Through-Hole Pad and Hole Size Design Through-hole parts are easier to justify than to design. The decisions that matter are small numbers — the hole diameter, the land around it and the distance between two holes — and each of them is a compromise between making the part easy to…

PCB Laser Depaneling of Thin Boards: Cutting With Light 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…

PCB Reflow Profile for A Thick Assembly: Heating a Big Board 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 reflow profile for a thick assembly from the…

Reducing RF Effects in PCB Interconnect Design Once the signals on a board reach the gigahertz range, the interconnect stops behaving like a connection and starts behaving like a circuit. Corners reflect, surfaces resist more than their cross section suggests, finishes add loss where they were meant only to protect,…

PCB Thermal Pad Soldering Voids: Getting the Bubbles Out 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 thermal pad soldering voids from the perspective of a PCBA…

PCB Heatsink Mounting Method: Attaching the Sink 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 heatsink mounting method gives you a practical advantage when you…

PCB Copper Pour Thermal Relief: Balancing Heat and Soldering 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 copper pour thermal relief from the perspective of a PCBA…

PCB Thermal Via Design in A Heat Pad: Moving Heat Down 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 thermal via design in a heat pad from…

Impedance Design on a Six-Layer Stack-Up A six-layer board is the point at which controlled impedance stops being optional and starts being structural. There are enough layers to give fast signals a proper reference, and enough density that the trace geometry which produces a given impedance has to be designed…

PCB Edge Bond Adhesive Cure: Curing the Edge 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 edge bond adhesive cure from the perspective of a PCBA factory…