Protect Your PCB From ESD

Created: October 30, 2017
Updated: March 20, 2020

|

Protect Your PCB From ESD

From computers and televisions, to automobiles and kitchen appliances, PCBs are found in nearly every aspect of our lives-- many of our devices would not be possible without them. They are the brains of our electronics, and as such, it is of the utmost importance to do everything in our power to ensure our designs are protected from potentially catastrophic threats. Proper routing and schematics, component placement, and special attention to grounds to minimize the risk of ESD damage goes a long way to ensuring your PCB design maintains its efficiency and lifespan.

Join us as we explore topics about protecting your PCB design, click the PDF above to read in your browser.

Or view the original content here:

Check out the Protect Your PCB From ESD Presentation for a more concise version of this material.

Related Resources

Implementing Complex Pad Shapes

Implementing Complex Pad Shapes Component pads are not always simply round or rectangular shapes. Analog, high-power, or RF components often require geometrically complex or irregular shaped pads. This paper details an easy and eﬃcient solution for when a user is confronted with having to quickly implement complex pad shapes that must meet the manufacturer’s layout requirements without resulting in DRC violations or manufacturing errors. INTRODUCTION Most component package Read Article

Enhancing Your Design Efficiency with Project Templates

Enhancing Your Design Efficiency with Project Templates HIERARCHICAL SCHEMATIC DESIGN IN ALTIUM DESIGNER New Altium Designer users may not fully understand the benefits of organizing schematic sheets into a hierarchical top-down or bottom-up perspective. As a result, users often proceed with simple (ﬂat) schematic designs without giving a second thought to project organization. In this paper, we’ll take a comprehensive look at the sheet symbols and how they’re used to synchronize the parts of a larger Read Article

5 Tips for Specifying PCB Hole Size Tolerance

5 Tips for Specifying PCB Hole Size Tolerance Learn how to quickly add and clearly communicate hole size tolerance specifications to your fabricator to ensure your PCB design is manufactured properly. One of the more forgotten topics in PCB design are the holes through which components are mounted. Specifying the tolerance of hole dimensions in PCB fabrication ensures proper fit of plated-through-hole (PTH) components. Just as important, those dimensions must be clearly communicated to the Read Article

3D Measuring in Altium Designer

3D Measuring in Altium Designer The Altium Designer PCB editor gives designers the ability to display their board in glorious 3D measuring. With the help of Microsoft DirectX, the PCB editor allows the complete visualization of printed circuit boards, completely loaded with all of their components. You can then view the loaded board, zoom in, rotate it, and thoroughly examine it in full, three-dimensional detail. You can view it from any angle or position that you choose, or Read Article

Streamlining the Altium Designer User Experience

Streamlining the Altium Designer User Experience Learn how to streamline your Altium Designer experience with shortcut keys, pcb workflow automation, and a customizable workspace. Modern CAD tools employ an ever growing collection of features and functionality. One of the leaders in this area is Altium Designer, which provides users with a single, unified package that includes Schematic capture, PCB layout, Native 3D PCB, Signal Integrity, SPICE simulation, Embedded Software development, and Read Article

Breaking the Visual Barrier

Breaking the Visual Barrier How many PCB design hours have you wasted trying to decipher a legacy project you just inherited? How about wading through thousands of connection lines, trying to determine the best component placement? It can be disheartening, to say the least. Fortunately, there’s a better way. Let’s take a look at how you can use Net Color overrides to provide visual enhancements for both the schematic and PCB, to give you visual control over your design Read Article

Storage Manager File Safety Guaranteed

Storage Manager File Safety Guaranteed Learn how the ECAD storage manager in Altium Designer can help you to recover previous versions of a PCB design project and easily access all of your electronics design projects. How many times has this happened to you? You’re working on a project, when all of a sudden, you make some significant modification to it accidentally, and then save it, losing your previous work. In this document, we present a feature called Storage Manager a method that Read Article

Re-using Circuits with Snippets Shaves Design Time

Re-using Circuits with Snippets Shaves Design Time Learn how to make reuse of circuits with snippets in Altium Designer to save time on your design process. Often, a commonly used circuit, such as a power supply that has met UL or EMI certification, may appear in many designs. Or, a circuit such as an output buffer, might be reproduced several times on one PDB. The design can be accelerated by grabbing those circuit layouts and re-using them, both on a single board design in the case of the Read Article

Implementing Touch Sensors

Implementing Touch Sensors Learn how to design a reliable alternative to traditional mechanical switches with capacitive touch sensor technology in Altium Designer. Capacitive touch sensor technology offers an inexpensive and highly reliable alternative to the traditional mechanical switches that are used in electronics control interfaces. Manually creating or resizing a touch sensor’s complex vendor/technology- specific patterns can be both difficult and time-consuming Read Article

Reverse Engineering Project Libraries

Reverse Engineering Project Libraries Outsourcing has become the de-facto solution for companies seeking to cut costs and increase their profit margins. Rather than consuming their own resources on a particular task, companies farm it out to other firms that specializes in that particular area, leaving them to focus on what they do best. New product design often gets contracted out to separate design firms. If that’s you — your company outsources PCB design or your company is a PCB Read Article

Back to Home

Take advantage of the world's
most trusted PCB design system.

One interface. One data
model. Endless possibilities.

Effortlessly collaborate with
mechanical designers.

The world's most trusted
PCB design platform

Best in class interactive
routing

View License Options