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December 2024

Advanced Packaging and Stackup Design

This month, our expert contributors discuss the impact of advanced packaging on stackup design—from SI and DFM challenges through the variety of material tradeoffs that designers must contend with in HDI and UHDI.

November 2024

Rules of Thumb

This month, we delve into rules of thumb—which ones work, which ones should be avoided. Rules of thumb are everywhere, but there may be hundreds of rules of thumb for PCB design. How do we separate the wheat from the chaff, so to speak?

October 2024

Partial HDI

Our expert contributors provide a complete, detailed view of partial HDI this month. Most experienced PCB designers can start using this approach right away, but you need to know these tips, tricks and techniques first.

September 2024

Silicon to Systems: From Soup to Nuts

This month, we asked our expert contributors to weigh in on silicon to systems—what it means to PCB designers and design engineers, EDA companies, and the rest of the PCB supply chain... from soup to nuts.

August 2024

Cost Drivers

In this month’s issue of Design007 Magazine, our expert contributors explain the impact of cost drivers on PCB designs and the need to consider a design budget. They discuss the myriad design cycle cost adders—hidden and not so hidden—and ways to add value.

July 2024

Mechatronics

Our expert contributors discuss the advent of mechatronics in PCB design, the challenges and opportunities this creates for circuit board designers, and the benefits—to the employee and the company—of becoming a mechatronics engineer.

June 2024

Creating a Culture of Collaboration

PCB designers could learn quite a bit from NASA and the private companies that develop spacecraft: Every one of these vehicles is a testament to the value of collaboration among disparate stakeholders. Without a collaborative culture, the rocket might never get off the ground.

May 2024

Breaking High-speed Material Constraints

Do you need specialty materials for your high-speed designs? Maybe not. Improvements in resins mean designers of high-speed boards can sometimes use traditional laminate systems. Learn more in this issue.

April 2024

Level Up Your Design Skills

This month, our contributors discuss the PCB design classes available at IPC APEX EXPO 2024. As they explain, these courses cover everything from the basics of design through avoiding over-constraining high-speed boards, and so much more!

March 2024

Opportunities and Challenges

In this issue, our expert contributors discuss the many opportunities and challenges in the PCB design community, and what can be done to grow the numbers of PCB designers—and design instructors.

February 2024

Embedded Design Techniques

Our expert contributors provide the knowledge this month that designers need to be aware of to make intelligent, educated decisions about embedded design. Many design and manufacturing hurdles can trip up designers who are new to this technology.

January 2024

Manufacturing Know-how

For this issue, we asked our expert contributors to share their thoughts on the absolute “must-know” aspects of fab, assembly and test that all designers should understand. In the end, we’re all in this together.

December 2023

Odd Geometries

In this issue, we discuss some of the challenges, pitfalls and mitigations to consider when designing non-standard board geometries. We share strategies for designing odd-shaped PCBs, including manufacturing trade-offs and considerations required for different segments and perspectives.

November 2023

Simplification

On the subject of simplification, our expert contributors explain how to design PCBs without making them complex and over-constrained—whatever the level of technology. In addition, we discuss the effect your decisions and tradeoffs have on design complexity.

October 2023

The Standards of Design

Our expert contributors discuss how PCB designers can utilize standards to save time and money, not to mention frustration. We also spotlight the newly updated version of the IPC Checklist, a handy guide that illustrates which standards cover which topics, from front-end design through assembly.

September 2023

Rigid-flex: Designing in 3D

In this month’s issue, our expert contributors share their best tips, tricks and techniques for designing rigid-flex circuits. If you’re a rigid board designer considering moving into the 3D world of rigid-flex, this issue is just what the doctor ordered!

August 2023

Simulation, Analysis, and AI

Getting today’s designs “right the first time” is critical, especially with costly advanced PCBs. Simulation and analysis software tools can help you in the fight to eliminate respins. They’re not magical, but they can predict the future of your design.

