PCB Routing

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Differential Pair Impedance: Using a Calculator to Design Your PCB I took various computer classes in high school and always wondered why the conductors in Ethernet cables were twisted around each other. Little did I know that this was a simple design method that ensured signals reached their destination without interfering with each other. Sometimes, the best solutions to complex problems are actually the simplest. Differential pair routing is not limited to Ethernet cables; it is one of the key routing and Read Article

Tips to Minimize the Effects of Differential Noise in RS485 Communication I’ve never been a morning person and pride myself on simply getting dressed and making it to work on time. Although I typically beat the traffic and appear at the office just in time, there have been occasions when I’ve arrived wearing mismatched socks. In these situations, I walk straight to my desk and hope that my embarrassment stays unnoticed. In electronics, you might deal with a completely different type of embarrassment if you fail to keep Read Article

How to Expand Input and Output for a Microcontroller When working through practice boards and schematics very early on in my education, I remember more than once thinking about simply increasing the board size so that I could fit my components properly and make routing easier. It definitely would not have helped, and I’m glad I persevered in finding solutions through the challenges, but there are still times in my career where I’ve looked at the necessities of devices and wished I could just make Read Article

32 Differential Pair Glossing Watch Video

35 Real Time Trace Corrections Watch Video

32 Trace Glossing Watch Video

Utilizing Creative Routing Solutions with Tight Component Placement When I was working in a research lab and designing PCBs for our homemade optical systems, my layouts were down and dirty. We didn’t worry about little things like packaging, limited board space, or compact routing. We were happy as long as we could get all of the required components to appear on the board and eventually the board became a printed circuit. Once our microscope systems became more intricate, connecting our high speed, custom images Read Article

1:06 HDI design support Watch Video

When to Prefer a Longer Trace Over an Additional Via Whenever I go to buy a new big-ticket appliance, I always weigh my options. Sometimes I let this paralyze me, and I end up making a spending decision that I later regret. But it doesn’t have to be this way when deciding how to route signals in your next PCB. When you have many components and interconnects to place on your PCB, you need to weigh your options. Dense routing is as much an art as it is science, and having as much information as Read Article

Impedance Management through PCB Stackup Design with Reference Planes My first PCB was far from a high-speed digital device. It was just an amplifier circuit on a single layer PCB, and controlling the impedance was not even an afterthought. Once I started working on electro-optics systems that required high sampling rates, controlling impedance was always a critical design issue. Controlled impedance on a circuit board is a PCB layout issue that I didn’t feel completely comfortable in handling as a PCB designer for Read Article

Choosing Replacement Components With an Integrated Library Much as we would like, designing a new product or system is not without its hiccups. Designs, functionality, and component changes may be made at the last minute, forcing design modification or component replacement. Replacement circuit components or replacement can require thorough knowledge of your circuit boards. Repairing a circuit board is often more than finding a circuit breaking. Electrical equipment and service panel tinkering can go so Read Article

Connectors, Tooling Holes, and Fiducial Markers for Component Placement and Orientation When you’re a new systems designer, manufacturability of your designs is probably the last thing you think about. When I was younger and worked on a new electro-optics system, I was dismayed to learn that a system I designed needed a complete redesign. In its current state, the thing was unlikely to ever make it off the manufacturing line. PCBs should also be designed such that manufacturing is streamlined. Orientation, landing type, and holes Read Article

HDI PCB Designs and the CAD Tools Behind Them Although it is said that the only guarantees in life are death and taxes, I would submit that the third guarantee in life is that electronic devices will continue to get smaller and smaller. I’m pretty sure that no one wants their cell phone to grow back to the size of a brick again, so to continue this path of ever decreasing sized electronics means that circuit boards need to shrink in size as well. The best way to do this is to use high Read Article

Stay Grounded: Digital, Analog, and Earth Ground in PCB Layout In electronics, I get equally confused by the different types of grounds involved in PCB design: digital, analog, and earth ground. It’s hard not to be perplexed when university lecturers have always pointed out that although the grounds share the same reference, they are represented by different symbols. Theoretically, it’s easy to understand that digital electronics components are referenced to the digital ground and the same applies to analog Read Article

Eliminate the Crosstalk: LVDS Routing and the Art of Differential Signaling During a typical baseball game, coaches use the silent language of hand signals to instruct batters and baserunners while catchers use similar signs to recommend pitches to pitchers. Players in the outfield and the infield use hand signals to find the right locations when anticipating the skills of a batter. Electronics has its own version of a silent language with the variety of signals exchanged almost instantaneously within a circuit. Single Read Article

PCB Routing Tips: Navigating Your Way Through BGA Fanout Options Tom rose through the ranks of his company to become the new vice-president. He had worked hard, forged relationships, and consistently built his knowledge about the company. Unfortunately, Tom also contracted a serious disease called acronymitis that spread like the plague throughout key sectors of the company. Try as he might, Tom could not resist speaking in acronyms. Sometimes, his wife would hear him talking in his sleep—in acronyms Read Article

Copper Choice and Copper Efficiency for High-Frequency PCB Design Expert woodworkers spend immeasurable amounts of time making sure that finished wood has an exceptionally smooth surface before staining and varnishing can occur. Although my dreams to become the popular host of a DIY woodworking show have diminished to simply attempting to produce a high-quality solid wood bookcase for my wife, I have retained my obsession with achieving a smooth surface. Sanding rough wood is a chore, to say the least. Whether Read Article