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PCB Design

How Do Pads and Vias Impact Total Capacitor Parasitic Inductance?

How Do Pads and Vias Impact Total Capacitor Parasitic Inductance? In this blog article we discuss how the footprint and mounting style affect capacitor parasitic inductance. The pads and vias back to the PCB power planes increase the total series inductance of the capacitor. Read Article

An Overview Of PCB Outer Layer Processing

An Overview Of PCB Outer Layer Processing Expert Kella Knack describes in detail the fabrication of the PCB outer layer. Read and learn about how different vias are formed and the steps involved in the multilayer build-up process. Read Article

The PCB Fabrication Process—what Every Design Engineer Needs To Know, Part 2

The PCB Fabrication Process—What Every Design Engineer Needs To Know, Part 2 In Part 1 of this article, I described the first steps that occur during the PCB fabrication process. They detailed the inner layer processing effort as well as the efforts that take place during the transition from inner layer processing to lamination. This part of the article will provide a detailed description of the lamination, drilling and plating processes. The goal of these two articles is to familiarize designers and design engineers Read Article

The PCB Fabrication Process—What Every Design Engineer Needs To Know, Part 1

The PCB Fabrication Process—What Every Design Engineer Needs To Know, Part 1 In the olden and not-so-olden days of PCB development, the process of moving a board from design to manufacturing was often referred to as “throwing the design over the wall.” This was not the result of the operations being so clearly divided, but rather a way to assign ownership and blame if there were errors. My last project at Martin Marietta was a black hole program for the U.S. Airforce and Navy. When problems were encountered during the Read Article

Working with Design Variants

Working with Design Variants Introduction They say variety is the spice of life. That is also the case for PCB designs. It may come as a shock to some, but many companies are in business and always chasing this thing called “profits” (I am using my sarcastic voice). It is entirely understandable that profit is what keeps the doors open and people employed. A significant way that they improve the bottom line is to have a variety of product lines available to their customers Read Article

Arduino Portenta H7 Brings Dev Boards to Production Grade

Arduino Portenta H7 Brings Dev Boards to Production Grade When I hear the name “Arduino,” I don’t usually think of production-grade hardware. I’m not talking down to the folks at Arduino, they’ve done an excellent job at invading the educational and proof-of-concept development niches, to the extent that other hardware platforms simply haven’t been able to catch up. Arduino boards are an excellent choice for low volume functional prototyping and embedded software development. But what about production Read Article

GaN MMIC Power Amplifier Market Outlook and Applications

GaN MMIC Power Amplifier Market Outlook and Applications The next smartphone you buy is likely to include a GaN MMIC power amplifier for wireless communication. What was formerly relegated to academia is now seeing fast commercialization. These developments aren’t limited to smartphones, although this is expected to account for a significant portion of the growing RF components market. High frequency radar in automotive, aerospace, and even robotics is expected to be a significant driver of further GaN Read Article

What Types of EMI Filters are Best for Passing EMC Testing?

What Types of EMI Filters are Best for Passing EMC Testing? When you need to pass EMC testing and your new product is being crippled by a mysterious source of EMI, you’ll probably start considering a complete product redesign. Your stackup, layout/routing, and component placement are good places to start, but there might be more you can do to suppress specific sources of EMI. There are many different types of EMI filters that you can place in your design, and the right filter can help suppress EMI in a Read Article

Thermal Relief Via Design for Proper Impedance

Thermal Relief Via Design for Proper Impedance Following DFM guidelines is a critical requirement for ensuring high yields and defect-free boards during fabrication. Most DFM guidelines are well-grounded and do not generally interfere with signal integrity. In the event that they do, most EDA tools include features that can help ensure you won’t sacrifice signal integrity for manufacturability, and the two design aspects often go hand-in-hand. One aspect of routing/layout, signal integrity Read Article

Why you should be using Concord Pro?

Why You Should Be Using Concord Pro Altium Concord Pro™ as a standalone product and brand name has been discontinued and the capabilities are now available as part of our Altium enterprise solutions. Learn more here. Introduction A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, or so the aphorism goes. I think it’s worth noting that the first step is the most difficult to take. In my experience, the best engineers suffer from a condition in which they, before even taking Read Article

Top Tips from Experienced Flex Designers

Top Tips from Experienced Flex Designers Fabrication: In general, advice given about flexible circuit fabrication is split between knowledge of the fabricator and their process, and communication. Knowledge of the printed circuit board fabrication process is not as common as it once was, and this is even more apparent with the subtleties of flex manufacturing. Understanding the manufacturing process helps to illuminate areas that are more challenging for fabrication, as well as areas Read Article

Design for testability for PCB designers and manufacturers

Designing for Testability in PCB Design: Ensure High Yield and Quality If you remember your days in school, then you probably remember the feeling of happiness and celebration when you pass a big exam. You’ll feel the same sense of adulation when your board spin passes a barrage of pre and post assembly tests, but a complex design might not reach that stage unless you implement the right design for testability methods. There are some simple steps that can help your manufacturer identify and quickly implement Read Article

How to Create a Test Point Schematic Symbol and Footprint in Altium Designer

How to Create a Test Point Schematic Symbol and Footprint in Altium Designer Bare board testing is like a moment of truth, where your fabricator and your design team determines whether a board passes inspection. Some basic test fixtures and testing points should be indicated in your schematic and your PCB layout, especially when they are critical for evaluating board functionality. So what is the best way to do this? You might rely on your manufacturer to assign test points, but for critical circuit blocks, you should Read Article

PCBs vs. Multichip Modules, Chiplets, and Silicon Interconnect Fabric

PCBs vs. Multichip Modules, Chiplets, and Silicon Interconnect Fabric (2023 Update) An article in the September 2019 issue of IEEE Spectrum claimed that silicon interconnect fabric, a method for connecting chiplets on a multichip module or advanced package, would eliminate PCBs and bulky SoCs for many applications, specifically motherboards. It's now 2023, and no one seems to have ditched PCBs yet; the demand for PCBs remains as strong as ever and is still projected to grow at double-digit CAGR. This is despite the expected Read Article

Decoupling Capacitor and Bypass Placement Guidelines

Decoupling Capacitor and Bypass Placement Guidelines Power integrity issues are often assessed from the power supply side, but examining IC output is equally crucial. Decoupling and bypass capacitors help stabilize power fluctuations on the PDN, ensuring consistent signal levels and maintaining a steady voltage at an IC’s power and ground pins. To assist with effective usage, we've outlined essential design guidelines for bypassing and decoupling capacitors in your next PCB. This blog explores the Read Article

Filter Transfer Function and Pole-Zero Analysis in Altium Designer

Filter Transfer Function and Pole-Zero Analysis in Altium Designer I remember spending hours on circuit analysis problems in my electronics classes, and I learned to analyze all sorts of filter/amplifier configurations by hand. The circuits were usually tractable with Ohm’s law and Kirchoff’s laws, as long as there was no feedback in the circuit. Circuits for advanced applications, such as wideband or multiband matching circuits for RF components, can quickly become difficult to analyze by hand. But as the Read Article

PCB Design and Layout for Hyperspectral Imaging Systems

PCB Design for Hyperspectral Sensor and Imaging Systems What was once confined to the most advanced aerospace applications is now commonplace enough to be found in our everyday lives. Insulation, CCDs, air purifiers, and other technologies wouldn’t be possible without a robust space program in the 1960s and 1970s. One less well-known technology that deserves such attention is remote sensing, which has been used casually and for scientific research since the first American and Russian space flights Read Article