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TVS Diode PCB Design Guidelines for Using TVS Diode for Transient Protection A TVS diode can help with your PCB layout withstand an ESD event by diverting surges away from protected components. Read Article
Reflectionless Matching vs. Conjugate Matching Reflectionless Matching vs. Conjugate Matching: An Apparent Contradiction Are reflectionless matching and conjugate matching contradictory? When we look at the formulation for power waves and S-parameters, we see where these are different. Read Article
Quarter-Wave Transformer Quarter-Wave Transformer Design For Real and Reactive Loads All quarter-wavelength transformers can be used for real loads, but some can be used for reactive loads with an additional transmission line section. Read Article
Link Budget Calculator RF Signal Chain and Link Budget Basics Learn about link budget in RF design and use our link budget calculator to evaluate your RF signal chain. Read Article
SMD pad size Best Methods for Calculating SMD Pad Size in PCB Design Component creation requires accurate SMD pad sizes in your PCB footprints. See how to determine pad sizes for your SMD components. Read Article
pcb component warpage causes Component Warpage Causes in a PCB A staff member at a PCB manufacturer once explained to me that they thought we were having an issue with a package warping. Prior to this I had assumed that this was highly unlikely in standard component packages used in a PCBA. Unfortunately, component warping can occur both in a PCB and in components. Mechanical mishandling leading to bending is an obvious one, but there are potentially other problems that could cause component warpage without Read Article
bga fanout pcb routing Which BGA Pad and Fanout Strategy is Right for Your PCB? Your BGA fanout strategy depends on the BGA pad size and your pin density. Learn how to pair the right BGA pad size with PCB trace width in this article. Read Article
ADC Ground How to Properly Ground ADCs Grounding with an ADC will influence noise injection into the board and it should be dealt with carefully when building a mixed-signal system. Read Article
Plated Through-Hole Vias in mmWave PCBs Plated Through-Hole Vias in mmWave PCBs Plated through-hole vias in mmWave PCBs can ruin signal integrity in your RF interconnects if not implemented properly. Learn how to size and place stitching vias in this article. Read Article
virtual array calculation How to Calculate a Virtual Array in MIMO Systems RF and sensing systems that use MIMO functionality have some important design constraints concerning virtual antenna design and placement. In these systems, due to the need for finer resolution and higher transmit/receive gain, the trend has been to pack more antennas into an array for beamforming and the reception of low-level signals. There is a reason for this trend, and it relates to an important concept in antenna array systems. When Read Article
PCB warpage Can You Fix a Warped PCB? Before we get too deep into this article, I’ll give you the simple answer. You probably can’t fix warping in your PCB after it’s already been fabricated. You can prevent an unwarped board from becoming warped during assembly, but only as long as materials were selected properly and the board is put into reflow correctly. We’ll run over some of these points in this article, and I’ll examine some points that might help you recover a warped board Read Article
Best RF Design Software Use the Best RF Design Software for High Frequency PCBs What should you look for in your RF design software? Integratoin between schematic and PCB is the top need among RF engineers. Read Article
Designing Custom Hardware with Microcontrollers Designing Custom Hardware with Microcontrollers Learn how to design custom hardware using microcontrollers. Read Article
Non-functional Pads PCB How Non-functional Pads Affect Your PCB Design Non-functional pads are sometimes framed as an all-or-nothing debate, and the debates about reliability and effects on signal integrity abound. Should you keep them on your vias, or should you remove them from all vias? Like any design decision there are tradeoffs to balance, and typically one aspect of a design will take precedence over all others. Because there is no generalized rule about the use of non-functional pads, designers should Read Article
The Newest Feature Upgrades in Altium Designer 22.7 The Newest Feature Upgrades in Altium Designer 22.7 August 26, 2022 ONTRACK BI-WEEKLY New This Month in Altium Designer Altium Designer 22.7 offers new schematic and layout features that help you supercharge your design experience. This newest announcement focuses on three productivity features in variants, the PCB Editor, and the Schematic Editor: Support For Paste Mask in Variants - Need to change paste mask expansion in a PCBA variant? Altium Designer now gives you the control to specify this Read Article
22:46 The Advantages of Using a Project Release Package Watch our webinar: “The Advantages of Using a Project Release Package”. Click here. Watch Video
How to Select Copper Foil How to Select Copper Foil for High-Frequency PCB Design Learn how to choose the right kind of copper foil for your high frequency PCB stackup. The same ideas apply to selection of copper for high-speed PCBs. Read Article