Freedom CAD’s Expert PCB Design Tips, Part 2

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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 #2
Don’t make your high-current traces too long.

Today’s PCB designs require more diligence in order to meet the requirements of today’s high-speed microprocessors. At higher data rates, insertion loss becomes more critical. This results in signal length limitations due to insertion loss, very tight impedance matching, short stub lengths, and the use of higher performance PCB laminates.

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.

10/01/2020 | I-Connect007 Editorial Team

In just 15 minutes, flex expert Joe Fjelstad will teach you about implementing this useful technology into your manufacturing operation. Joe suggests you start with defining your end-product requirements and understanding cost and product life cycle expectations, as well as end-user needs. He further addresses the many considerations with adopting this useful technology.

09/16/2020 | Tony Plemel, Flexible Circuit Technologies

As a flex circuit applications engineer, when I receive an RFQ, the first thing I do is look at the customer’s data and review their manufacturing notes. Quite often, I find notes that supersede IPC specifications in manufacturing documents, as customers often believe these added notes and associated specifications will make the circuit more robust. However, these non-standard IPC manufacturing specifications/notes can wreak havoc on the manufacturing process and can actually lead to a less robust circuit.

09/07/2020 | Anaya Vardya, American Standard Circuits

Thermal management in the printed circuit board (PCB) world is big business! A recent Markets and Markets report projects the thermal management market to reach $16 billion by the year 2024 with an average CAGR of 8% over that period. We have chosen to focus this book on providing designers a thermal management desk reference on the most current thermal management techniques and methods from a PCB fabrication perspective, including a case study on an extreme mixed-technology design that we recently produced. We hope you find value in our efforts.