Design007 Magazine

Design007-Jan2019

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36 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I JANUARY 2019 we are looking for. I wanted to start the presentation with some of the basics, then discuss what could go wrong, so we covered a variety of examples of the kinds of problems people can encounter with their PCBs and their stackup. Next, we covered the physics of PCB layer stackup and how you solve those problems. We talked about some of the areas when communicating to get a certain type of board built. Then, we went in to some of the costs and different problems. Shaughnessy: What was your main objective with this class? Schattke: Julie and I wanted to cover, in a broad range, the common issues that designers face, and we wanted to represent how you would solve those problems and avoid them or mitigate them. We partnered with Altium to have their field application engineer (FAE) explain how that translates into the tool. We also discussed some of the enhancements that they have with Altium Designer 19 coming out, and how that is going to support impedance driven trace widths, etc. We felt that it should be a strong, well-rounded presentation to help people with their PCB stackup problems. Several people spoke with us after the talk and said how valuable it was already; they really enjoyed it and learned a lot. For me, I wanted to give a lot of value to people who were in the presentation so that they learn about PCB stackups and how to ensure success. PCB stackup problems are generally the most expensive ones we see in industry. If you get that wrong, you either have to redesign—which could be months of effort—you spend more money than you need to, or you don't spend enough money. It's usually one of those issues. We can mitigate a lot of problems by changing the layer stackup or getting it right the first time. Shaughnessy: The DFM horror stories were really good. I think the designers like to see the horror stories because then they feel like they're not the only ones having problems like that. You feel bad for the one designer Julie mentioned who didn't know his board was going to be built in Asia, and then the Asian shops couldn't get the spaces and traces he needed. Schattke: The local shops here in the U.S. are geared up for good registration. They have prototyping tools that allow them to reach these hard targets, but as soon as you go to a lower-cost geographic region to get the boards built, you're stuck. You really have to think about that before you kick off your design. A problem like this is not simple to solve because it's every space and trace, and the board has to be tweaked to get it ready for higher-volume manufacturing. I like to design the boards that I do so they can be built as cost-effectively as possible. I never want to add complexity to a board that doesn't need it. I want to use the simplest technology that will fulfill the engineering requirements. Ultimately, this will make it easier to manufacture. Shaughnessy: I think designers are finally starting to see that they can control the cost of the whole product. They have the power in their hands. Now, they're starting to take control. Schattke: Part of our role as a designer is to educate the engineers that we work with, and also to discuss the cost and ramifications of different issues. As Schattke with Rick Hartley.

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