Flexible, Affordable Electronics Education
Online courses and webinars for the printed circuit engineering community.

SI/PI

Speaker  :  
Doug Brooks and Dr. Johannes Adam

Stop thinking about current density!

In this 30-minute video, Doug Brooks and Dr. Johannes Adam explain the material parameters and properties that determine the temperature of a trace, how these are calculated, and show results of some simulations of vias of varying widths and amps.

Brooks and Adam are coauthors of several publications on trace and via temperatures, including PCB Design Guide to Via and Trace Currents and Temperatures and Predicting Fusing Time of Overloaded PCB Traces Can We Predict It At All? 

 

For more training, register NOW for PCB EAST 2024 -- coming to the Boston suburbs June 4-7, 2024.

Speaker  :  
Rick Hartley
Company : 
RHartley Enterprises

Circuit boards for the IoT world (Internet of Things) are often driven by the need for low power dissipation, low cost (which drives very low layer count), moderate to high-density and mixed-signal applications. This combination of needs can make board design an extreme challenge. Creating a 1-, 2- or 4-layer board, with excellent signal integrity and low noise/interference and no EMI issues can, by itself, be a very serious challenge. This 3.5-hour course will discuss how to understand when it is necessary to control impedance of lines, how to do it cost-effectively, proper setup of routed lines to keep circuit energy from spreading (preventing interference), even on a one layer board, design of antenna into the PCB, circuit grounding in low layer count boards, power distribution without the benefit of power planes, ground bounce, cross talk with low layer count and design to optimize manufacturability of low layer count PCBs.

Speaker  :  
Atar Mittal
Company : 
Sierra Circuits

Signal degradation on PCB transmission lines manifests in many forms: undershoot, overshoot, ringing, pulse shape distortion, switching noise, attenuation, ground bounce, skew, etc. All these can be attributed to one or more of these sources: signal reflections caused by characteristic impedance discontinuities; signal distortion due to conductor and dielectric losses resulting from PCB materials’ properties as signals travel over the transmission lines; crosstalk from signals on nearby PCB conductors; noise in power distribution network; electromagnetic interference (EMI). Impedance discontinuities manifest from many sources, to name a few: unmatched loads and terminations, non-uniformity in the lines, vias, stubs, component and test pads, gaps in reference planes and poorly designed return paths, stray capacitances and inductances, and branching of signal paths, and all these cause signal reflections. Frequency dependence of the copper and dielectric losses cause unequal attenuation of various frequency contents in the signals, causing signal rise time degradation, and variations in dielectric constant with frequency cause different frequency signal components traveling at different speeds.

Crosstalk from nearby conductors occurs due to inductive and capacitive coupling, causing several issues: near- and far-end crosstalk, switching noise, ground bounce, etc. PDN noise and unwanted electromagnetic energy will superimpose on signals causing signal integrity issues. After identifying the root cause, one can find solutions to the signal integrity problem.

Speaker  :  
Rick Hartley
Company : 
RHartley Enterprises

Differential pairs have been used in PC boards for years to carry high-speed serial and high-speed parallel data, in a variety of bus formats. Many board designers and engineers believe the rules for differential pairs are the same in a PCB as they are in cable or twisted pairs of wires. This is usually not the case!

This course will cover the advantages of differential pairs vs. single-ended lines, which differential pair format gives the best impedance control, what is the right spacing between the lines of a pair, crosstalk between differential pairs, what is important in differential pair routing, how much timing skew is really acceptable, the impact of material type and the impact of vias on signal integrity and EMI.

This comprehensive seminar of how to design a PCB stackup to optimize performance while attaining the lowest cost possible. With the advent of very high-speed signaling along with multiple very high-current power supply rails, it is necessary to understand how materials behave and how PCBs are fabricated in order to arrive at a PCB stackup that results in a “right the first time” design. The seminar draws from the speaker’s long experience designing PCB stackup for products ranging from video games to supercomputers. It draws on the results of dozens of test PCBs used to characterize materials from a loss and high-speed skew perspective.

Speaker  :  
Daniel J. Smith
Company : 
Raytheon SAS
Skill Level : 
Audience: 

This half-day course is an overview (past, present, and future) of the interactions of processes, people and technologies involved in the complete lifecycle of a PCB design. This course is designed to provide a solid foundation for those who are just starting out (zero to two years of experience) as a PCB designer and help the individual formulate a roadmap to build their knowledge base for both personal and career advancement as contributors to this industry. All attendees will receive an MS Excel checklist of the traditional questions that PCB designers should ask throughout the PCB design process.

Speaker  :  
Rick Hartley
Company : 
RHartley Enterprises

This session is intended for board designers to understand the things RF engineers request during PCB layout. Experienced RF engineers will likely not learn anything new from this course, as the material is mainly geared to board designers.

