Board Level Shielding: Design Rules and Process Limits Board level shielding puts a metal box around the part of a circuit that radiates or that is sensitive to radiation. It is a mechanical solution to an electrical problem, and it works only when the shield is bonded to a quiet…

PCB Drill Parameters And Hole Quality Control Every hole in a printed circuit board begins as a carbide drill bit spinning at high speed and descending into a stack of copper clad laminate. The parameters that govern that descent, namely spindle speed, feed rate, retract rate, stack height and the…

Microvia Quality and Reliability in HDI Boards A microvia is a hole that is formed by a laser and is smaller than the drill bits that conventional processes use. It is the structure that makes high density interconnect possible, and it is also the structure that fails in ways that…

PCB Reflow Profile Timing: 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 reflow profile timing gives you a practical…

PCB Reflow Profile Improvement: What Buyers and Engineers Should Check 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 improvement from the perspective of a PCBA…

PCB Edge Plating Design Guide A plated edge turns the side of a printed circuit board into a conductor. Copper is wrapped from the top surface around the profile and onto the bottom surface, so a module can be soldered by its side rather than by a pad on the…

Solder Joint Voiding Control in Reflow Assembly Voiding in a solder joint is normal, and the argument is never about whether voids exist but about how much of the joint they occupy. A small amount of trapped gas has no measurable effect on reliability, while a large void directly reduces…

PCB Reflow Profile Traceability: Design and Assembly Considerations 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 traceability from the perspective of a PCBA factory floor,…

Board Thickness Tolerance and How It Affects Assembly Board thickness looks like a simple dimension, but it sits at the intersection of the stack-up, the impedance target, the connector and the assembly line. A panel that finishes a tenth of a millimetre outside its nominal value can still pass every…

Thermal Via Placement for Heat Paths in a PCB A thermal via is a hole in the board that was put there to move heat rather than to connect a net. The idea is simple, and the design decisions around it are not, because a via array changes the electrical…