Battery Charging Circuit Layout Why the Layout Matters A battery charger is a power converter with a current limit and a control loop, and its behaviour depends on the layout as much as on the component selection. The charging current is set by a sense resistor and its connection, the…

LED Board Design and Thermal Layout An LED Board Is a Thermal Design An LED converts only part of its input into light; the rest becomes heat, and that heat has to leave the junction or the device will run hotter, produce less light and fail sooner. The board is…

SMT Stencil Paste Release Angle: The Tilt That Frees the Paste 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 SMT stencil paste release angle from the perspective of…

PCB Requirements for Medical Devices What Makes Medical Different A medical device is regulated, and the regulation reaches the board through the documentation and through the requirements it has to meet. The product may be in contact with a patient, it may be connected to a patient while powered, and…

Automotive Electronics and PCB Requirements What Makes Automotive Different An automotive electronic module operates in a harsh environment, is expected to last the life of the vehicle and, where it affects safety or emissions, is subject to a formal qualification and traceability regime. The temperature range is wide, the vibration…

PCB Copper Trace Ground Plane: The Wide Return 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 copper trace ground plane gives you a practical advantage…

PCB Design for IoT Devices The Constraints of an IoT Board An IoT device usually has three constraints at once: it must be small, it must run for a long time on a limited energy source, and it must be cheap. The three conflict. A small board makes the radio’s…

Bluetooth Module PCB Design Guidelines Why a Module Still Needs Layout Care A radio module integrates the radio, the matching and often the antenna, and it comes with a certification that applies when the module is used as the manufacturer specifies. That specification includes a keep-out area, a ground plane…

SMT Reflow Solder Joint Creep: The Slow Deformation 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 SMT reflow solder joint creep from the perspective of a PCBA factory…

Test Coupons and Impedance Verification What a Coupon Is For A test coupon is a structure on the production panel that has no function in the product, and that exists to be measured. It carries the same traces, the same stackup and the same process as the product, so that…