Due to sensitivity in analog circuits, the keys to full functionality (whether you are designing very high-frequency analog PC boards, mixing RF with digital or mixing low-frequency analog with digital) are signal integrity and noise control in the design of the printed circuit board. This course will cover differences between analog and digital, circuit changes over time, lumped vs. distributed length lines, reflections/return loss/VSWR, low- and high-frequency current, transmission line behavior, impedance control, microstrip vs. stripline, coplanar waveguide w/ ground, circuit termination, 1/4 wavelength couplers and filters designed into board copper, layout techniques and strategies, critical routing and circuit isolation, ground plane splitting (when to and when not to), mismatched loads and other discontinuities, signal splitters, tuning transmission lines, power bus decoupling for RF vs. digital circuits and board stack-ups for mixed RF and digital circuits.

Speaker  :  
Keven Coates,
Company : 
Geospace Technologies

What is a wire? At high speeds, it behaves very differently from what we were taught in college. This presentation on high-speed basics makes the subject intuitive in a way that’s easily understood. Learn about how frequency enters the picture, high-speed signal propagation, impedance, noise, and reflections with easy-to-understand animations and analogies to understand this subject on a deeper level.

Speaker  :  
Ralf Bruening
Company : 
Zuken

Supply voltages decrease with every new silicon generation, contributing as well to the goal of reducing power consumption of our electronics. Coupled with the resulting shrinking noise margins for these ICs, this defines increasing demands for the quality and stability of power distribution schemes of PCBs. Hence, tighter requirements and constraints from silicon vendors are defined for power distribution networks (PDN), which PCB designers follow, in conjunction with tighter decoupling schemes. Board real estate limitations, application-dependent restrictions (e.g., discrete package size allowance in automotive) and cost demands further complicate the game. To address these technical challenges, engineers need to evolve from working within a disconnected design process to new or advanced design methodology with power-integrity and the demands of the PDN in mind. Using such a methodology and smart mechanisms to optimize the decoupling scheme can help ensure a design will meet the electrical specifications for power. In this two-hour workshop, the requirements and basics of PCB power distribution systems are explained in detail. The whole problem area, ranging from DC (with aspects like IR-drop, DC voltages and current distributions) to AC with its phenomena (e.g., target impedance, decoupling, inductance), is covered. Topics like plate capacitance, loop inductance and cavity resonance are explained in detail but without deep math. Side effects to the signal integrity and EMC behavior of board structures are discussed using illustrated practical examples. The role of capacitors, their parasitic behavior (ESL, ESR, connection inductance) and the technical decoupling evolution in recent years are a major part of the workshop. Guidelines for a first order covering and resolving power integrity issues are provided, regardless of the PCB design and ECAD process. Simulation capabilities addressing power integrity during PCB design will be explained and demonstrated by slides in a generic vendor-neutral manner as a problem-solving approach. Silicon vendor support documents (e.g. constraint and spreadsheet tools) to address power integrity are introduced and briefly discussed. Examples from various industries (e.g., automotive, industry automation, IoT) will complement the session with practical application experience.

Speaker  :  
Dan Beeker
Company : 
NXP Semiconductor

This presentation will present a simple EM physics and geometry-based approach to designing power distribution networks on PCBs. From input power connection to the IC die, the simple rules discussed can be used to reduce power supply noise and improve EMC. New research is presented on the impact of discrete components on radiated and conducted emissions, with an emphasis on cost analysis. This course will, after an introduction to EM field behavior, describe several effective methods for designing the spaces used to deliver power on a PCB. These methods are driven by considerations for how fast the switches are changing states and the geometry of the spaces and placement of components to properly delivery energy to prevent EMC and signal integrity issues.

