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Stay Grounded: Digital, Analog, and Earth Ground in PCB Layout All About Ground Reference and Chassis Ground in Electronics Design The concepts of grounding techniques, earthing, making PCB ground connections, and PCB chassis ground are all very convoluted in electronics, despite international standards that have tried to separate concepts and terminology. Grounding is important in every aspect of electronics design, electrical work, and of course, in PCB design. All circuits will need a reference connection, which is something that we call ground, but the exact reference is Read Article
Eliminate the Crosstalk: LVDS Routing and the Art of Differential Signaling LVDS Routing and the Art of Differential Signaling One of the early differential signaling protocols used for serial communication was low-voltage differential signaling, or LVDS. Throughout the development of standardized protocols and interfaces, there have been many standards that have come and gone. LVDS started as an excellent general purpose high-speed digital communication standard, and it still sees such use to this day. As a differential communication standard, it brings some signal Read Article
Worry Less About Schematic and Layout De-Sync Design Synchronization Tools: Worry Less About Schematic and Layout De-Sync Drawing out your next great idea on the back of an envelope is much easier than drawing out a PCB by hand. This is where PCB software becomes important and is used to take your design all the way to production. Your schematic and layout need keep your design data synchronized throughout the design entire process. Keeping all your design data synchronized across your design tools is critical to maintaining high productivity. Your design software Read Article
Select the Right Microvia Aspect Ratio in Your HDI PCB Select the Right Microvia Aspect Ratio in Your HDI PCB If you’re not familiar with PCB design or electronics in general, you probably wonder how newer electronics can pack so much functionality into progressively smaller devices. It takes more than just Moore’s Law, it takes creative PCB design methods to pack all that functionality into a single device. This gave birth to HDI design for densely packed circuit boards and small electronics, like smartphones and small form factor embedded systems. Vias Read Article
Mitigating High Junction Temperature to Optimize PCB Performance Mitigating High Junction Temperature to Optimize PCB Performance I consider myself a great multitasker, especially when it comes to preparing meals for my son. I’ll have fish frying in one pan, soup boiling in the other, and potatoes in the oven. Things usually go as well as planned except on rare occasions when one of the dishes burns while I’m absorbed in other tasks. Fortunately, these temperature problems won’t cost me much more than a few dollars and some time. In electronics, your hardware can literally Read Article
Mechanical System Verification Keeps Production Optimized Mechanical System Verification Keeps Production Optimized These days, electronic packaging is more than just a neat rectangular box with some holes drilled for input and output cables. Electronics are sleeker with uniquely-shaped packaging, and your android mobile phone circuit board diagram images need to fit into tight clearances. Whether it is through design optimization with collaboration between design engineers and mechanical engineering, or through a production process with strong inventory Read Article
High-Speed Design: Definitive Guide for Utilizing Altium Designer for Your Board Needs High-Speed Design: Definitive Guide for Utilizing Altium Designer for Your Board Needs There was a time in printed circuit board layout when working with high-speed designs was a living nightmare. Those older CAD tools just didn’t have the horse-power or the functionality to help much when it came to working with the extra design requirements. Differential pairs had to be routed together manually, and measured trace lengths had to be calculated by hand. And if that wasn’t hard enough, trying to determine the total length of a Read Article
PCB Routing Tips: Navigating Your Way Through BGA Fanout Options PCB Routing Tips: Navigating Your Way Through BGA Fanout Options Tom rose through the ranks of his company to become the new vice-president. He had worked hard, forged relationships, and consistently built his knowledge about the company. Unfortunately, Tom also contracted a serious disease called acronymitis that spread like the plague throughout key sectors of the company. Try as he might, Tom could not resist speaking in acronyms. Sometimes, his wife would hear him talking in his sleep—in acronyms Read Article
Copper Efficiency and its Impact on Electronics Design and Manufacturing Copper Efficiency and its Impact on Electronics Design and Manufacturers We learned early in our engineering education that copper is the most widely used metal to conduct electricity. The industry trade group, Copper Development Association, indicates that 61% of all mined copper ends up as an electrical conductor in a never-ending list of applications. Further study shows that choosing a metal for use in an electrical circuit goes beyond its ability to conduct electricity, and includes such things as electrical Read Article
The Problem With Using Excel Templates For Your Bill of Materials The Problem With Using Excel Templates For Your Bill of Materials Let’s give credit where credit is due: templates can be very useful tools. I’m not really the artistic type, and artistic templates have really helped enhance my documents and presentations. Templates are useful for certain tasks, but using a bill of materials template for a new electronic device is not one of them. Moving from a finished design to the assembly stage for a new product is no simple task. Your manufacturer needs detailed Read Article
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