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Creepage and Clearance Design Rules Require More Than Integrated Flow Creepage and Clearance Design Rules Require More Than Integrated Flow Occasionally, I get to drive through the Pacific Northwest on a clear day. Unencumbered by rain clouds, the mountain ranges are visible. So visible that I feel I could reach out and touch them. If I could fly the line of sight, I could be at the top of any mountain quickly. Since I can’t fly, driving my car along a twisting mountain highway would get me there on a longer route. So it is with PCB creepage and clearance design rules on a printed Read Article
Propagation Delay, Transmission Delay, and Analog Signal Resonance in Your PCB Transmission Lines: Propagation Delay, Transmission Delay, and Analog Signal Resonance in Your PCB Legend has it that opera singers can break champagne flutes just by wailing at the right note. From opera singers to the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, and the high tide in the Bay of Fundy in Canada, resonance can be a beautiful and simultaneously destructive phenomenon. The terms “transmission delay” and “propagation delay” are sometimes used interchangeably. In analog systems, both terms can refer to the time required for a signal to travel between Read Article
PCB Noise Reduction with Linear Devices in Electronics PCB Component Noise Reduction with Linear Devices in Electronics When I first got into electronics and PCB design as a student, I had the idea that noise suppression required a lot of elaborate (and expensive) equipment. I had visions in my mind of building complicated mainframe-style systems for the sole purpose of coaxing the perfect signal from a device. Sure, you can go that route if you like. But like many aspects of engineering, the best solution is often the simplest. Most PCB designers are considering Read Article
Where to Start in Courses for PCB Design or Skills I Wish I’d Learned in College Where to Start in Courses for PCB Design or Skills I Wish I’d Learned in College I’m no longer embarrassed to admit that I wasn’t exactly a model student in college. When I was pursuing my engineering degree, Warcraft and FIFA occupied more of my time than pouring over “boring” electronics notes. I came close to failing some classes but paid attention to important topics involving electronics design and microcontrollers. Nevertheless, nothing prepared me for the real world of PCB design, like my first job as an electronics Read Article
Electronic Product Life Cycle Management Avoids Unpredicted Application Results Electronic Product Life Cycle Management Avoids Unpredicted Application Results Everyone has a smartphone these days. Well, everyone except my grandparents. They still use clamshell phones and perfectly happy with them. The rest of us have moved on to leaner and meaner communication devices. Eventually, the product life cycle for clamshell phones will end and they will be relegated to the history books. A look back through the history of technology reveals that no piece of technology can thrive forever. Project life cycle Read Article
Managing Your Audio Power Supply Designs: Tips for Circuit Design Managing Your Audio Power Supply Designs: Tips for Circuit Design As I get older, I suspect I’m gradually getting deafer. My hearing was pretty sharp during my teenage years but these days, I miss out on conversations and need to frequently ask people to repeat themselves. Perhaps my hearing ability is deteriorating due to age; however, when I hear static noise creeping out of an amplifier, I know to trust my ears. In electronics, the power supply of audio circuits can mean the difference between perfect audio Read Article
Choosing the Right RFID Card Technology For Your Embedded System Choosing the Right RFID Card Technology For Your Embedded System As a pure introvert who fears small talk, I absolutely dread networking events. Besides maintaining endless empty chatter with strangers, picking out the best attire is challenging, especially considering my dreadful fashion sense. Thankfully, I’m much better at choosing the right type of Radio Frequency Identification or RFID card technology for my embedded system projects. What is an RFID Card? In the simplest sense, an RFID card is a token Read Article
Old Software Doesn’t Need a Leash for New Supplier Parts Updating Old Software Doesn’t Need a Leash for New Supplier Parts Updating Keeping track of component updates is a big job, what with change announcements coming in from vendors and distributors in random announcements and emails throughout the year. Keeping track of random notices and having a good process for implementing them is also difficult. Using schematic and PCB editors, along with local and global libraries in an organized manner helps keep component information organized and available. Use of component Read Article
