PCB Eye Diagram Mask Test: How Much Eye Is Left Electronics manufacturing has become a discipline of small details. Solder paste volumes, placement accuracy, temperature profiles and inspection limits all add up to the final result. This guide looks at PCB eye diagram mask test from the perspective of a…

PCB Blind and Buried Via Cost: Paying for the Stack Electronics manufacturing has become a discipline of small details. Solder paste volumes, placement accuracy, temperature profiles and inspection limits all add up to the final result. This guide looks at PCB blind and buried via cost from the perspective of…

Circuit Board Components: From Resistors to Integrated Circuits Every circuit board is a network of a handful of component families, connected by copper. Knowing what each family does, how it fails and how it is placed is the difference between a layout that works and one that works once. Resistors:…

PCB Back Drilling Residue: Cleaning What the Drill Left Modern electronics depend on boards that are assembled correctly the first time. Every product – a phone, a charger, a medical instrument or an industrial controller – relies on thousands of solder joints that must conduct current for years. This article…

PCB Milling: CNC Prototyping Without Chemicals Milling a circuit board is the fastest way to turn a schematic into something you can solder, and it is the only common prototyping method that produces a board without chemicals. A CNC machine cuts the copper away from the traces instead of etching…

PCB Copper Weight: How Foil Thickness Is Chosen Copper weight is quoted in ounces, and the number means something specific: the weight of copper per square foot of area, which for one ounce corresponds to a thickness of about 35 micrometres. It is one of the few design parameters that…

Water Heater PCB: Design for Mains Powered Appliances A water heater control board lives in an environment that most electronics never see: mains voltage on the same substrate as a microcontroller, condensation on the surface for part of every day, and an ambient that rises every time the element energises.…

PCB Bus Bar on A Board: Copper Thick Enough to Carry It Electronics manufacturing has become a discipline of small details. Solder paste volumes, placement accuracy, temperature profiles and inspection limits all add up to the final result. This guide looks at PCB bus bar on a board from the…

PCB Via Barrel Cracking: When the Wall Opens Electronics manufacturing has become a discipline of small details. Solder paste volumes, placement accuracy, temperature profiles and inspection limits all add up to the final result. This guide looks at PCB via barrel cracking from the perspective of a PCBA factory floor,…

High-Speed PCB Basics: When Signals Stop Being Simple The phrase high-speed is often used as a synonym for high frequency, and that is the first thing a beginner has to unlearn. A bus running at a modest clock rate can behave as a high-speed channel if its edges are fast…