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Browse the latest resources and information from industry experts on PCB Design.

Bolt: Part Venture Capitalist, Part Engineering Team and Pure Awesome In this episode of the OnTrack podcast we have as our guest; Tyler Mincey, who is the VP of Engineering for Bolt. Bolt is located in San Francisco and Boston and is a hybrid venture that is part venture capitalist and part engineering team. Bolt offers a unique model to help startups get off the ground, and get product to market. Listen to the Podcast: Download this episode (right click and save) Watch the Video: Show Highlights: Tyler’s Read Article

Competition for HDI: VeCS Not long ago, a very creative engineer in Europe proposed a novel concept for layer-to-layer connections that has higher density than the conventional through-hole. That engineer is Joan Torne’ of NEXTGin Technologies BV [1] and his technology is called, “Vertical Conductive Structures-VeCS”. It employs the conventional PCB TH fab equipment, increases densities to that of HDI, with capabilities down to 0.4 mm pitch BGAs. The concept is to peck Read Article

Printed Electronics a Technology of the Past and Future Printed electronics (PE) is a new, rapidly growing interconnect business. It has its origin in printed-flexible keyboards for appliances and for the expanding technologies in fancy magazines and literature. The irony of PE is that the technology was probably the first employed during WWII and all printed circuits owes it origin to PE. APPLICATIONS The most exciting thing about PE is all the new applications and markets that it will open. In Read Article

Flexible Circuit Base Materials Question: As someone new to designing with flex materials, what is important to understand about the base materials? For people new to calling out flex materials, it can be a little intimidating. Just like their rigid material counterparts, there are so many options to choose from, it can be mind-boggling. But, also just like their rigid material counterparts, once you learn the “basics”, most designs will fit within common parameters. Once those Read Article

Semi-Additive Process Technology at Averatek In today’s OnTrack Podcast Judy talks to Mike Vinson, the COO of Averatek about their breakthrough innovation in which they use a semi-additive process incorporating a liquid metal ink as the catalyst seed layer. This special catalytic precursor “ink” can be imaged to create the patterns or areas where conducting metal is to be deposited. This ink controls the horizontal dimensions of line width and spacing and creates the ability to get down to Read Article

Interplane Capacitance and PCB Stackups This article is intended to provide guidance on the process of designing PCB stackups. It is useful to look at the evolution of technology as time has passed in order to see how the demands on the PCB stackup have changed. In the early days of PCB fabrication, logic circuits were so slow that the only concerns were how to make connections between logic or discrete parts and provide a path for the DC power to each part. All a needed to do was Read Article

Channel Operating Margin Isn’t So Bad What is a COM anyway? Channel Operating Margin, or COM, isn’t well understood. Since it isn’t well understood, many people doubt it really means anything. After all, how can channel quality be represented by just one number in decibels? It turns out, COM is actually the latest evolutionary step in a long progression of channel validation techniques using eye patterns. This blog will trace the evolution of COM back to its roots and put meaning to Read Article

End-to-End Tracking of Your PCB Design Have you ever run a board re-spin only to discover you’re not even sure what the changes were? I’m not talking about comparing GERBERs from Rev A to Rev B, rather I am referring to understanding the requirements that drove the changes, the reason behind the changes, and all the dialog that was happening around the changes. For most of us we capture these details via email, commit history in our version control system (e.g. Subversion, Perforce Read Article

Top 8 Flexible Circuit Advantages Early in my career, someone told me that flex circuit applications are really only limited by our imagination. I pondered that for a while, and I couldn’t agree more. Most of these “aha” moments happen when we are passing around a bunch of different samples, and a particular shape or level of flexibility sparks a new idea. One of the favorite parts of my job is the magical moment when I am working with a designer or group of engineers trying to Read Article

Printed Electronics Applications and Innovations The use of printed electronics is on the rise, and Chris Hunrath from Insulectro is here to talk about how to design for it. Learn about the different applications and design possibilities that are available to PCB designers. The proliferation of more advanced printed electronics materials from polyester film, polycarbonate, to transfer film for fabric and flexible circuitry have enabled interesting new applications for printed electronics Read Article

PCB Design Process Concepts Have you ever seen a architectural masterpiece like the Golden Gate bridge or maybe an historic building like the Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral? Then wondered how they came up with that idea and how they executed? A few words come to mind: Planning, planning and adjusting. PCB and SOC Package Design is sort of like that, meaning it is truly a puzzle of parts, circuit interfaces, power planes, thousands of signals, via transitions and many design Read Article

Weekly Digest: Altium at IPC Apex Expo Week in Review In this article, we’re rounding up and collecting everything we’ve published this week for our readers. It’s the weekend and a lot of people are coming out of IPC APEX and DesignCon. See our very own Judy Warner discuss our goals for the industry in this video interview by Kelly Dack at I-Connect007. Get ready to expand your knowledge. It’s been a busy week! Altium Videos on YouTube Stop by the Altium or Altium Designer® Youtube Channels and keep Read Article

Meeting Standards: IPC 6012 Class 3 Annular Ring If you’re like me, things like embedded computing and device miniaturization are fascinating topics. Moore’s Law is causing IC manufacturers to build successively smaller devices, and PCB design standards will eventually have to follow suit. Working under industry standards may seem onerous at first glance, and working under certain standards may seem to eliminate some design freedom. In reality, industry standards are designed to ensure that Read Article

SMART System for Data Management I have seen it, and perhaps you have too, where excessive design problems and too many re-spins of a PCB design can be attributed to just one thing; improper data management. I worked with a company once that considered half a dozen board spins acceptable just to iron out all the library problems. These kinds of problems can be greatly reduced and even eliminated with careful data management. The SMART system spells out a data management process Read Article

Everything You Need for Successful PCB Stackup Design There are three demands placed on stackup design: controlled impedance, crosstalk control and the need for interplane capacitance. Some fabricators could get the impedance right in a stackup, but there is no way for them to account for the other two. This responsibility rests with the design engineer who is the only one who knows what is needed and how to implement the needed control. This information is intended to provide guidance on the Read Article

How to Control Switching Signals with Terminations for Best Signal Quality A transmission line is a pair of conductors used to deliver energy in the form of an electromagnetic field. Most of us are familiar with the wires that lead to our houses to deliver the power needed to operate our lights and appliances. In the context of PCB design, it is a signal in a signal layer on top of a plane or between two planes. TRANSMISSION LINES AND TERMINATIONS The purpose of this section is to explain what transmission lines are Read Article

11 HDI Materials You Need to Know In this article we will discuss the materials used to manufacture HDI circuits. Several good resources exist on the subject of materials for PCBs (such as the Printed Circuit Handbook edited by Holden & Coombs) so we will concentrate on those materials that are specific to HDI. Materials for HDI The current HDI materials market worldwide was estimated by BPA Consulting Ltd. to be 83 million square meters. The breakdown by BPA Consulting of the Read Article