Rigid Flex Prototype PCB Why a Prototype Stage Matters More Here A rigid flex board combines rigid sections that carry the components with flexible sections that fold, bend or twist, all in one laminated structure. The benefits are real: connectors are removed, the assembly can be folded into a shape…

PCB Time Domain Reflectometry Test: Reading the Reflection Buyers and engineers often focus on the finished product and forget the production line behind it. In practice, most field failures can be traced back to process decisions made during assembly. Understanding PCB time domain reflectometry test gives you a practical advantage…

FR-2 PCB Manufacturing The Cheapest Board That Will Do the Job Not every product needs a high performance substrate. A television remote control, a battery operated toy or a simple light strip has modest electrical demands, a benign environment and an overwhelming requirement for low cost. For those products the…

UAV Navigation System PCB Where the Aircraft Decides Where It Is An unmanned aircraft flies by comparing what it believes about its position with what its sensors tell it. The satellite receiver gives an absolute position but is easily disturbed and updates slowly, while the inertial sensors measure acceleration and…

PCB Solder Mask Ink Types: Photo Imageable or Screen Printed 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 solder mask ink types from the perspective of a…

PCB Mass Production Cost Where the Unit Price Comes From A prototype board is expensive per unit because it carries the tooling, the engineering and the setup for a handful of pieces. A production board is inexpensive per unit because those fixed costs are spread over thousands of pieces, and…

PCB Antenna Cost Guide An Antenna That Is Part of the Board Wireless connectivity is now standard in almost every product, and the antenna is the component that decides how well it works. A printed antenna has a clear advantage over a discrete one: it is formed from the copper…

PCB Drill Room Environment: Keeping the Machine Clean 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 drill room environment from the perspective of a PCBA factory floor,…

Subwoofer Amplifier PCB Assembly Low Frequency Means High Current A subwoofer amplifier is asked to deliver large amounts of energy in the frequency range where the ear is least sensitive to distortion but most sensitive to the absence of output. The physics of moving a large cone at low frequency…

Optical PCB Manufacturing Moving Data With Light Instead of Copper For most of the history of electronics, data has moved as current along copper conductors. The approach works, but copper has limits: the losses rise with frequency, the signal degrades over distance, and the energy required to drive a long…