PCB Level Shielding: Board Shields, Cans and Faraday Cages Enclosure shielding is the first line of defence against radiated emissions, and on modern products it is increasingly compromised. Ventilation openings, display windows, cable penetrations and connector cut-outs all break the shield, and the degradation is not gradual: a single large…

High-Speed PCB Via Design: Parasitics and Sizing On a fast board, the via is usually the weakest electrical element in the interconnect. It is short, it is cheap, and it is invisible on the schematic, yet it adds capacitance to the trace, inductance to the return path, and a stub…

PCB ECO Change Control: Changing the Design on Purpose 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 ECO change control from the perspective of a PCBA factory…

HDI PCB Technology and Microvia Design Rules A high-density interconnect board is not simply a multilayer board with more layers. It is a board whose interconnect is dense enough that ordinary through-hole vias can no longer serve every connection, so the design moves to smaller holes, finer features and vias…

PCB Component Obsolescence Plan: When the Part Disappears 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 component obsolescence plan from the perspective of a PCBA factory floor,…

PCB Last Time Buy Decision: Buying Before It Goes 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 last time buy decision from the perspective of a PCBA…

PCB Second Source Qualification: Having a Plan B 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 explains…

Analog and Digital Ground Separation in Mixed Designs Once a design contains an ADC beside a switching clock, the question of how to treat analog and digital ground comes up in every review. The conventional answer is to split the two and tie them at one point, but the split…

PCB Aging Test for A Product: Burning It In 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 Layout Anti-Interference Design: Rules for Noisy Systems Interference problems are almost never solved by adding components. They are solved by removing the loops and discontinuities that allow noise currents to travel through the board. Anti-interference design starts with ground, continues with power distribution, and finishes with the placement of…