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Where Do They All Go? PCB Layout Component Placement Guidelines Where Do They All Go? PCB Layout Component Placement Guidelines When I first learned how to play “Hearts,” I was always worried about how to pass those three cards right off the bat. What if I helped who I was playing against? I got the hang of it eventually and with enough games under my belt. I could recognize card patterns to make the best choices, but until I got to that point it felt like I was throwing random cards across the tables. My PCB design wasn’t too far off from my card strategy there, in Read Article
Wet and Dry PCB Etching Solutions: Which Process is the Right Solution? Wet and Dry PCB Etching Solutions: Which Process is the Right Solution? I have always been a very visually-oriented thinker. When I was much younger, I used to look up maps to video game levels online and put a sheet of tracing paper up against the screen to copy them down. The Zelda games specifically would always leave me with a notebook full of maps and, on the more challenging dungeons, color-coded warnings. If I sneezed once in my tracing process or the screen moved or I was called away mid-tracing, my map would Read Article
Properties of Semiconductors: Electrodeposition and PCB Devices Properties of Semiconductors: Electrodeposition, Gas Sensors, and PCB Devices I started working with gas sensors 10 years ago—my team had several ideas on how to improve the performance of our devices by integrating semiconductor nanomaterials into our PCB-based sensors. We were familiar with various electron, barrier heights, valence electrons, conduction band and the semiconductor interface. We were all masters of electrodeposition and masters of gas sensors in our own right, and we had the idea to integrate the two Read Article
Sooner or Later, Your PCB Design Layout Will Need Rework Sooner or Later, Your PCB Design Layout Will Need Rework I woke up last Saturday morning eager to get started on my latest backyard project. First, a trip to the hardware store for supplies, and then spend the rest of the day working on the project. Or at least I thought that I had it all planned out until my wife reminded me that I had promised to help her with some other chores. The proverbial rug of my weekend project was yanked out from under me by the classic “honey-do” block. Since I had, in fact Read Article
Bill of Materials Management Strategies: Automation is Your Friend Bill of Materials Management Strategies: Automation is Your Friend When I was a boy I really enjoyed reading the “Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators” mystery books. These books were a contemporary to “The Hardy Boys” mystery books and I filled a lot of my free time reading about “The Secret of Terror Castle”, “The Mystery of the Screaming Clock”, and many other frightful enigmas. A few years ago I ran across some of these books, and now I collect as many as I can find. Another avid fan I know said it Read Article
Practice Makes Perfect: How to Test Electronic Components during PCB Design Practice Makes Perfect: Testing and Verifying Electronic Component Assemblies during PCB Design When I was younger, well much younger, I had dreams of one day being a pro athlete. I wanted to be the guy who scored the winning touchdown, knocked in the winning run or hit the buzzer-beater. Although I never made to the professional level, I did have some success and I learned a lot. The most important thing was the results you achieved were strictly tied to your preparation. In other words, if I wanted to do well in the game I had to test Read Article
High Current PCB Design and its Real World Applications High Current Board Design and its Real World Applications With the rise of PCB applications stretching far and wide, designs are being created for applications that extend past simple signal integrity solutions. Advancements in material technology, PCB manufacturing capabilities, and the rising demand for PCB design is opening up the floor for many industries that otherwise have been dormant in the PCB world. Many limitations that were not present a handful of years ago are beginning to loosen. Of Read Article
The Advantages and Disadvantages of Designing with Breadboards The Advantages and Disadvantages of Designing with Breadboards Breadcrumbs, breadboards, and breadwinners. One of which has electronic components. Two of which will provide you with a delicious and nutritious meal enough to feed a family. The first, will provide you with the foundational playground to which your printed circuit board board design will spawn from. I will save you time, effort, and many awkward encounters by telling you that if you go around trying to stick jumper leads into breadwinners Read Article