July 2023

Advanced, Complex & Emerging Designs

This month, our contributors focus on designing PCBs with advanced, complex and emerging technologies. We investigate design strategies for boards that are on the cutting edge of technology, or crazily complex, or so new that designers are still writing the rules as they go.

June 2023

Top Design Challenges

Introducing the top PCB design challenges from a variety of viewpoints—PCB designers, fabricators and assembly providers revolve around DFM, communication, and data—all of which are interrelated. We hope you find this compilation of design challenges useful.

May 2023

A New Materials Paradigm

This month, our expert contributors examine the development of IPC slash sheets and the need for new, robust material guidelines created specifically for PCB designers. We also discuss the dangers of over-specifying materials, particularly for offshore manufacturing.

April 2023

Dialing in RF

Our expert contributors dial in on the best practices for designing RF PCBs for wireless communications, and shine a light on the many trade-offs involved, from material selection to board-level design techniques, and much more.

March 2023

Tribal Knowledge: Friend or Foe?

Tribal knowledge is present in every organization, no matter what size. Tribal knowledge isn’t always bad, but there’s a lot of inaccurate tribal knowledge floating around out there. How do we distinguish tribal knowledge from documented facts?

February 2023

Shrinking Silicon

The need for designers to understand EM effects is greater than ever as silicon continues to shrink, driving up signal speeds and rise times. Learn the causes and effects of silicon shrinkage, including the need to better manage EM strategies on your PCB designs.

January 2023

The Advanced Future

The year 2022 might be remembered as the Year of Advanced Packaging. This month we asked a variety of experts to discuss the challenges and trade-offs that PCB designers and design engineers are seeing today with advanced packages.

December 2022

A Show Within a Show

The specials on the upcoming IPC APEX EXPO 2023 show’s menu are mouthwatering for PCB designers. With more content than ever targeted at your demographic, it’s becoming a show within a show. Order up! 

November 2022

A Fight to the Physics

Are today’s PCB designers spending too much time studying Moore’s Law and not enough on Maxwell’s equations? In this issue, our experts explain why designers need to understand concepts like field effects as well as circuit theory, and how the disciplines work together symbiotically. 

October 2022

To UHDI & Beyond!

It is tough to get much smaller than ultra HDI. Everything changes when you start working with 15-micron lines and spaces. For this issue, we asked some of the top UHDI experts to share their knowledge about designing and fabricating these tiny features.

September 2022

Supply Chain Management

Supply chain management is a dynamic situation, with a number of global forces that can create pain for PCB designers. In this issue, we speak with a variety of experts and bring you up-to-the-minute insight about designing PCBs in this ever-changing environment.

August 2022

Less Is More

We’re seeing all sorts of interesting tactics for dealing with 50-week lead times. One of the most basic concepts that we’ve heard about lately is material conservation—why not just design PCBs with fewer parts? As we point out in this issue, sometimes less is more.

July 2022

Field Solvers

Thanks to the “left shift” of signal integrity functionality too early in the design cycle, more designers are using field solvers than ever before. But even experienced SI engineers risk “garbage in, garbage out” if they input the wrong data.

June 2022

DWM: Design With Manufacturing

In our industry, we just love our acronyms. Especially the “design fors” such as DFM, DFA, and DFT. We now have DFX, DFR, and even DFSC—design for supply chain. The newest example is DWM, design with manufacturing, and this “design for” could wind up having a real effect on the PCB development process.

May 2022

Are You Designing in a Vacuum?

This month our contributors provide tips for?designing in a vacuum, as well as the total costs (in time, respins and other resources) of working in the dark, and some strategies for getting out of the vacuum.

April 2022

Additive Design: The Same, but Different

This month's issue focuses on how readers can get started designing additive and semi-additive PCBs, and how the design process for additive technology differs from that of traditional subtractive processes.

