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46 The PCB Design Magazine • April 2016 In the first part of this series, we discussed the basics of hybrid design from the PCB de- signer's perspective, and here we will continue that discussion. We are seeing more and more of our customers exploring the world of hy- brid design, and we are getting new custom- ers for whom hybrid design is their sole focus. The world of hybrid design is growing and we have lots of hybrid specific functionality built into our software that helps designers meet and conquer the unique hybrid design requirements that they are faced with. And yet many designers out there (and I used to be one of them), have no idea of what is meant when people start talking about hy- brid design. It is therefore not uncommon for designers to avoid the subject directly while hoping to pick up little cues and pointers from others indirectly so that they are no longer in the dark. If that description sounds uncomfort- ably close to where you are, then read on! My hope is that this three-part series will help you by serving as a basic introduction into the world of hybrid design. If you haven't had a chance to read the first column in this series in last month's issue, please go back and give it a read. To summarize, a hybrid design is an alternate to the standard PCB. Hybrids are generally smaller and more ro- bust than PCBs, making them better suited for extreme environment conditions such as mois- ture, vibration, or heat. We are focusing the dis- cussion in these columns on LTCC hybrids (low- temperature, co-fired ceramics), although there are other hybrid types as well. Another topic we covered last month was substrate materials and by Tim Haag intercept technoLogy The Basics of Hybrid Design, Part 2 tim's takeaWays example of a hybrid integrated circuit on a ceramic substrate. (Source: eigener Scan, WikiCommons)