PCB Design

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What's Different in HDI? Defining Interconnect Density When planning an HDI design, there are measures of performance or metrics for the HDI process. Like the triangle in Figure 1, these three vital chains of the HDI Process are elements of interconnection density. FIGURE 1. HDI Design Metrics Assembly Complexity Two measures of the difficulty to assemble surface mounted components, Component Density (Cd), measured in parts per square inch (or per square centimeter.) and Read Article

Get to Know Microvia Manufacturing Processes and HDI Substrates Initial HDI Fabrication High Density Interconnect printed circuits actually started in 1980, when researchers started investigating ways to reduce the size of vias. The first innovator is not known, but some of the earliest pioneers include Larry Burgess of MicroPak Laboratories (developer of LaserVia), Dr. Charles Bauer at Tektronix (who produced photodielectric vias), [1] and Dr. Walter Schmidt at Contraves (who developed plasma-etched vias) Read Article

11 HDI Materials You Need to Know In this article we will discuss the materials used to manufacture HDI circuits. Several good resources exist on the subject of materials for PCBs (such as the Printed Circuit Handbook edited by Holden & Coombs) so we will concentrate on those materials that are specific to HDI. Materials for HDI The current HDI materials market worldwide was estimated by BPA Consulting Ltd. to be 83 million square meters. The breakdown by BPA Consulting of the Read Article

Introduction to High Density Interconnects and the Evolution of Electronics The Evolution of Electronics Electronics is a relatively new industry, since it has been only 65 years since the transistor was invented. The radio tube was developed nearly 100 years ago but blossomed in WWII, with communications, radar, ammunition fusing (especially the radar-altimeter electronic fusing for the first atom bomb) and has evolved into the world largest industry. All electronic components must be interconnected and assembled to Read Article

Layer Management as a Design Tool Priority Rome wasn’t built in a day, and the same could be said for printed circuit boards. PCBs are similar to cities in that they contain pathways connecting components. Components have dimension into the surrounding air space, as well as into the thickness of the board itself. Hidden subsystems similar to underground wiring and cityscape piping reside within the thickness of the boards. Printed circuit boards mimic cities with their layers of Read Article

Design Rules to Fanout a Large BGA I have known people during my career who insisted on hand-routing every PCB design that they worked on. They would say that their manual routing performed better, looked better, and was just better in general. I’m not going to argue one way or the other on that, but I will say that there is one thing that can not be argued with; all of that manual routing took them a much longer time to complete then if they had used automated routers. With today Read Article

Using an IPC-2152 Calculator: Designing to Standards I work with a hardware startup that is working on new light sources for microscopic imaging. The visionaries abound and several talented people are working to make the devices into promising prototypes. But even in this early stage, there has been little talk of designing the product according to industry standards. While it may seem like a simple requirement, knowing the temperature rise and current carrying capacity in your PCB are outlined in Read Article

Asymmetric Striplines in Your Next Multi-layer PCB The beauty of symmetricity in art, science, and nature, in general, is something of a wonder. The visual balance between elements in a painting or drawing can make or break a piece of artwork. PCB design is as much art as it is engineering, and symmetricity plays as much of a technical role as it does an aesthetic role. Ever since its humble beginnings as a replacement for high frequency coaxial cables and waveguides, striplines are a mainstay Read Article

Managing 3D Models for ECAD/MCAD Data Transfer Communication is tricky when oppositional semantics fail to play well together. This sentence is a good case in point. When ill stated, information is rarely understood. The same goes with software infrastructures. Many do not play well together when information in one is defined differently in another. 3D models of components for use by mechanical and electrical CAD programs are historically represented quite differently across platforms. This Read Article

Working with IPC Compliant Footprint Models Industry standards have been a boon for the electronics industry. These standards give designers assurance that the components they select can be reused across their designs, specifications will be consistent, and that IPC-compliant manufacturers can build their boards using standard processes. It’s all about increasing productivity and ensuring your devices will work as you intended. The IPC 7350 series of standards (specifically, IPC 7351B) Read Article

OnTrack Newsletter: A Look Under the Hood at Altium Designer 19, and Is IPC CID Important for Your Career? - December 2018 OnTrack Newsletter December 2018 VOL. 2 No 8 ALTIUM ® 19 HAS ARRIVED! See the New Features of Altium 19 Altium 19 has just been released and features several exciting new and enhanced capabilities. Get a first look here at some of the functionality that defines the latest version of Altium . READ FULL ARTICLE IS IPC CID TRAINING IMPORTANT FOR YOUR DESIGN CAREER? Insights from CID IPC Trainer, Stephen Chavez Stephen Chavez is the lead electrical Read Article

From Mechanical Drilling to Laser Drilling of Microvias The first PCBs I made as a young engineer were pretty simple, with wires used to connect components on the top side of the board. Once things got more complicated, board space became a real consideration, and components were packed too close for comfort. I eventually had a tangled mess of wires on the top and bottom sides of the board connecting multiple components. Later on, I learned more about using design software for multilayer design. Using Read Article

Sizing Vias in Your Next Multilayer PCBs If you’ve ever opened up an old cell phone, you’ve likely noticed the intricate dance between traces and vias. These elements tango with the signal traces on inner board layers, and sizing them properly is as much art as it is science. Your vias are critical for accessing the inner layers in a multi-layer PCB. So how do you choreograph the balance between your vias, traces, and components? Your vias should be sized appropriately if they are to be Read Article

Split PCB Plane Pours are Partial to Carefully Managed Connections James Madison said that “philosophy is common sense with big words.” Big words can produce a mess if applied with the wrong syntax. Similarly, the ability to produce intricate PCB designs requires extraordinary vision, each minute step exquisitely accomplished through common sense. Common sense and, if you’re lucky, elegant design tools. PCB design tools able to make common sense from complicated layout rules promote efficient development Read Article

Managing Net Connection Order from Schematic to Layout When I first started designing printed circuit boards, it was a very unorganized process. We would create the schematics in our department, and then the system administrators would work their voodoo and transfer all that data from us into the layout department. The layout guys were an even bigger mystery, working all hours of the night and day on these complex Unix machines that supported their CAD layout tools. We would communicate our design Read Article

Optimal Multi-Board Assembly Placement with Object Smart Mates Ensuring the form and fit of multiple boards in an enclosure can challenge the most seasoned professional. Accurate 3D modeling gives you an intuitive way to picture and understand how your design will be manufactured and assembled. The problem gets worse when you start mixing traditional PCB and rigid-flex designs into a single assembly. Without insight into the complete multi-board assembly build, you have a better chance of finding a needle in Read Article

Using Library Search Features for Easier Component Selection Components are those critical elements in your PCB that keep it ticking along and doing its job. Your component libraries contain all the information about available components in a single location, making it easy to add components to your board and use component information with your simulation and rules-checking features. Other design software packages like to separate these features into different programs, or they force you to use an external Read Article