RF PCB Layout: Partitioning and Isolation Measures That Work RF layout is where a design that simulates correctly either becomes a working product or becomes a receiver that hears its own transmitter. The difficulties are rarely subtle: a digital section that shares a supply with an analog front end, a…

High-Frequency Laminate Selection for RF and Microwave PCBs At radio and microwave frequencies the choice of laminate stops being a cost decision and becomes a performance decision. The dielectric constant sets the physical dimensions of every transmission line, and the loss tangent determines how far a signal travels before it…

Process Edge Design for PCB Panels: Width, V-Cut, and Stamp Holes Panels do not go through the assembly line by themselves. They are carried, clamped, and registered by the equipment, and the strip of board reserved for that purpose is the process edge. Its width, its integrity, and what is…

PCB Palladium Plating for Connectors: What Buyers and Engineers Should Check 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 palladium plating for connectors gives you…

PCB Silver Immersion Finish: What Buyers and Engineers Should Check 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…

Band-Pass Filter Bode Plots: Reading Resonance on the Bench A band-pass filter is one of the first circuits an engineer meets, and one of the easiest to misread. Its behaviour is fully described by a transfer function, and the standard way to visualise that function is a Bode plot: a…

Additive Process in PCB Manufacturing: Design Notes Subtractive processes have defined printed circuit board fabrication for decades: copper is etched away and solder mask is applied, exposed and developed. An additive process builds the coating where it is needed instead of removing what is not. That change sounds like a…

Can a PCB Carry 100 A? PCB Current Capacity in Copper Most boards never see more than a couple of amperes. Consumer electronics typically run below 2 A continuously, and even a dense industrial board rarely exceeds 5 A or 10 A on any one net. Then a motor drive…

Flexible Circuit Board Soldering: Method and Precautions Flexible circuits tolerate heat and mechanical stress differently from rigid boards, and the same technique that produces a clean joint on FR-4 can lift a pad from a polyimide film. The sequence below covers flexible circuit board soldering of a fine-pitch device and…

PCB Nickel Barrier Layer Under Gold: Process Details and Inspection Points 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 nickel barrier layer under gold gives…