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PCB Routing

Build High Density Interconnect PCBs with Skip Vias

Using Skip Vias vs. Blind Vias to Build High Density Interconnect PCBs All high-density PCBs rely on specific via styles to make connections into the inner layers without taking up space for routing. This is always driven by the components used in the PCB, namely fine-pitch BGAs with many high pin counts. One of the options for routing into inner layers as part of fanout routing is to use skip vias. Type-I HDI stackups will include skip vias as part of their routing options in an attempt to avoid the use of buried Read Article

Increase Your Component and Trace High Density With Via-in-pad Technology

Increase Your Component and Trace High Density With Via-in-pad Plated Over Technology I’ve got this awesome four-speaker stereo system with a subwoofer in my apartment that my neighbors love to hate. As much as I enjoy listening to music on this thing, the only part I hate is the mess of audio cords that hide behind the speakers. The last time I tried to clean behind my system, I nearly ripped out some of the audio cords. If only routing my high density of audio cords was as easy as routing traces on an HDI printed circuit board Read Article

The Fundamentals of Programming a PIC Microcontroller

The Fundamentals of Programming a PIC Microcontroller One thing I’ve learned from parenting: it can be incredibly difficult to teach a child something. While they might be very interested, and they might have all the time and resources in the world, if the child isn’t ready to learn or is missing some crucial building block, they might just not get the skill or lesson. Thankfully, programming a PIC microcontroller unit (MCU) is considerably easier. With the right programming tools, circuit, and Read Article

Creepage and Clearance Design Rules Require More Than Integrated Flow

Creepage and Clearance Design Rules Require More Than Integrated Flow Occasionally, I get to drive through the Pacific Northwest on a clear day. Unencumbered by rain clouds, the mountain ranges are visible. So visible that I feel I could reach out and touch them. If I could fly the line of sight, I could be at the top of any mountain quickly. Since I can’t fly, driving my car along a twisting mountain highway would get me there on a longer route. So it is with PCB creepage and clearance design rules on a printed Read Article

Propagation Delay, Transmission Delay, and Analog Signal Resonance in Your PCB

Transmission Lines: Propagation Delay, Transmission Delay, and Analog Signal Resonance in Your PCB Legend has it that opera singers can break champagne flutes just by wailing at the right note. From opera singers to the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, and the high tide in the Bay of Fundy in Canada, resonance can be a beautiful and simultaneously destructive phenomenon. The terms “transmission delay” and “propagation delay” are sometimes used interchangeably. In analog systems, both terms can refer to the time required for a signal to travel between Read Article

ELIC PCB and HDI Routing

Explain Like I’m a Designer: ELIC PCB and HDI Routing Using ELIC in your HDI PCB can help you maximize your connection and component density. Read more about using ELIC for high density interconnect routing. Read Article

Myths about PCB Routing Angles: 45-Degree Angle vs 90-Degree Angle

PCB Routing Angle Myths: 45-Degree Angle Vs 90-Degree Angle There is nothing wrong with a healthy debate, whether it’s related to determining the worst pizza topping or the best solder mask. In the PCB editor world, a debate that plagues designers and researcher alike revolves around PCB routing angles. Should copper tracks of a PCB be routed at a 45-degree angle vs 90 degree angle PCB? With today’s equipment, however, it turns out that it usually doesn’t matter which angle you use. By utilizing modern Read Article

Ducks in a Row: Process Control and Document Traceability in One Place

Ducks in a Row: Process Control and Document Traceability in One Place Louis Pasteur captured the essence of complicated endeavors when he stated that “fortune favors the prepared mind.” Don’t miss opportunities for excellence when faced with complex tasks. Designing and building printed circuit boards and their assemblies is a complex task, made up of many meticulous endeavors. You could say that unified PCA documentation and communication favors successful outcomes when building products. Document types and Read Article

