Practical Notes on Rogers 6002 When a design moves into millimeter wave territory, the laminate stops being a background detail and becomes part of the circuit. Rogers 6002 is a ceramic filled PTFE composite built for that situation, with a dielectric constant near 2.94 and a dissipation factor low enough…

Practical Notes on Embedded Copper Coin Power density keeps rising in electric vehicle controllers, AI accelerator cards, industrial inverters and telecom power amplifiers, and the weakest link in those designs is often the path heat takes out of the die. An embedded copper coin PCB attacks that problem at the…

Laser Soldering vs Reflow Soldering: Choosing the Right Process Both processes melt solder to form a joint, and beyond that they have almost nothing in common. Reflow soldering brings an entire assembly up to temperature in a controlled oven, while laser soldering delivers energy to one joint at a time…

Practical Notes on Plasma Etching Vs Chemical Etching Every copper pattern on a printed circuit board is defined by removing material, and the way that removal happens decides how fine the traces can be, how clean the surface ends up and how much the board costs. The comparison of plasma…

HDI 1+N+1 vs 2+N+2: Microvia Stackup Comparison The shorthand that describes a high density board, such as 1+N+1 or 2+N+2, encodes how many microvia layers have been added to each side of an ordinary core. The first number is the count of build-up layers on top, N is the conventional…

HDI Failure Beyond Microvia Cracks: Resin Starvation and CAF When engineers discuss reliability in high density interconnect boards, the conversation usually goes straight to microvia cracks. Thermal cycling, expansion mismatch and copper fatigue are real mechanisms, well documented and increasingly well managed through better materials and tighter design rules. They…

VR Headset PCB: Choosing Rigid, Flex and HDI Boards A VR headset is a wearable computer with a display attached to the user’s face, and that combination sets the PCB requirements: high speed links between tracking sensors and processor, tight thermal limits because the electronics sit against the skin, and…

PCB Heat Pipe Integration: Moving Heat Sideways 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 PCB…

PCB Staking of Large Parts: Holding Heavy Parts Down 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 staking of large parts gives you a practical…

PCB Adhesive for Heavy Parts: Glue With a Job 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 adhesive for heavy parts gives you a practical…