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Design007-Jan2023

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JANUARY 2023 I DESIGN007 MAGAZINE 31 ble, it's important to identify resources that can help us understand the latest developments in advanced packaging and how they might affect component selection. One such resource is your circuit board manufacturer, who oen has a full-time staff of component engineers to ensure that the best possible part choices are being made for their customers. Also, this edi- tion of Design007 Magazine is full of insights from leaders in the PCB component packaging field on new technologies and how to make the best part choices. e moral of the story is to not be ashamed to admit when you need help, especially when it comes to PCB component selection. It may very well save you a lot of time, grief, and expense in the end. Today's advanced parts include high-density, fine-pitch BGAs that demand a well-thought-out layer stackup and routing strategy long before they are ever placed on the board. Just as my wife knew exactly what she needed from the cra store before she even got in the car, PCB designers need to know just how much we can and can't do with the parts in our designs—before we go to layout. Until next time, keep on designing. DESIGN007 Tim Haag writes technical, thought-leadership content for First Page Sage on his longtime career as a PCB designer and EDA technologist. To read past columns, click here. The moral of the story is to not be ashamed to admit when you need help, especially when it comes to PCB component selection. whether that availability will extend through- out the life of the project. en they will have to verify that the component's footprint and density will work with the layer stackup and anticipated routing parameters. Lastly, the ability to manufacture, test, configure, rework, or manipulate the part by technicians and/or end users must also be considered. Yes, there's a lot to consider when choosing parts, and making a mistake can be costly. One board that I designed many years ago had a new, unique through-hole connector placed in the middle that spanned almost the complete width of the narrow board being designed. is was a new part, and those that planned the interconnect strategy of the device had carefully chosen the connectors on the dif- ferent boards for their size and pin density. e plan was to leverage the multiple layers of the board to route out of the connector, as well as to route all the other board traces between its pins. e problem was that the connector specifications called for a pad size that didn't allow for trace routing between pads, but no one had thought to check on this critical detail when the connectors had been chosen. By the time this design got into my hands, the mat- ing connector had already been built into the other boards in the device—we were stuck. If memory serves, I think that we had to get a special exemption from our manufacturers just to build the board. is story illustrates the importance of not only choosing the correct component for the application, but also the critical need for exper- tise in advance component packaging; with- out advanced packaging know-how, designers can't understand all the aspects and implica- tions of using a new part. As I said earlier, com- ponent selection mistakes can end up being very costly in terms of manufacturing expenses and board failures. Yet as new and increasingly advanced PCB components become available, making these kinds of mistakes becomes more likely. While we would all do well to learn as much about component engineering as possi-

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