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Extended Life and High Reliability, What would a Fabricator Want You to Know?

Extended Life and High Reliability: What would a Fabricator Want You to Know? Do you need to work with your fabricator every time you start a design? Maybe not. Do you need to work with your fabricator early in the design process for flex and rigid-flex? Yes, I think so, especially if flex and rigid-flex designs are new to you. If you are well-experienced in flex and rigid-flex and have worked closely with your fabricator to understand their materials, preferences, and processes, you probably don’t need to reach out every Read Article

Chasing a Minimal Power Budget

Chasing a Minimal Power Budget If you’re working on a battery powered project that needs a long service life between charges or battery replacements, you’ll quickly find that every last microwatt of power starts to add up over months of operation. I have worked on some projects in the past that needed to run for months on a single charge of a secondary battery, or a single primary battery that was small enough that simply running the microcontroller at full power would drain Read Article

Designing Printed Electronics with Altium Designer 19

Designing Printed Electronics with Altium Designer 19 As far as I know, Altium Designer 19^® is the first electronics design tool that effectively supports printed electronics design. With this tool you can create printed electronics designs in the same level as with capabilities parallel to standard PCB designs, and to do that, Altium created electronics design features specific to printed electronics. With Altium Designer 19 you can define design rules according to production capabilities that will Read Article

Closing the gap between Electronics (ECAD) and Mechanics

Closing the gap between Electronics (ECAD) and Mechanics Users of modern devices expect manufacturers to design new generations of products that exceed their demands and expectations—high-quality products which provide amazing user experiences. With regard to product design that offers the best user experience, PCB design software is expected to provide engineers with specific features enabling the seamless collaboration between the electrical and mechanical engineers. To efficiently meet the above Read Article

Ceramic Capacitors - Why Voltage and Capacitance Ratings Aren't the Full Picture

Ceramic Capacitors - Why Voltage and Capacitance Ratings Aren't the Full Picture Ceramic Capacitors - Why Voltage and Capacitance Ratings Aren't the Full Picture The true capacitance of ceramic capacitors rarely matches what is stated on the specifications once they’re installed in end applications. Depending on what frequency, voltage, and dielectric you’re using, true capacitance can be vastly different from what you’d expect. This guide walks through the common misconceptions and demonstrates how to select the right Read Article

Designing For The Mil-aero Market Segment—Navy

Designing For The Mil-aero Market Segment—Navy When it comes to PCB design for a particular market segment, often times the design methodologies readily transfer from one market segment to another with very few, if any, significant changes. Other times this is not the case and designing products for a particular market segment requires specific design practices, materials and testing procedures. This blog is the first in a series addressing design strategies for specific vertical market Read Article

Getting Started in Altium Designer: The Schematic

Getting Started in Altium Designer: The Schematic A schematic is a way to record an idea. Schematics are drawings or diagrams that are used to communicate electronic ideas to others. You may have never thought about it, but anyone who understands electronics can look at your schematic and understand your idea, no matter what language they speak! Schematics are a universal “language” for recording and sharing electronic ideas. Here’s the official definition from IPC-T-50 (Terms and Definitions) Read Article

The Value of Rapid PCB Prototyping

The Value of Rapid PCB Prototyping Raspberry Pi, Arduino, off-the-shelf “maker” boards, and custom PCBs all play a part in rapid PCB prototyping. Read Article

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