Speaker  :  
Doug Brooks and Dr. Johannes Adam
Stop thinking about current density! In this 30-minute video, Doug Brooks and Dr. Johannes Adam explain the material parameters and properties that determine the temperature of a trace, how these...
Speaker  :  
Robert Carter
Company : 
Oak-Mitsui Technologies
Large data transmission continues to increase annually due to live video streaming, cloud storage, PDA usage, IOT, and other technologies. Electronic devices are getting smaller yet required to...
Speaker  :  
Rick Hartley
Company : 
RHartley Enterprises
Circuit boards for the IoT world (Internet of Things) are often driven by the need for low power dissipation, low cost (which drives very low layer count), moderate to high-density and mixed-signal...
Speaker  :  
Atar Mittal
Company : 
Sierra Circuits
Signal degradation on PCB transmission lines manifests in many forms: undershoot, overshoot, ringing, pulse shape distortion, switching noise, attenuation, ground bounce, skew, etc. All these can be...
Speaker  :  
Rick Hartley
Company : 
RHartley Enterprises
Differential pairs have been used in PC boards for years to carry high-speed serial and high-speed parallel data, in a variety of bus formats. Many board designers and engineers believe the rules...
This comprehensive seminar of how to design a PCB stackup to optimize performance while attaining the lowest cost possible. With the advent of very high-speed signaling along with multiple very...
Speaker  :  
Rick Hartley
Company : 
RHartley Enterprises
This session is intended for board designers to understand the things RF engineers request during PCB layout. Experienced RF engineers will likely not learn anything new from this course, as the...
Speaker  :  
Keven Coates,
Company : 
Geospace Technologies
What is a wire? At high speeds, it behaves very differently from what we were taught in college. This presentation on high-speed basics makes the subject intuitive in a way that’s easily understood....
Speaker  :  
Ralf Bruening
Company : 
Zuken
Supply voltages decrease with every new silicon generation, contributing as well to the goal of reducing power consumption of our electronics. Coupled with the resulting shrinking noise margins for...
Speaker  :  
Dan Beeker
Company : 
NXP Semiconductor
This presentation will present a simple EM physics and geometry-based approach to designing power distribution networks on PCBs. From input power connection to the IC die, the simple rules discussed...
Speaker  :  
Rick Hartley
Company : 
RHartley Enterprises
When time-varying (AC) signals travel in the transmission lines of a board, state-changing electric and magnetic fields are present. These fields, when not controlled, are the source of noise and...
Speaker  :  
Keven Coates
Company : 
Geospace Technologies
How do you design a high-speed digital circuit with enough bypass caps in the right area to supply all the peak power demands? You can’t listen to all the expert advice because it seems they can’t...
Speaker  :  
Jamie Pacamarra
Company : 
Analog Devices
Skill Level : 
Audience: 
When signals start to get affected by the physical characteristics of the PCB, things start to get a little tricky. A simple point-to-point connection won’t be enough to keep the integrity of the...
Speaker  :  
John Coonrod
Company : 
Rogers Corp.
Understanding millimeter-wave (mmWave) concepts can benefit RF designers, high-speed digital circuit designers and fabricators. In the RF industry, as frequency increases many circuit properties...
Speaker  :  
Daniel Beeker
Company : 
NXP Semiconductor
The material presented will be focused on the physics of electromagnetic energy basic principles, presented in easy-to-understand language with plenty of diagrams. Attendees will discover how...
Speaker  :  
Eric Bogatin
Company : 
Teledyne LeCroy
A differential pair is any two transmission lines. When each transmission line has a return plane, its pretty clear how the differential impedance is related to the geometry. But what if there is no...
Speaker  :  
Bill Hargin
Company : 
Z-zero
The objective of this tutorial is to guide design teams through the process of evaluating and selecting the right laminate for a design, creating PCB stackups that meet the requirements of complex,...
Speaker  :  
Rick Hartley
Company : 
RHartley Enterprises
As most engineers and designers are aware, EMI occurs because some mechanical structure, within or attached to our system, is capable of resonating and radiating electromagnetic field energy. Those...
Speaker  :  
Keven Coates
Company : 
Geospace Technologies
Have you ever had a noise-sensitive circuit and tried to find the noise source? Even after you completely encased sensitive portions in all sorts of shielding, you still had noise? It’s very...
Speaker  :  
Daniel Beeker
Company : 
NXP Semiconductor
Raise the shields, Scotty! Starting with some simple definitions for ESD/EOS, this session describes the important differences in the energy involved and the type of damage that can result. The...
Speaker  :  
Daniel Beeker
Company : 
NXP Semiconductor
A step-by-step guideline for determining the PCB design requirements based on device energy consumption requirements. Wave cycle times and transmission line capacity form the basis of this...
Speaker  :  
Rick Hartley
Company : 
RHartley Enterprises
Power distribution in PCBs is the foundation around which all things work in the circuit. If this is not designed correctly, the entire circuit is at risk from noise and signal integrity issues, to...
Speaker  :  
Eric Bogatin
Company : 
Teledyne LeCroy
Some experts say you should never use a split ground plane. Others say you should use a split ground plane to control noise. When is the right time to split a ground plane? We will explore the...
Speaker  :  
Daniel Beeker
Company : 
NXP Semiconductor
Tired of failing EMC certification over and over? Join the crowd. Shrinking IC geometries and a resulting increase in switching speeds make designing compliant printed circuit boards more...
With the advent of ICs with multiple power rails at very high currents, the design of the power delivery system in a modern product is often more difficult than routing the PCB to ensure good signal...

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