March 2022

Planning Your Design Education Strategy

There are more avenues for acquiring design education and training than ever before—live classes, online webinars, YouTube videos and blogs, but where should you start? We asked this month’s contributors to share their advice.

February 2022

Change: Resistance is Futile

There’s a lot of change going on in PCB design—some positive, some negative. Imagine the voice of the Star Trek entity the Borg saying, “Resistance is futile.” Do you resist or become assimilated and join the hive mind?

January 2022

High-Voltage PCB Design 

This month, we asked our contributors to share their thoughts on designing high-voltage PCBs. Readers like you responded to our survey asking about today's challenges. They shared, among other things, the demand for higher voltages in the automotive segment, with electric vehicles leading the charge.

December 2021

The Art and Science of PCB Design

There is definitely an artistic angle to this job. PCB design requires the perfect mix of artistic and technical skills. PCB designers and design engineers are graphic artists, but unlike Renaissance sculptors, their masterpieces don’t just have to look nice—they also have to function.

November 2021

Herding Cats

As more than one PCB designer has said, “Managing design data is a lot like herding cats.” It’s no wonder: schematics, footprints, BOMs, netlists, fab notes, assembly notes—millions of petabits (no pun intended) of data are used to design and engineer PCBs.

October 2021

Design Data Formats

When we started planning this issue on design data transfer formats, we knew what we were getting into. While most of the topics we cover involve objective discussions with designers, any conversation about data formats is bound to be a subjective affair.

September 2021

Collaboration by Design

For this issue, we asked a variety of contributors to discuss their collaborative relationships, as well as the advantages that accrue from such collaboration. We found a common theme: it's better to fix simple design errors earlier in the process through open communication.

August 2021

Design Education

This month, we asked a variety of expert contributors, seasoned and not-so-seasoned, to describe their path to becoming successful PCB designers and their advice to new designers seeking to continue their education. The more you know, the more control you have over your career.

July 2021

Ask the Experts

This month, we put your burning questions to our expert team of PCB designers and design engineers. The entire issue is packed with answers to questions that designers like you are wrestling with right now. Enjoy!

June 2021

Space and Trace, the Final Frontier

This month, we’re helping William Shatner celebrate his 90th birthday with an issue devoted to Star Trek. Our intrepid Trekkie contributors delve into some of the technological marvels introduced on the show, and more!

May 2021

Top Design Challenges

This month, we asked a select group of expert designers and design engineers to discuss some of the many ongoing problems that they face with each design they embark on. We found that there isn't one universal challenge but a 'multiverse' of problems.

April 2021

The Simulation Issue

This month we asked some of the industry’s premier experts on simulation to weigh in on this critical topic. We were surprised to find that there were several schools of thought regarding simulation.

March 2021

Validating Your Data Supply

Keeping bad data out of your design involves a lot of detective work. Designers and design engineers need to assess the accuracy and completeness of data at every step of the design process.

February 2021

Footprints and Library Management

Many designers count footprints among their most common headaches. This month, we asked our expert contributors to share their thoughts on proper footprint creation and CAD library management.

January 2021

Stackup Design

Designers routinely say that PCB stackup design is one of their more pressing challenges. With proper communication between the fabricator and OEM, coupled with today’s CAD tools’ stackup functions, stackup design shouldn’t be such a problem...

December 2020

Reducing Respins by One

Designers have been talking about eliminating PCB design respins for decades. Today, OEMs routinely go through two, three, or more PCB design respins. This month, we delve into the idea of reducing respins by one.

November 2020

The Via Issue

There has been quite a bit of activity in the world of vias, especially microvias. For this issue, we lined up a group of expert contributors to discuss the best methods for designing reliable vias and microvias.

October 2020

Roadmaps: Into the Future

For this month’s issue on technology roadmaps, we bring you several interviews with contributors involved with the IEEE Heterogeneous Integration Roadmap (HIR).