Interface an LED With an 8051 Microcontroller: Processes and Applications

How to Interface an LED With an 8051 Microcontroller: Processes and Applications When my professors saw my first electronics project, they weren’t too hopeful about my future as a design engineer. With hundreds of jumper wires clumsily soldered onto a prototyping board, my feeble attempt at making a ham radio barely passed as a joke. I was learning about the dot matrix, pic microcontroller, and RGB LED lights. Everyone has to start from the beginning! Thankfully, I’ve come a long way since those days. If you’re starting your Read Article

Flex PCB Vs Rigid PCB: How Adaptable is Your Design Approach

Rigid PCB Vs Flexible PCB: How Adaptable is Your Design Approach After working on multiple projects for a demanding client, I often relieve my stress by kicking it out at a local martial arts gym. When I was a teenager, I was quite flexible and had no trouble landing kicks. These days, however, my kicks are somewhat restrained by my rigid legs; I’m simply not as flexible as I used to be. Of course, flexibility and rigidity are important concepts outside of the martial arts gym as well. While designing PCBs Read Article

How to Connect Two PCB Boards With a Bus With a Bus: Do Not Pass When Flashing Yellow

How to Connect Two PCB Boards With a Bus: Do Not Pass When Flashing Yellow During my school days, my favorite time of the day was when the bell rang and we were free to go home. While waiting for my school bus, I spent time messing around with my friends and would be so engrossed in playing that I’d occasionally miss my bus. Naturally, my mom wasn’t too thrilled about having to pick me up after a busy day of work. Missing the school bus, fun as it may have initially seemed, resulted in some serious grounding. Without Read Article

PCB Design Software Shortcuts to Speed Up Your PCB Designs

Learning the PCB Design Software Shortcuts to Hack Your Design Growth Even simple PCB designs can require the use of many functions and tools, and this doesn’t change if you’ve been a designer for 20-minutes or 20-years. One feature that will always make your PCB design software more efficient is using keyboard shortcuts. So how can you improve your efficiency beyond where it's at now? With a little help from Altium Designer and the shortcuts they’ve so graciously added to the program! No matter how quick your Read Article

Working with Altium Designer’s Multilayered Via Routing Rules

Routers in PCB Boards: Working with Altium Designer’s Multilayered Via Routing Rules Some of the first ideas and drawings of two-layered PCB design came at the turn of the century, right before the world would descend into its first world war. It should come as a surprise that an idea and an adaptation to circuit boards, two-layers, developed over one-hundred years ago is still alive and well. But it should come as no surprise that with time comes new adaptations, and the era of multilayered stackups is much more appropriate for Read Article

1:55 Routing Modes . Watch Video

Understanding Ground Planes in Your Two-Layer PCB

Understanding 2-Layer PCB Ground Planes Like many designers, my first board was a 2-layer board, and it didn't use a PCB ground plane. It wasn't very elaborate, just an amplifier with some connectors and a connection to a DAQ module that interfaced with a LabVIEW app. When you're designing with through-hole components on a copper-clad perfboard, there's no way to create a solid ground region anywhere on the board, and your grounding strategy will suffer for it. If you watch the Read Article

Simplify Schematic and PCB Designs by Highlighting Nets

Better PCB Routing - How Altium Highlight Nets Regardless of how many PCBs I design, I always find myself having to regularly review network paths on the schematics layer and Altium highlight trace routes on PCBs. The complexity reminds me of a maze where only one path is the right one for a particular network. All the connections must be accurate as errors made here will come back to haunt you later in the form of redesigns. The best way to ensure network accuracy is by isolating it so that Read Article

High Density Interconnect Boards and How They Can Benefit Your Design

High Density Interconnect Boards and How They Can Benefit Your Design In the world of PCB design, high-density interconnect boards are among the fastest growing designs that are surfacing. Offering lighter weight, faster transmission times, more real estate to place components, and a reduction in signal loss there are few downsides to implementing these designs into your device. In any industry, the push for better, faster, stronger is usually a consumer-driven force. It is no different here. The push for devices Read Article