True ECAD / MCAD Co-Design Will Eliminate PCB Design Placement Errors True ECAD / MCAD Co-Design Will Eliminate PCB Design Placement Errors Have you ever had a PCB design returned to you because a component that you placed conflicted with a mechanical feature? Missing even one conflict can cause a lot of grief when it comes time to install the circuit board into the final system. It certainly did in my case where that one part ended up in a location that ultimately wouldn’t fit in the device housing. The only way my layout would work was if I cut an opening in the enclosure for a Read Article
With Software for Rigid-Flex Designing, You Can Define and Animate Your PCBs With Software for Rigid-Flex Designing, You Can Define and Animate Your PCBs Rigid-flex PCBs can open the door of possibilities wide open for complex form factors involving limited real-estate. If implemented correctly, you could effectively use each and every wall of any shaped chassis as a mounting surface for your PCB(s). Designing these rigid-flex boards in design software, such as Altium Designer, makes it easy to visually see how your components might interact with one another once actually in a flexed or folded Read Article
Expedite Cost Savings with Continually Updated BOM Pricing Costed BOM: Expedite Cost Savings with Continually Updated BOM Pricing Knowing your market and providing supply for your customers is an art. Purveyors of commodities have long been negotiating with their clients to plan supply chain needs. Stock becomes more desirable as supplies diminish, especially if demand grows and the need is great. If need and demand remain robust, pricing holds and suppliers make money while offering fair deals to their customers. Electronic component vendors carefully plan their offerings Read Article
Myths about PCB Routing Angles: 45-Degree Angle vs 90-Degree Angle PCB Routing Angle Myths: 45-Degree Angle Vs 90-Degree Angle There is nothing wrong with a healthy debate, whether it’s related to determining the worst pizza topping or the best solder mask. In the PCB editor world, a debate that plagues designers and researcher alike revolves around PCB routing angles. Should copper tracks of a PCB be routed at a 45-degree angle vs 90 degree angle PCB? ​ With today’s equipment, however, it turns out that it usually doesn’t matter which angle you use. By utilizing modern Read Article
Use Unique ID EEPROM in Your Embedded System to Prevent Design Counterfeiting Use Unique ID EEPROM in Your Embedded System to Prevent Design Counterfeiting There’s a saying that smart people don’t always finish the race first. In college, I remember some classmates copying my assignments, only to end up getting better scores than I did. Being smart didn’t necessarily guarantee me the top grades in college and watching others achieve success based on my ideas became demoralizing. The business world is similar; it isn’t uncommon for companies to copy concepts that work well for their competitors and Read Article
Small Electronic Circuit Design Demands Large Amounts of Attention Small Electronic Circuit Design Demands Large Amounts of Attention With new taxes regularly introduced to the rising costs of living, it’s only a matter of time before consumers suffer from chain effects. It gets to my nerves when my favorite local restaurants increase prices or resort to reducing their serving size. Of course, I would prefer for things to stay the same but I can at least satisfy my hunger by paying a little extra. In electronics, PCB designs are also getting smaller, just like my favorite plate Read Article
How to Use Testpoints on a PCB Design in Altium Designer How to Use Test Points on PCB | Altium Designer Maybe it’s because of the old memories of pop quizzes in grade school, but it seems like no one really likes the idea of “testing”. Just as the school children in “A Christmas Story” reacted badly to having to write a theme, people all over the world usually react just as negatively to the idea of taking a test. And yet, if you are going to be a circuit board designer, you are going to have to learn how to use a PCB test point. The good news is Read Article
Don’t Worry Over Your PCB Layout Files ASCII Dance, Waltz with Unified Tools Don’t Worry Over Your PCB Layout Files ASCII Dance, Waltz with Unified Tools Although competitive partner dancing looks complicated, the technique behind the art is precise. It is nothing like the PCB layout files ASCII dance. Dancers move their feet uniformly in intricate patterns set to the musical beat. If the technique is flawed, steps are missed, and feet collide, ruining the dance. Error messages are indications of missing steps in PCB layout software. When placing and routing components in the software, error Read Article
Ease the Pain of Your PCB Supply Chain Management with Intuitive Design Tools Ease the Pain of Your PCB Supply Chain Management with Intuitive Design Tools Have you ever been writing something and can’t figure out how to spell a word so you rephrase the entire sentence in order to use a different word? As much as replacing a word can kill your creativity in writing, it is much worse when you have to replace a component while designing electronic circuits. It happens a lot though when you aren’t connected to your supply chain management design. Problems like these can kill your creativity and cause Read Article