September 2020

Thermal Management

With the growth of electric and autonomous vehicles, along with telecom, military, and aerospace—not to mention the explosion of LEDs—thermal management and thermal design processes are becoming mainstream. In this issue, our expert contributors share their thoughts on the best methods to “beat the heat.”

August 2020

Fabrication Notes

This month, we decipher the process of creating fabrication notes, define what should and should not go into a design data package, and what can be done to eliminate that dreaded afternoon phone call.

July 2020

Working Remotely

Since the COVID-19 outbreak, we’ve seen many PCB designers and design engineers moving into home offices. For this issue, we asked a variety of experts to discuss their companies’ approach to working remotely, as well as some of the cybersecurity challenges related to having employees working from home.

June 2020

Surviving the App Note Challenge

Should designers trust app notes or assume that they’re incorrect? Are app notes kissing cousins to datasheets, or are they overly optimistic marketing collateral, with results you’re not likely to see in real-world operation? What should a young designer or engineer do when facing an unfamiliar app note?

May 2020

What Do You Expect From Me?

“What do you expect from me?” How many times have you found yourself asking this question during your career? You’re not alone. Almost everyone involved in PCB design and manufacturing—especially fabricators—has had to deal with unmet expectations.

April 2020

Design Economics

You may have taken an economics course in school, but you probably won’t find many classes on PCB design economics. Not to worry. This month, our experts delve into the economics of PCB design. In our Flex007 section, our expert contributors examine the economics of flexible circuit design from a variety of industry viewpoints.

March 2020

Design for Profitability

It’s easy to define profit, but it’s much more difficult to define exactly what “design for profitability” (DFP) means to today’s PCB designers and design engineers. This month, we asked our experts to weigh in on the best DFP strategies and how this can affect the entire PCB development cycle.

February 2020

EMI/Power Distribution

This month, we asked our expert contributors to share their thoughts on fighting and even precluding EMI through proper PDN design techniques and more.

January 2020

Get Involved!

If you’re not already networking with other designers or volunteering in our industry organizations, there’s no better time to start. Get involved with the PCB design community and working with your peers through training, standards development, or event planning. Make it your 2020 New Year’s resolution!

December 2019

What You Need to Know

Think about this for a minute: If someone asked you what you need to know to be a great PCB designer, what would you say? Where would you even begin? This month, we asked our expert contributors to discuss what they believe other designers and design engineers need to know as we move forward into 2020.

November 2019

The Voices of the Industry

This month, we handed the microphone to a variety of designers and design engineers and asked them to share their thoughts about their jobs, technology, and the trends that they’re seeing in the industry—the good, the bad, and the challenging. Read on for some eye-opening interviews.

October 2019

The PCB Design Landscape

For this issue, we offer a snapshot of the PCB design segment as it exists today: the good, the bad, and everything in between. We think it’s safe to say that this is a pretty good time to be a PCB designer or design engineer. For this month’s Flex007, we look into the current landscape of flex and rigid-flex circuits.

September 2019

Streamlining Standards

It’s no secret that the standards situation in PCB design, manufacturing, and assembly is anything but standard. This alphabet soup of documents and guidelines can be a confusing maze even for veteran professionals. This month, we untangle the often-confusing world of standards.

August 2019

Education and Training

Not too long ago, if you couldn’t attend a trade show or technical conference, your chances of continuing your PCB design education were slim to none. But the times are a-changin’... even flexible circuit technology is slowly but surely making its way into the colleges and universities of the world.

July 2019

Reliability & Vias

This month, we look into the secret life of vias as the culprit for failures and some of the reliability issues that technologists are facing today. We also introduce the inclusion of FLEX007 as a regular monthly section.

June 2019

Everything Starts with Design

Designers were once seen as little more than electronic techs. Now, many designers are starting to realize the power they wield over the whole electronics process. As you’ll learn in this issue, there are plenty of little things that a designer can do to help...

