Standard MCPCB Thickness: How to Choose Two Thicknesses, One Confusion A metal core board has a metal base and a dielectric layer, and both have a thickness. When a specification says 1.6 millimetres it usually means the total, but the number that governs the thermal performance is the dielectric, and…

12-Layer PCB: Stack-Up, Design and Manufacturing What Twelve Layers Buys A twelve layer board is the point at which the design has stopped being an exercise in routing and become an exercise in planning. A circuit that needs twelve layers usually has several high speed interfaces, more than one supply…

PCB Leads and Wires: Selection and Termination The Connection Everyone Forgets Most of a design review is spent on the circuit, and the connection between the board and the rest of the product is treated as a detail. It is not. A solder joint between a stranded wire and a…

Transmitter PCB: Design and Cost Factors What a Transmitter Board Adds to a Radio A radio board receives and transmits; a transmitter board is built around the transmitting chain and the problems that come with it. The receiver is a low level circuit that must be quiet. The transmitter is…

Rogers 6002 PCB: Properties, Design and Selection Where 6002 Sits in the Range Rogers 6002 is a polytetrafluoroethylene based laminate reinforced with a woven glass fabric, part of the RO6000 family and designed for microwave and high speed digital circuits where loss has to be very low. Its dielectric constant…

Microphone PCB: Design for Low Noise Audio What Makes an Audio Board Different An audio board handles signals that are small, slow and analogue. A microphone capsule produces millivolts or fractions of a millivolt, the preamplifier works at a level where a stray microampere of injected current is audible, and…

Buzzer PCB: Driving Sounders and Piezo Elements Two Kinds of Sounder A buzzer produces a tone, and the two families available work differently enough that the drive circuit, the layout and the acoustic design all follow from the choice. A magnetic sounder contains a coil, a magnet and a diaphragm,…

Optoelectronic Rigid PCB: Boards for Light-Based Electronics What an Optoelectronic Board Has to Do An optoelectronic board sits at the boundary between electricity and light. It drives an emitter such as an LED, a laser diode or a vertical cavity laser, it receives light on a photodiode or an image…

Wire Bondable Soft Gold PCB: Finish Selection Why a Bondable Finish Is Different A solderable finish has to survive reflow and form a joint with molten solder. A wire bondable finish has to do something harder: it has to accept an ultrasonic or thermosonic weld to a wire a few…

Automotive Lighting PCB: Design and Reliability What Makes Lighting Electronics Different A vehicle lamp is a styling object, a safety device and an electronic assembly at the same time. The board inside it has to fit a shape that was decided by a designer, deliver a precisely controlled current to…