-
- News
- Books
Featured Books
- design007 Magazine
Latest Issues
Current IssueLevel Up Your Design Skills
This month, our contributors discuss the PCB design classes available at IPC APEX EXPO 2024. As they explain, these courses cover everything from the basics of design through avoiding over-constraining high-speed boards, and so much more!
Opportunities and Challenges
In this issue, our expert contributors discuss the many opportunities and challenges in the PCB design community, and what can be done to grow the numbers of PCB designers—and design instructors.
Embedded Design Techniques
Our expert contributors provide the knowledge this month that designers need to be aware of to make intelligent, educated decisions about embedded design. Many design and manufacturing hurdles can trip up designers who are new to this technology.
- Articles
- Columns
Search Console
- Links
- Events
||| MENU - design007 Magazine
Traversing the Design Landscape With Hartley and Creeden
December 11, 2019 | I-Connect007 Editorial TeamEstimated reading time: 1 minute
Design instructors Rick Hartley and Mike Creeden recently spoke with the I-Connect007 Editorial Team about the current landscape of the PCB design segment. This wide-ranging conversation also focused on the next generation of designers, some promising new laminates, and the need for more communication and collaboration between designers and fabricators.
Andy Shaughnessy: Where do you see things right now as far as technology, software, and design?
Rick Hartley: The first thought that comes to mind is that things continue to reach higher speeds. Lee Ritchey does a class now about how to design up to 32 gigabits, which is almost the norm. Five to 10 years ago, people were concerned about having to do 2–6-gigabit designs, and there was a lot of chattering of teeth and wrenching of hands from people who were heading that direction. Now, people do that routinely, which also drives additional interference and EMI problems; I see this on a constant basis. I’ve had companies contact me recently, saying, “We have noise problems, and we have no idea how to solve them. Will you work with us on this?” I also read an interview recently with Dan Beeker, who said, “It has reached the point in the automotive world where people design PCBs and expect to fail EMI testing.”
Barry Matties: Why do you think they expect it to fail?
Hartley: They don’t know how to design circuit boards and haven’t figured out how to yet. There was a time when even though things were fast, they weren’t so blazingly fast that if you were doing a smaller board, you were lucky enough that the lines on the board weren’t distributed, the power distribution wasn’t so critical, etc.; sometimes they would fail, but sometimes they would pass. Too many people don’t know how to design to prevent things from failing, especially in the automotive world. For example, high-end airbag electronics have high layer-count boards. But for a lot of the microcontroller circuits and low-end things that go into cars, we expect to have low layer-count boards.
To read this entire interview, which appeared in the October 2019 issue of Design007 Magazine, click here.
Suggested Items
Real Time with... IPC APEX EXPO 2024: Exploring IPC's PCB Design Courses with Kris Moyer
04/18/2024 | Real Time with...IPC APEX EXPOGuest Editor Kelly Dack and IPC instructor Kris Moyer discuss IPC's PCB design training and education offerings. They delve into course topics such as design fundamentals, mil/aero, rigid-flex, RF design, and advanced design concepts. They also highlight material selection for high-speed design, thermal management, and dissipation techniques. The interview wraps up with details about how to access these courses online.
Cadence Unveils Palladium Z3 and Protium X3 Systems
04/18/2024 | Cadence Design SystemsThe Palladium Z3 and Protium X3 systems offer increased capacity, and scale from job sizes of 16 million gates up to 48 billion gates, so the largest SoCs can be tested as a whole rather than just partial models, ensuring proper functionality and performance.
Signal Integrity Expert Donald Telian to Teach 'Signal Integrity, In Practice' Masterclass Globally
04/17/2024 | PRLOGDonald Telian and The EEcosystem announce the global tour of "Signal Integrity, In Practice," a groundbreaking LIVE masterclass designed to equip hardware engineers with essential skills for solving Signal Integrity (SI) challenges in today's fast-paced technological landscape.
On the Line With... Podcast Talks With Cadence Expert on Manufacturing
04/18/2024 | I-Connect007In “PCB 3.0: A New Design Methodology: Manufacturing” Patrick Davis returns to the podcast to talk about design rules. As design considerations become more and more complex, so, too, do the rulesets designers must abide by.
Designing Electronics for High Thermal Loads
04/16/2024 | Akber Roy, Rush PCB Inc.Developing proactive thermal management strategies is important in the early stages of the PCB design cycle to minimize costly redesign iterations. Here, I delve into key aspects of electronic design that hold particular relevance for managing heat in electronic systems. Each of these considerations plays a pivotal role in enhancing the reliability and performance of the overall system.