May 2019

Design Rules

We’ve heard a lot about design rules lately, from designers and manufacturers alike. There just doesn’t seem to be much agreement about design rules: how to set them, manage them, and validate them.

April 2019

The Future of Design Data

We’ve all heard quite a bit of chatter about smart manufacturing over the past few years. Everyone involved in designing, fabricating and assembling PCBs wants to get on board. But what does this mean for CAD data? What do designers need to do differently to take full advantage of smart technologies?

March 2019

The Youth of the PCB Design Industry

Something's happening in this industry: Young people are once again entering the PCB design workforce. In this issue, you’ll meet a variety of young people working in this industry. Is this the beginning of a trend? Let’s hope so!

February 2019

Everything's a Substrate

In a world where everything's a substrate... technological advances have made it possible to print circuits on all sorts of traditional and non-traditional surfaces, and even materials not even considered substrates. What does a PCB designer need to know in order to design circuits on these alternative materials? We asked our expert contributors...

January 2019

The Supply Chain Shortage

The component shortage is getting crazy. Some PCB designers are finding their favorite capacitors on 50-week and 80-week lead times, or worse. How do you design a board today when the components you need won’t be available for a year or more?

December 2018

The IPC Designers Council

The IPC Designers Council is ready for the new year, new members and maybe even new chapters. They’ve launched a new column in Design007 Magazine, “The Digital Layout,” and they have a plan for the future. But they have plenty of work to do.

November 2018

Designing for the Future of Medicine

The medical electronics market is blowing up, and there doesn’t seem to be a ceiling. A recent report estimates that the global medical device market will reach $409.5 billion by 2023, expanding at a CAGR of 4.5% from 2018 to 2023.

October 2018

Design Data Packages

What can we do to optimize the design data package and make the handoff to the fabricator as smooth as possible? For this month's issue, we asked a variety of industry experts to weigh in on this topic.

September 2018

Artificial Intelligence

What does AI mean for PCB designers and their EDA tools? This month, we asked our expert contributors to discuss AI and what it might mean to PCB design and the rest of the electronics industry.

August 2018

Packaging Trends

Over the past 60 years, packages have continued to evolve, and shrink. Now, more types of packages than ever before that can be mounted on today’s PCBs. But package design is more complex than ever, too.

July 2018

PCB Designers: The Next Generation

For the past decade or so, we’ve watched as North America’s PCB designers began reaching retirement age. The problem is that not many young people are entering the field of PCB design, and outgoing senior designers’ positions are increasingly being covered by design engineers.

June 2018

Multi-board Design

Over the past few decades, we’ve seen a gradual expansion of the number of multi-board electronic devices. Products are more complex now, plain and simple. There’s no way that anyone could build a car, not to mention an autonomous car, with a single PCB in 2018.

May 2018

5G: Coming to Your World Soon

We’ve all heard plenty about 5G lately. The transition from 3G to 4G meant a 10x increase in speed, but 5G will be at least 1,000 times faster than 4G. What does 5G mean to PCB designers and manufacturers?

April 2018

Future Vehicles

New developments in electronics are pushing automotive technologists to new levels of innovation every day, and the automotive segment is now driving much of today’s PCB design and manufacturing efforts.

March 2018

Tools & Technology

For this issue of Design007, our expert contributors discussed their newest tools and technology. Read about Cadence Design Systems' Sigrity and Mentor's HyperLynx software updates. And so much more...

February 2018

Knowing Your Customers

How do you feel about your suppliers’ customer service? How do your customers feel about your service? Every company in our industry claims to put the customer first, but what does that mean in a firm’s day-to-day operation? How well do you know your customers?

January 2018

What's New?

It’s a brand-new year, and the magazine has a fresh new look and title. So, to ring in the new year with this first issue of Design007 Magazine, we asked representatives from a variety of PCB design-related companies to answer the question, “What’s New?”

