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Learning Current Density: Don’t Pop the Balloon Learning Current Density: Don’t Pop the Balloon One area of PCB design that probably does not get the attention that it deserves is current density. Current density in a PCB trace is much like the pressure in a balloon. You want to squeeze as much air into the balloon as you can, but if you put too much: boom! The same is true of PCB traces many times. We want the traces to be as small as possible yet carry the most current possible, and if the trace carries too much: boom! For PCBs, that boom Read Article
ALTIUM EVALUATION GUIDE FOR PADS® USERS ALTIUM EVALUATION GUIDE FOR PADS® USERS Read Article
Five Tips Guaranteed to Reduce PCB Design Time Five Tips Guaranteed to Reduce PCB Design Time Most engineers and PCB designers are creatures of habit. Once a roadmap has been prepared for creating successful products, that is the road most often traveled. We often don’t have the time to experiment with new techniques or look for new, innovative ways to accomplish tasks, and while that is not always a bad thing, it does not bode well if our competitors are creating successful products faster and cheaper than we are. To maintain your Read Article
Net Clearance Rules Net Clearance Rules Designers now have the ability to set specific parameters between same net objects when placing primitives on a board. Restricting space allows you to maintain clearance for primitives, and restricting primitives of the same net to a set clearance ultimately allows greater flexibility when forcing electrical primitives to interact with other electrical objects in a specific manner. INTRODUCTION Clearance rules set requirement constraints that Read Article
Altium WP Polygon Or Plane Which Is Better Which is Better in PCB Design: Polygons or Planes? PCB designers have two choices when implementing large copper areas for power and ground regions: polygons or planes. Users often ask which is better in PCB designs, a polygon or a plane for implementing power and ground nets, but both design features produce similar end results. Once you’ve decided which type of structure is most useful in your PCB polygon layout, you can place the structure you need for your design using the right set of CAD Read Article
Not That Much Force: Software for Updating PCB Layouts Not That Much Force: Software for Updating PCB Layouts and Avoiding Redesigns The other night I went to see the new Star Wars movie, “The Last Jedi," and although I really enjoyed the movie I found myself laughing out loud during one sequence. I wasn’t laughing because of the humor of the movie, or a silly looking alien—there were plenty of those to go around already. Instead I was laughing because for one brief sequence they showed some electronic circuitry that appeared to be composed of what looked like thru-hole Read Article
The Best PCB Component Placement Software Helps You to Efficiently Finish Your Placement The Best PCB Component Placement Software Helps You to Efficiently Finish Your Placement Remember when we were kids and our parents gave us permission to do something fun but first we had to finish our chores? Now, taking out the garbage, folding clothes, and mowing the grass I’d prefer compared to budgeting for vacations or renovating bathrooms. Getting the chores completed lets me move on to something that is at least significantly more convenient and in many cases more fun. When I’m designing, I have similar chore preferences and Read Article
Pass The Baton Well to PCB Design Successors Pass The Baton Well to PCB Design Successors Have you ever walked into a new job, first-day energy rolling through your shoulders, only to sit down and look at the notes left from the person who last had your job and know exactly what the problem was: poor organization. Poor organization is usually pretty noticeable in any work process; however, it takes on its most detrimental final form when you are trying to train someone based on the poorly organized leftovers of someone else. Early in Read Article
No More Wrong Ports: Implementing USB Devices In Your Hardware Design No More Wrong Ports: Implementing USB Devices In Your Hardware Design I keep having what I like to call “Grouchy Old Man Thoughts” (GOMT). You know the type: “Why do I have to learn this new thing if what I have works for me?” or, “I wonder what it’d be like to have a conversation without them being on their phone half the time.” Well, my most recent GOMT has been that I think anyone born after the 90s is pretty lucky, technologically. They didn’t have to go through the painstaking phase before Universal Serial Read Article
High Speed Tips and Tricks High Speed Tips and Tricks Click the PDF above to read more about High Speed Design in this presentation. Or read the original, full-length content here: Introduction to High Speed PCB Designing: Is FR-4 the Best Board Material Choice for High Speed PCB Design? Board Layer Stackup Considerations for High Speed Board Design High Speed PCB Design Considerations: Component Shape Considerations High Speed PCB Design Considerations: Bypass Capacitor Place and Route Tips High Read Article
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