The Chemical Connection: Surface Finishes for PCBs
It’s Only Common Sense: 7 Tips to Focus on What Works
The Marketing Minute: Go Big or Go Home—Long-form Content Is Your Brand’s Best Friend
UHDI Fundamentals: UHDI for RF Microwave Applications
July 16, 2024 | Anaya Vardya, American Standard CircuitsEstimated reading time: 2 minutes
Ultra high-density interconnect (UHDI) technology has significant potential for RF (radio frequency) microwave applications. Its advantages lie in its ability to provide high-density routing and integration, which are crucial for complex RF circuits. Here are three key UHDI benefits in RF microwave applications:
1. Signal Integrity
In RF applications, signal integrity is paramount. UHDI facilitates controlled impedance routing, reducing signal loss and ensuring reliable transmission of RF signals. UHDI improves signal integrity in the following ways:
- Controlled impedance routing: UHDI allows for precise control over the impedance of transmission lines, which is crucial for maintaining signal integrity in RF circuits. Controlled impedance ensures that signals propagate with minimal reflections and distortion, especially at high frequencies.
- Reduced crosstalk: UHDI enables dense routing of transmission lines while minimizing the spacing between them. This reduces the likelihood of crosstalk, where signals from adjacent traces interfere with each other, thus preserving the integrity of individual signals.
- Optimized via placement: UHDI facilitates strategic placement of vias (vertical interconnect access) to minimize signal distortion and reflections. By optimizing via placement, signal paths can be kept short and impedance transitions can be managed effectively, reducing signal degradation.
- High-frequency performance: UHDI substrates are designed to support high-frequency operation, typically with low dielectric loss and low dispersion characteristics. This ensures that RF signals can propagate efficiently without significant attenuation or distortion, maintaining signal integrity across the frequency spectrum.
- Shielding and grounding: UHDI designs can incorporate shielding layers and efficient grounding techniques to minimize electromagnetic interference (EMI) and maintain a clean RF environment. Proper shielding and grounding help prevent external noise from degrading signal quality.
- Signal integrity simulation and modeling: Advanced simulation and modeling tools are available for UHDI designs, allowing engineers to analyze signal integrity characteristics such as impedance matching, reflection coefficients, and insertion loss. These tools enable designers to optimize layouts for optimal signal integrity performance.
- Thermal management: Thermal issues can impact signal integrity in RF circuits, particularly at high power levels. UHDI designs can incorporate thermal management techniques such as thermal vias and heat sinks to dissipate heat effectively, ensuring stable performance of RF components.
- Low loss materials: UHDI substrates can utilize low-loss dielectric materials that minimize signal attenuation and phase distortion, particularly at high frequencies. This ensures that RF signals maintain their integrity as they propagate through the circuit.
To read the entire article, which originally appeared in the July 2024 Design007 Magazine, click here.
Share on:
Suggested Items
STMicroelectronics’ Latest Automotive-industry Satellite-navigation Chips Power Robotic Lawnmowers from Segway
04/03/2025 | STMicroelectronicsSTMicroelectronics, a global semiconductor leader serving customers across the spectrum of electronics applications, has collaborated with Segway to equip its latest range of robotic lawnmowers with precision positioning and extended satellite-signal coverage bringing their operational efficiency and safety to the next level.
Beyond Design: Key SI Considerations for High-speed PCB Design
03/20/2025 | Barry Olney -- Column: Beyond DesignOver the past two decades, I've simulated numerous complex, high-speed designs for customers creating computer-based products. In addition, I've conducted signal integrity software training courses and led classes on high-speed design. In this month’s column, I will reflect on the key considerations for achieving a successful high-speed PCB design that performs reliably, and I’ll highlight some of the common signal integrity issues that I frequently encounter.
UHDI Fundamentals: UHDI Advances Neurotechnology
03/05/2025 | Anaya Vardya, American Standard CircuitsUltra high density interconnect (UHDI) technology is revolutionizing the field of neurotechnology and brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) by enabling unprecedented levels of miniaturization, complexity, and performance in neural devices. Here’s an in-depth look at how UHDI contributes to these domains.
Managing Energy Flow with Proper Stackup Design
02/13/2025 | Andy Shaughnessy, Design007At Design Con 2025, I had the opportunity to speak with Dan Beeker, technical director at NXP Semiconductor, about his technical session, which focused on optimizing PCB layers to best direct signal and power supply energy between these layers. In this interview, Dan discusses the complexities of board stackup and the significance of understanding dielectric layers for effective signal transmission. Dan is something of a “fields evangelist,” spreading the word about the need for designers to focus on fields, not just circuit theory. Toward the end, Dan summed up much of the design segment: Designing something that didn't make it break is not the same thing as designing it correctly.
DesignCon 2025: Stacking the Professional Deck
02/05/2025 | Marcy LaRont, I-Connect007After two full days of technical presentations, networking, and visiting with exhibitors on the show floor, the final day at DesignCon featured an exciting lineup of sessions and discussions, culminating in a wealth of knowledge for electronics professionals and included a thought-provoking keynote on global connectivity through low-earth orbit satellites presented by Amazon's Nima Mahanfar. Additionally, the Women in Engineering reception provided valuable insights on work-life balance and personal growth in the industry.
Copyright © 2025 I-Connect007 | IPC Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Log in