December 2017

Thermal Management

To take the chill off during December here in our part of the world, we’re turning the heat up with this thermal management issue. In Dr. Johannes Adam's interview, he sounds the alarm for EEs to better understand thermal issues. 

November 2017

High-Density Design

Each year, more and more PCB designers are designing boards that feature HDI technology. And no wonder: HDI can lead to substantial reductions in cost by lowering the board’s layer count. But...

October 2017

Signal Integrity: The Insider's Viewpoint

New low-loss materials are constantly being rolled out to help with signal integrity, and most EDA companies now offer some flavor of tool that can design high-speed, high-frequency boards. But signal integrity continues to perplex PCB designers and design engineers.

September 2017

DFM Simply Redefined

We’ve heard it for decades: The days of throwing a design over the wall are ancient history. After all, designers have embraced fully optimized DFM processes. Right? Maybe not.

August 2017

Whose Fault is It?

What does your company do when a board fails? When the board is designed, fabricated and assembled by three different entities, not to mention shipped by a fourth, figuring out what went wrong can be difficult, not to mention time-consuming.

July 2017

Military & Aerospace

For some PCB companies, mil/aero work is their bread and butter but it's not for those with an aversion to paperwork or cybersecurity regulations, or anyone who needs to get paid quickly.

June 2017

Embedded Technology

Embedded technology is slowly becoming more prevalent, as technologists begin to take advantage of this buried technology. Embedding frees up real estate and eliminates solder joints, which are responsible for so many of the failures in the field.

May 2017

Help Wanted! Competing in the Hiring Game

The PCB design segment seems to be doing pretty well right now. But let’s face it: Eventually, odds are that you’re either going to wind up job-hunting or hiring a new technologist for your firm. In this “Help Wanted” issue, our contributors discuss hiring—from both sides of the desk.

April 2017

High-Speed Materials

Choosing the right material for your PCB was so simple a few decades ago. But today, designers often must select an advanced low-loss PCB material with low Df and Dk values—hopefully one that isn’t prohibitively expensive or terribly difficult for fabricators to register during lamination.

March 2017

Designing Flex

It wasn’t that long ago that flex and rigid-flex were considered expensive specialty circuits. But times have changed, and flex circuits are now found in most of our personal electronic devices.

February 2017

New Technology

Technological innovations have been coming at us so fast that it’s often difficult to keep track of them.

January 2017

Design for Manufacturing

PCB designers have been focusing on good DFM practices for decades now. But many fabricators still see many of the same old design mistakes and miscues, not to mention a few new ones. What’s going on?

December 2016

Sales & Marketing

Sales and marketing in the PCB industry used to be fairly simple. Then came the Internet, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. What approaches should you use?

November 2016

Vias

Time after time, we’ve heard about issues that continue to challenge readers like you, and some of the most often cited problem areas are related to vias. Whether blind, buried, microvias, thermal vias, landless or back-drilled, vias are a big problem...

October 2016

Leadership by Design

What does leadership mean to you? This month, we focus on leadership, and the difference between a good manager and a great leader.

September 2016

Aerospace

As Star Trek celebrates its 50th anniversary, NASA prepares to map out the rest of the universe, known and unknown. This month, we feature interviews with two veteran PCB designers with spacecraft project experience.

August 2016

Voices of the Industry

This month, we’ve turned the spotlight on our readers with our special edition, 'Voices of the Industry.' We asked for your thoughts on PCB design and the electronics industry, and—as usual—you weren’t shy about telling us exactly what you think.

July 2016

The Signal Integrity Issue

As the not-so-old saying goes, “If you don’t have signal integrity issues yet, you will.” This month we bring you a variety of SI articles and a great interview with John Bushie of American Standard Circuits.

June 2016

Designing with Tighter Tolerances

Ever since the first PCBs were designed, spaces, traces, and features have been shrinking at an almost exponential rate, along with available board real estate. For some designers, what was formerly a jigsaw puzzle has become a logistical nightmare.