PCB Designers for SpaceX and Beyond: Yesterday’s Fiction, Tomorrow’s Reality PCB Designers for SpaceX and Beyond: Yesterday’s Fiction, Tomorrow’s Reality I’ve wanted a career in engineering for as long as I can remember. There were people who could MacGyver something out of nothing and I wanted to be one of those people. I’m sure that watching science fiction on TV added a lot to that. I mean, who wouldn’t want to manipulate technology and control immense power like “Scotty” on Star Trek? I found out that I’m not alone in those dreams—apparently, Scotty was the inspiration for much interest in Read Article
How to Create a Bill of Materials That Meets Your Needs How to Create a Bill of Materials That Meets Your Needs Sometimes when pressed to answer a question that I’m not prepared for like, “what do you want for your birthday”, I’ll respond flippantly; “small stacks of hundreds please!” I don’t even remember where I got this quote from, but I tend to use it a lot. It often kills the conversation and in the case of my wife, it earns me an immediate “annoyed wife glare” in response. Wouldn’t it be nice though if just for once someone actually honored my Read Article
Circuit Board Sizes and Shapes, How to Make a PCB Circuit Board Sizes and Shapes, How to Make a PCB For many years my career took me to a lot of different locations as I traveled to conduct business. One of the wonderful things about travel is how it opens you up to new experiences and individuals. You only truly begin understanding how diverse our world is after witnessing the differences throughout various of it. I just wish I brought a dog with me on those trips, so I could name it “Toto,” because I sure wasn’t in Kansas anymore. Just as Read Article
The Best PCB Design Tools Help You Grow From Design Kindergarten The Best PCB Design Tools Help You Grow From Design Kindergarten I used to work with middle-school aged kids, and one of the topics that I taught them was how to work together. I would separate them into four small groups and give each group a set of instructions on how to complete a section of a project. The intent was that after the four individual sections were completed, the kids would then come back together and use those sections to form one final project. The results though were usually pretty funny as Read Article
Remove the Chance of PCB Manufacturing Delays by Using a Final Deliverable Checklist Remove the Chance of PCB Manufacturing Delays by Using a Final Deliverable Checklist Several years ago I had knee surgery. Something had happened to the membrane that provided protection in the joint, and my knee was making all kinds of noise that a healthy knee shouldn’t be making. Before going into the surgery the doctor said that I should take a marker and carefully notate which knee required the surgery. Considering the circumstances, I hope he wasn’t pulling my leg before cutting into it. Using a checklist is always a good Read Article
Putting Constraints to Work for You in Your Circuit Routing Software Putting Constraints to Work for You in Your Circuit Routing Software When I was a kid, my parents had a 1955 Oldsmobile Super 88 Holiday. What a great car. As an eight year old though, the main thing that stood out to me was that it had a decorative rope that stretched horizontally across the back of the front seat. Sitting in the back with my brother one day, we informed our parents that with the fancy rope in place we no longer needed to use our seat belts. I saw my dad wink to my mom, and then at a very slow Read Article
Designing Your PDN to Work Within Your PCB Layout Guidelines Designing Your PDN to Work Within Your PCB Layout Guidelines I enjoy watching the occasional episode of Star Trek here and there, and I get a kick out of noting the inconsistencies in their technology. In one episode they may be firing all of their energy weapons at the bad guys, moving at warp 3-billion to time travel and showing no regard as to where their power was coming from. In the next episode though, someone will plug in a space toaster to warm up their breakfast in the galley, and the whole ship Read Article
Through It All: PCB Tools and What Experience Has Shown Through It All: PCB Tools and What Experience Has Shown I have always been aware that places exist in the world where the January gray skies and chills never happen, but I’m still not entirely sure where they are. Whether it’s picking up a new hobby, being invigorated by your resolutions, or rewatching some of your favorite movies under a heavy, comfortable blanket, January has a lot more to offer than the cold, wet, and gloomy weather that is on the other side of most of our windows. As the doorstep Read Article
See Where You are Going with Your PCB Power Distribution Network Design Electric Distribution Systems and PCBs: Power Distribution Network Design For those of you who have only experienced the brilliant high power of LED, Xenon, or Halogen headlights in today’s modern cars, you may not realize how fortunate you are. My first car was old enough that its headlights could have been candles. One year I received Halogen fog lights for my birthday, and the difference at night was amazing. Not only could I now see what was next to the car in the dark but the fog lights almost out-distanced the Read Article