PCB Routing

Routing in your PCB makes copper connections between components, and best routing practices will help ensure signal integrity, low crosstalk, and low EMI. Browse our library of resources to learn more about routing in your PCB and how the best PCB layout software helps you obey routing rules and signaling standards.

PCB Routing in Altium Designer Design Rules for PCB Routing Efficient PCB Routing Tools (Webinar)

FPGA PCB layout

How to Start an FPGA PCB Layout For Your Embedded System FPGAs are key elements that aid innovation in advanced embedded systems where ready-made SoCs may not be available. See why you should use an FPGA in your embedded system. Read Article

skew sources high speed PCB

Addressing Skew Sources in High Speed PCBs Sometimes, when we talk about skew, we aren't as specific as we should be. Most discussions of skew and jitter deal with the type of skew incurred during routing, namely due to length mismatches in differential pairs and fiber weave-induced skew. In fact, there are many different sources of skew that contribute to total jitter on an interconnect, and it's important to quantify these in serial and parallel buses that require precise timing control Read Article

length tuning impedance

What is the Impedance of Length-Tuning Structures? Length tuning impedance is difficult to calculate, but you can minimize the impact of length tuning structure impedance deviations with some simple differential pair design strategies. Read Article

Pin-Package Delay and Via Delay

Pin-Package Delay and Via Delay in High Speed Length Tuning Take a look at the inside of some integrated circuit packages, and you’ll find a number of wires bonded to the semiconductor die and the pads at the edge of the component's package. As a signal traverses makes its way along an interconnect and into a destination circuit, signals need to travel across these bond wires and pads before they are interpreted as a logic state. As you look around the edge of an IC, these bond wires can have different Read Article

molded interconnect devices

MIDs Make a Comeback as Vertical SMD Modules for Your PCB If you’ve ever wanted to mount components vertically, but without the expense of a flex section, use an MID in your PCB. Read Article

PCB copper roughness

How Much Copper Roughness in Your PCB is Too Much? When we talk about copper roughness, we always bring it up as if it were a universally bad thing. The fact is, some circuits will always function just fine even if the copper is rough. As long as your traces are fabricated to spec in every other area, the roughness of the traces might not matter as long as your operating frequency or bandwidth are low enough. Just what constitutes “low enough” and when is the effect of roughness so small that we Read Article

PCB Copper Foil

Types of PCB Copper Foil for High-Frequency Design Does your design need smooth PCB copper foil? It all depends on the frequency range you’re working in. Learn more in this article. Read Article

Transmission Line Impedance Calculator

PCB Transmission Line Impedance Calculators We’ve compiled a set of transmission line impedance calculators for use in high speed PCB design and RF design. Read Article

Ebook: Routing High-Density Interconnects with Reliable Microvias Routing high density PCBs is heavily rules driven and it requires understanding what contributes to microvia reliability. Download PDF

Mode-Selective Transmission Line

Harness mmWave Routing with a Mode-Selective Transmission Line High frequency and data rate channels can be routed as a mode-selective transmission line. Here’s when you should consider this routing technique. Read Article

Parasitic Extraction with an Electromagnetic Solver in PCB Routing

Parasitic Extraction with an Electromagnetic Solver in PCB Routing Parasitic extraction: the integrated circuit design community must grapple with this task on a daily basis, especially once gate features are reduced below ~350 nm and chips run at high switching speeds. The PCB community also has to deal with this idea in order to better design power delivery networks, interconnects with precise impedance, and properly quantify crosstalk and coupling mechanisms. There are many 3rd party applications that can be Read Article

Stripline impedance calculator

Stripline Impedance Calculator Learn more about using and interpreting results from a microstrip impedance calculator. Read Article

Microstrip impedance calculator

Microstrip Impedance Calculator Learn more about using and interpreting results from a microstrip impedance calculator. Read Article

Grounded coplanar waveguide digital signal

Altium Live Question: Digital Signals in a Grounded Coplanar Waveguide? Have you considered the effects of a GPCW structure on digital signals? Here’s a hint: look at the S-parameters! Read Article

Mode conversion

A Guide to Mode Conversion, Its Causes, and Solutions Differential pairs are most often discussed in terms of their impedance and length matching tolerance, both with the goal of ensuring proper termination at the receiver and suppression of common mode noise. On interconnects, such as board-to-board connections or cascaded transmission line arrangements, you have an important EMC compliance metric that is sometimes overlooked. This is mode conversion, which can be visualized in an S-parameter Read Article

Differential stripline impedance calculator

Differential Stripline Impedance Calculator Try our differential stripline impedance calculator, built based on Wadell’s equations. Read Article

Differential Microstrip Impedance Calculator

Differential Microstrip Impedance Calculator Learn more about using and interpreting results from a differential microstrip impedance calculator. Read Article