May 2016

EDA Tools: Automation or Control?

PCB designers get downright exorcised about their EDA tools. One point of contention has to do with automation itself: How much is too much? Some designers prefer manual control—not just for routing, but for much of the layout. Others want as much automation and horsepower as they can get. Herein lies the fork in the road...

April 2016

PCB Designers and Design Engineers

Some PCB designers say that working with their design engineers is one of their biggest hurdles. Others say it all comes down to a lack of communication.

March 2016

Strategies to Increase Profit

Designers have a plethora of ideas about how to best layout a PCB. But how many designers understand that good design techniques can lead their company to greater success, and even profit? 

February 2016

What's New in PCB Design?

What’s new in PCB design, and where is the industry headed? If you’ve been asking yourself the same question, you’ve come to the right place.

January 2016

Medical Electronics

This month, we bring you interviews with some of the movers and shakers in the world of medical PCB design and manufacturing: Kenneth MacCallum of StarFish Medical, Anaya Vardya of American Standard Circuits, and Amir Davoud of Innovative Circuits, Inc.

December 2015

Inside the IPC Designers Council

The Designers Council has chapters around the world, with thousands of members. This month, we bring you interviews with some of the people who helped make the Designers Council what it is today: Gary Ferrari, Anne Marie Mulvihill, Rick Hartley, Mike Creeden, and Scott McCurdy.

November 2015

Managing Your Design Data

Designers like you are more productive than ever before, but you’re also juggling more data, in more formats, than you ever could have imagined. This month we bring you a variety of interviews focused on Design Data Management.

October 2015

Accelerating the PCB Design Cycle

As board speeds and densities continue to increase, it’s becoming more difficult for PCB designers to shorten their design cycles and meet time-to-market demands.

September 2015

Cars: A Driving Force in the Electronics Industry

Cars now have exponentially more electronic features than a decade ago with automotive electronics is one of the “driving” forces in electronics design & mfg. We have articles from Continental Automotive Sys.,  DfR Solutions, and Mentor Graphics.

August 2015

The War on Process Failure

Attention! PCB designers are in a veritable war zone, day in and day out. Our cover story is an interview with two “soldiers” in this war on failure, Kelly Dack and Mark Thompson of Prototron. Don't miss the columns by Paul Reid and Tim Haag, as well as an interview with Per Viklund and Alex Caravajal of Mentor Graphics.

July 2015

Supply Chain Management

Supply chain management is one aspect of the design world that often takes a back seat to the latest PCB design tricks and techniques. This month, our cover story by David Ledger-Thomas and our interviews with Gary Ferrari of FTG and John Pavlak of Rogers Corporation discuss supply chain management from the PCB designer’s view.

June 2015

IPC-A-610 Update

IPC-A-610, Acceptability of Electronic Assemblies is the most widely used IPC standard. This month our expert contributors Teresa Rowe of IPC and Leo Lambert of EPTAC discuss the latest updates to this document, what they mean to product developers, and the various steps in the revision process itself.

May 2015

Controlled Impedance

Controlled impedance PCBs are becoming more common now, especially in high-speed applications. Designing these boards can be particularly challenging. This month our expert contributors focus on the ins and outs of controlled impedance design.

April 2015

Surface Finishes

For years, hot air solder leveling was the predominant surface finish in the PCB industry. But now, there’s a veritable alphabet soup of available surface finishes, and each has its own advantages and disadvantages. This month, we focus on the latest in PCB surface finishes...and more!

March 2015

Design for Manufacturability

As the speed of electronic devices continues to increase, so does the cost of re-spins, making good DFM practices more important than ever. Catching problems at the design stage can save weeks of wasted time, not to mention thousands of dollars. This month, we focus on design for manufacturability techniques and processes.

February 2015

High-Speed Design

This month, we focus on high-speed design techniques, with articles from our contributors Kirk Fabbri, Barry Olney, Istvan Novak, Martyn Gaudion, John Coonrod, and Bob Tarzwell and Dan Beaulieu.

