to be Read Article
SMD LEDs in Your PCB and Your Bill of Materials SMD LEDs in Your PCB and Your Bill of Materials 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 Read Article
Split PCB Plane Pours are Partial to Carefully Managed Connections Split PCB Plane Pours are Partial to Carefully Managed Connections James Madison said that “philosophy is common sense with big words.” Big words can produce a mess if applied with the wrong syntax. Similarly, the ability to produce intricate PCB designs requires extraordinary vision, each minute step exquisitely accomplished through common sense. Common sense and, if you’re lucky, elegant design tools. PCB design tools able to make common sense from complicated layout rules promote efficient development Read Article
Managing Net Connection Order from Schematic to Layout Managing Net Connection Order from Schematic to Layout When I first started designing printed circuit boards, it was a very unorganized process. We would create the schematics in our department, and then the system administrators would work their voodoo and transfer all that data from us into the layout department. The layout guys were an even bigger mystery, working all hours of the night and day on these complex Unix machines that supported their CAD layout tools. We would communicate our design Read Article
Using Library Search Features for Easier Component Selection Using Library Search Features for Easier Component Selection Components are those critical elements in your PCB that keep it ticking along and doing its job. Your component libraries contain all the information about available components in a single location, making it easy to add components to your board and use component information with your simulation and rules-checking features. Other design software packages like to separate these features into different programs, or they force you to use an external Read Article
High Speed Design EMI in Your High Speed PCB Design: Understand the Signal Rise Time Learn more about your high speed design and how to deal with switching speed, rise time, and EMI in your high speed PCB layout. Read Article
Layout Guidelines for Embedded Power Supplies Layout Guidelines for Embedded Power Supplies I don’t get out to raucous parties as much as did in my 20’s. The thought of yelling over other people just to have a conversation is about as enticing as getting a tooth pulled. Crosstalk doesn’t just kill the mood at a party, it can ruin the functionality of electronic systems. Most PCB designers worry more about crosstalk between signals traces, but your power supply and power components can have an even greater impact. Thankfully, some simple Read Article
How Integrated Libraries Help You Manage Your PCB Supply Chain Effective Supply Chain Management through PCB Libraries and Supply Chain Integration If only sourcing PCB components worked like e-commerce. Recommendation engines are great in that they can help you decide what to buy when your preferred item is not available. Most PCB design packages don’t have this type of functionality, which would save a massive amount of time when planning a manufacturing run. Whether you’re sourcing electronic components or some other parts for your next product, you’ll need access to updates supply chain Read Article