Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1327102
26 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I JANUARY 2021 There is an expression, "You can't have your cake and eat it too," which is another way of saying that for those things in life that are either one way or the other, you can't have both. That's really a shame in my opinion. Oh, not about wanting something both ways. I think that we all know from past experiences that trying to accomplish something by going about it in what is obviously the wrong way never ends up the way we really want or expect it to. For instance: trying to get into shape without exercising; wanting to improve yourself with- out being willing to learn; or trying to fly a remote-control airplane without extending the antenna on the control box. (Even though it's been many years, I'm still kind of bitter about that last one.) I think it's a shame, literally—not being able to have a cake and eat it too. Can you imagine? There are very few things on a plate that I like Conquering Layers of Challenges in PCB Stackups better than a slice of good, rich, moist, multi- layer chocolate cake. Your mouth is starting to water now, too, isn't it? Just imagine having all of that chocolate goodness in a cake like that right in front of you, and then not being able to eat it. That would be sheer torture, and I think that is one of the reasons why I'm not the biggest fan of cooking shows. I can't stand to watch them create something incredibly delicious and not be able to grab a fork and plunge in. But as we all know, there is a price to be paid for over-indulgence, whether it is in multiple layers of chocolate cake, or even multiple layers in a circuit board. When I first started laying out printed cir- cuit boards many years ago, I was working for a computer systems manufacturer whose PCB designs were all multilayer boards. While there were a great many things that I learned there, it also fostered one bad habit: I became Tim's Takeaways Feature Column by Tim Haag, FIRST PAGE SAGE