January 2015

What's Ahead for 2015?

Happy New Year! This month, our experts take a look forward at what's in store for the upcoming year in PCB design. Also included: a look back at some industry trends from the early days!

December 2014

HDI

HDI is here, bringing a whole host of benefits, as well as potential challenges. Find tips on designing reliable HDI PCBs from industry experts in this issue!

November 2014

Outsourcing Design

Outsourcing isn’t always a dirty word, especially if your design team faces a project that’s beyond their bandwidth. Learn how to be prepared to outsource your designs.

November 2012

High-Speed Design

Welcome to the premier issue of The PCB Design Magazine! The first edition of this one-of-a-kind magazine explores high-speed design issues with feature articles by Lee Ritchey, Happy Holden, and John Levreault.

December 2012

Routing and Placement

There are almost as many placement and routing methods as there are PCB designers. If you're in a routing rut, this issue of The PCB Design Magazine has the solution!

January 2013

Data Transfer Formats

Data Transfer Formats: Sure, most designs are still output in Gerber, but ODB++ and IPC-2581 are gaining ground. What are the pros and cons of these three formats? We examine these formats in depth.

February 2013

Simulation and Analysis

This month, our veteran contributors discuss a variety of simulation techniques that can help you save time and avoid costly re-spins.

March 2013

Design for Manufacturing

This month, our expert contributors discuss many of the DFM challenges they see with incoming PCB designs, and present a variety of options for ensuring manufacturability.

April 2013

EMI & EMC

This month, we tackle the challenges of achieving EMC, and discuss some proven methods for minimizing EMI transmissions.

May 2013

HDI: It's a Small World Afterall!

How does the ever-advancing HDI technology affect the job of the PCB designer? In the May issue our contributors lay out the best ways for designers to "get small."

June 2013

Flexible Designs

Flexible Circuits: Once considered too costly for most applications, flex circuits can now be found in everything from printers to digital cameras. In our June issue flex contributors offer a variety of flex design tips and techniques.

July 2013

Design for Profitability

We have become a “design for” industry: Design for manufacturing, design for test, design for assembly, ad infinitum. In this issue, we explain how proper DFP techniques affect the bottom line.

August 2013

Signal Integrity

It’s not a question of if you’ll encounter signal integrity problems, it’s a question of when. The industry’s top SI experts weigh in with the latest tips, tricks and techniques for achieving signal integrity.

September 2013

Materials

Madonna was right: It’s a material world! This month, we explore the latest and greatest PCB materials and processes with articles from Sanmina, Ohmega Technologies, PWB Inc., Rogers Corporation, and more.

October 2013

Design for Assembly

In the rush of meeting deadlines, it’s easy for PCB designers and design engineers to overlook issues related to assembly. This month, our veteran contributors cover the whole process and offer valuable tips!

November 2013

Qualifying Your Fabricator

There are plenty of good fabricators vying for your business. How do you determine the best for your needs? Our expert contributors discuss the best methods for qualifying your next fabricator.

December 2013

Power Integrity

This month, our experts take an in-depth look at power integrity analysis, and they address many common PI challenges and solutions. Don’t fight the power—control it!

October 2014

Signal Integrity

Gone are the days when signal integrity was just a problem for the EE; if you don’t already have signal integrity problems, you certainly will. Yuriy Shlepnev and Barry Olney offer some of the latest SI tips, tricks and techniques for achieving signal integrity.

September 2014

Data Formats

For years, designers used Gerber, and that was that. Then came ODB++, and the race was on. Contributors Karel Tavernier, Julian Coates, Amit Bahl, and Hemant Shah update us on the latest in data transfer formats.

July 2014

Concurrent Collaboration

More and more PCB designers are members, or  leaders, of design teams, some located across a variety of  geographic regions. Our experts explain the benefits of concurrent design and how to implement team design.