Squeegee Selection and Print Quality The squeegee is the part of the printer that touches the paste, and it is the part that is replaced most casually. Its material, its hardness and its edge condition decide how much paste is pushed into the aperture and how much is left behind.…

Infrared Remote Receiver Circuit Design An infrared remote link is cheap, simple and remarkably robust, provided the receiver is treated as the analogue device it really is. The module on the board contains a photodiode, an amplifier and a demodulator, and it outputs a clean logic signal only when the…

Managing Component Obsolescence and Last Time Buy Decisions Every product eventually runs into a part that is no longer available. A semiconductor vendor discontinues a package, a connector series is replaced, or a passive component is moved to a different factory with a different end of life date. Handling that…

Hardware Design Review Checkpoints That Catch Errors Most of the errors that reach a prototype are not logic errors. The schematic is usually correct in the sense that it implements the intended function, and the layout passes its design rule check. The failures that appear at bring up are usually…

High Magnetic Permeability Sheets For EMI A specification that says thirty decibels of shielding sounds like a complete answer, and it rarely is. A material that achieves that figure in one band can do almost nothing in another, and the sheet that is chosen from a headline number is often…

PCB Static Control on the Line: Keeping Charge Away 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 static control on the line from the perspective of a…

PCB Cycle Time Measurement: How Long One Board Takes 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 cycle time measurement gives you a practical advantage…

PCB Temperature in the Assembly Area: Keeping the Room Steady 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…

PCB Humidity in the Assembly Area: Air That Behaves 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 humidity in the assembly area gives you a…

PCB Board Handling Damage: Marks From Hands and Racks 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 board handling damage from the perspective of a PCBA factory…