Tips to Master the ‘Black Magic’ of RF Design

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

For this issue on RF design, I reached out to Zach Peterson, founder of Northwest Engineering Solutions, an engineering design services company in Portland, Oregon. You can find some of Zach’s RF design presentations on YouTube; he does a great job breaking down these complex ideas for PCB designers who are new to the RF side of things.

I asked Zach to discuss the challenges facing RF designers, the relevant material considerations, and the layout tips and techniques that can help RF designers master this “black magic” technology.

Andy Shaughnessy: What are the most common challenges facing designers and EEs in the RF space today, and how can they be overcome?

Zach Peterson: The biggest challenge in today’s RF design is miniaturization while operating at high frequencies. Many designs combine RF with a digital processor in a BGA package, making them mixed-signal rather than pure RF. Some RF ASICs also have BGA packaging, and together these components may demand HDI design.

High-frequency designs that are being miniaturized also face manufacturing challenges. Unreinforced materials may be needed at very high frequencies, but a lack of experience handling these materials increases the risk of misregistration. Some manufacturers handle unreinforced PTFE well, but others trying to make a sale will push for glass-reinforced PTFE, which may not be acceptable in some RF designs.

Shaughnessy: In some of your video presentations on RF design, you stress the importance of floor planning. Walk us through that.

Peterson: Floor planning refers to pre-planning placement and routing. I've always approached RF designs by first tracking where I will place the RF components and where I’ll route the RF signals or printed circuits, and then I figure out the rest. This is a good approach because you can quickly find a spot for the most important RF elements while accounting for other design constraints, e.g., connector placement. Because most of the designs I've worked on include some type of digital interface, I can put the digital portion in its own area and determine whether additional layers will be needed for the digital section.

To read this entire conversation, which appeared in the April 2025 issue of Design007 Magazine, click here.