Freedom CAD’s Expert PCB Design Tips, Part 1

Reading time ( words)

When you’re designing complex PCBs, knowledge truly is power. The more PCB design tips, tricks, and techniques you know, the better your cutting-edge designs will be. With that in mind, we’re bringing you a series of PCB design tips, courtesy of Freedom CAD Services.

Design Tip #1
Don’t make high-current traces too thin.

When a PCB trace carries more than the standard multi-hundred milliamps, it must have enough copper weight to handle the increased temperature. Use a trace width calculator to determine the proper value for your board.

Want to know more? Check out the entire library of I-Connect007 micro eBooks. Scott Miller, chief operations officer of Freedom CAD Services, is the author of the eBook The Printed Circuit Designer’s Guide to… Executing Complex PCBs. This book provides a set of guidelines for designing the most complex, high-speed PCBs right the first time, every time. This book is a must-read for anyone designing today's sophisticated printed circuit boards.

10/27/2020 | Pete Starkey, I-Connect007

Pete Starkey admits to not being a Star Wars freak, but he was impressed by Yoda’s iconic wisdom and philosophy and intrigued by his advice that, “You must unlearn what you have learned.” Here, he describes how attending Dr. Eric Bogatin’s keynote at the AltiumLive Europe 2020 Virtual Summit was an enlightening experience.

10/16/2020 | Andy Shaughnessy, Design007 Magazine

The second day of the virtual AltiumLive 2020 event got off to a great start with a class by Dr. Eric Bogatin. It was officially titled “You Must Unlearn What You’ve Learned,” but it could have just as easily been called “Designing Interconnect That Sucks Less.”

09/17/2020 | Andy Shaughnessy, Design007 Magazine

I recently spoke with Max Clark, business unit manager with Mentor, a Siemens Business, and Z-zero founder Bill Hargin about the newly formed partnership that resulted in a new stackup tool that Mentor is now selling worldwide. Fun fact: Hargin used to work for Mentor as part of the HyperLynx team, which now has an interface with Z-planner Enterprise. Talk about coming full circle.