Dan’s Biz Bookshelf: ‘Growth Hacker Marketing’
Happy’s Tech Talk #38: Novel Metallization for UHDI
It’s Only Common Sense Mastering the Follow-Up—The Key to Closing More Deals
Made in Brazil: The Evolution and Revolution of Impedance Control in PCB Production
July 21, 2016 | Renato Peres, Circuibras Circuitos Impressos ProfissionaisEstimated reading time: 1 minute
The PCB industry in Brazil has gone through several changes over the last decade. Our customers have been demanding better quality and higher-reliability products more than ever before, but few things have changed as much as impedance control. PCBs with impedance control requirements have become the engine of the market, and finding solutions to fit the customer’s needs is extremely challenging.
Ten years ago, the Brazilian PCB industry was a little vague on this subject, and very few PCB shops were doing impedance testing. About five years ago, with the evolution of the national PCB industry, customers started producing prototypes requiring impedance control and the market started to develop. However, it seemed to me that neither the customers nor the PCB shops really knew what to order and to deliver at that time.
There always were differences between the specs for the board, the coupon measured, and the simulation software. As a best practice, many PCB shops used to appeal to a cross-section analysis to verify the PCB build up. In the end, impedance simulation software was more reliable than the TDR measurements.
I remember I felt a bit normal last year when I read the article written by Dan Beaulieu and Bob Tarzwell for The PCB Design Magazine, "Controlled Impedance: A Real-World Look at the PCB Side." Coupons that don’t fit the specs of the customers, cross-section analyses, differences in resin flow during lamination, copper thickness variation, and many other issues described in the article were very similar to the problems we faced daily.
Nevertheless, the industry in Brazil has gone further, pressing the suppliers to develop new controls, not yet usual to the national market.
To read this entire article, which appeared in the July 2016 issue of The PCB Magazine, click here.
Share on:
Suggested Items
RF PCB Design Tips and Tricks
05/08/2025 | Cherie Litson, EPTAC MIT CID/CID+There are many great books, videos, and information online about designing PCBs for RF circuits. A few of my favorite RF sources are Hans Rosenberg, Stephen Chavez, and Rick Hartley, but there are many more. These PCB design engineers have a very good perspective on what it takes to take an RF design from schematic concept to PCB layout.
Elephantech: For a Greener Tomorrow
04/16/2025 | Marcy LaRont, PCB007 MagazineNobuhiko Okamoto is the global sales and marketing manager for Elephantech Inc., a Japanese startup with a vision to make electronics more sustainable. The company is developing a metal inkjet technology that can print directly on the substrate and then give it a copper thickness by plating. In this interview, he discusses this novel technology's environmental advantages, as well as its potential benefits for the PCB manufacturing and semiconductor packaging segments.
Trouble in Your Tank: Organic Addition Agents in Electrolytic Copper Plating
04/15/2025 | Michael Carano -- Column: Trouble in Your TankThere are numerous factors at play in the science of electroplating or, as most often called, electrolytic plating. One critical element is the use of organic addition agents and their role in copper plating. The function and use of these chemical compounds will be explored in more detail.
IDTechEx Highlights Recyclable Materials for PCBs
04/10/2025 | IDTechExConventional printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing is wasteful, harmful to the environment and energy intensive. This can be mitigated by the implementation of new recyclable materials and technologies, which have the potential to revolutionize electronics manufacturing.
Connect the Dots: Stop Killing Your Yield—The Hidden Cost of Design Oversights
04/03/2025 | Matt Stevenson -- Column: Connect the DotsI’ve been in this industry long enough to recognize red flags in PCB designs. When designers send over PCBs that look great on the computer screen but have hidden flaws, it can lead to manufacturing problems. I have seen this happen too often: manufacturing delays, yield losses, and designers asking, “Why didn’t anyone tell me sooner?” Here’s the thing: Minor design improvements can greatly impact manufacturing yield, and design oversights can lead to expensive bottlenecks. Here’s how to find the hidden flaws in a design and avoid disaster.