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How the Right Tools in Your PCB Toolkit Can Help Your Next Design How the Right Tools in Your PCB Toolkit Can Help Your Next Design When my sons were young, it was a joy for me to introduce and show them how to use tools for repair or construction. They would ask questions about the different tools in my toolkit, and my pair of old Channellock pliers really seemed to catch their interest. To tell the truth, those Channellocks are my favorite too. I inherited them from my dad, and still use them. They’re the first tool in my kit that I look for when I need to solve a problem Read Article
High-Speed Design Techniques: Trace Tuning for Routing Length Matching High-Speed Design Techniques: Trace Tuning for Routing Length Matching The first time I heard someone talking about “tuning” their high speed design techniques, the memory of my middle school band came to mind. Back in those days, “tuning” meant taking kids who lacked experience and who used tired old instruments and trying to turn it all into something that blended together. As you would expect, our first attempts at being in tune were not very successful. After some work learning about signal integrity, the ground Read Article
How to Setup and Route A Differential Pair in CircuitStudio How to Setup and Route A Differential Pair in CircuitStudio This video will cover how to create, setup rules, and route differential pairs. Read Article
How Multi-Level BOMs Can Organize Your Next System Design How Multi-Level BOMs Can Organize Your Next System Design If only packing for vacation were as simple as it sounds: figure out what clothes you need, throw them in a suitcase, and you’re ready to go—wrong! Here’s the more realistic vacation planning scenario: pack your clothes, pack your children’s clothes, and then pack all the other personal necessities such as diapers, games, etc. Next you need to pack the food followed by whatever gear your particular vacation requires including tents, fishing Read Article
How Component Placement can Make or Break Your Manufacturing Budget How Component Placement can Make or Break Your PCB Machine Manufacturing Budget With each new PCB design, there comes a time when you must make decisions based on more than performance alone. Physical space is easily overlooked in the world of equations, schematics, and oscilloscopes—we'll often focus on signal integrity over such mundanities as component volume. In the days of room-filling computers, we didn’t have to be deliberate with our space. However, cost, time and space requirements have obviously changed. There is Read Article
High Speed PCB Designing: Signal Paths Introduction to High Speed PCB Designing: Signal Paths Have you ever planned an airline trip where there isn’t a direct flight to get you to your destination? I have, and as you probably already know, it isn’t a problem. I use the travel planner on my airline’s website and let it figure out every detail of the trip for me. All I have to do is plug in my origin and destination, and the planner determines my itinerary—with enough time to make my connections. It’s a piece of cake. Can you imagine how Read Article
How Schematic Design Reuse Can Help Your Next PCB Schematic Layout How Schematic Design Reuse Can Help Your Next PCB Schematic Layout In the town where I live there is this lady who is a magician with a sewing machine. She is in charge of the wardrobes for the high school musicals and is a whiz at taking costumes from old shows, and reusing them for new productions. Sometimes she alters the older costumes, and sometimes she simply uses them the way they already are. In the show this year, the evil queen is wearing a flamboyant dress that is actually an altered version of a Read Article
Using Obsolescence Management Software to Avoid Surprises with Obsolete Parts Using Obsolescence Management Tools and Software to Avoid Surprises with Obsolete Parts Recently I helped with a plumbing problem at my mother-in-law’s house. A fixture had started to leak and water was going everywhere. As she thought about it for a while, mom realized that she had been living there for 25 years and had never replaced this fixture. The old part had now failed though, and needed to be replaced. However, trying to find a modern replacement part that would fit turned out to be an even bigger problem. It’s one of those Read Article
Intelligent Routing Features In PCB Design Software Let You Work Smarter, Not Harder Intelligent Routing Features In PCB Design Software Let You Work Smarter, Not Harder Everybody has those lazy moments, trying to figure out how little one can do while still completing a task. In my first job, I created software where I can automatically launch my favorite applications through voice commands. Later, I found a new level by coding a special program to email reports, close applications, and shut down my computer with one click of a button. My first PCB designs took place on the early versions of PCB design software Read Article
The Advantages and Disadvantages of Active and Passive RFID Technologies The Advantages and Disadvantages of Active and Passive RFID Technologies When I’m designing a new PCB or product one of the hardest parts for me is choosing exactly which components I should use. It seems like every technology out there now has a different configuration to achieve the best performance. Even when you’re dealing with a fairly straightforward technology like radio frequency identification (RFID) circuit board there are a lot of flavors to choose from. While every type of RFID design label uses an active Read Article
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