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26 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I MAY 2024 With traditional laminates now sporting improved resin systems, some OEMs are choosing various flavors of FR-4 instead of high-speed laminates for their high-speed designs— even RF applications. Avoiding overconstraining your materials in high-speed products can lead to considerable cost sav- ings, not to mention a more streamlined trip through fabrication. But what do designers and design engineers need to know before they start using tradi- tional PCB laminates for RF applications? Raytheon's Filbert Arzola is a principal electri- cal engineer, IPC instructor, and a big advo- cate of setting constraints correctly early in the design cycle. We caught up with him at IPC APEX EXPO when his Professional Underconstraining Your Materials? Leave It to the Experts Development Course on constraints was taking a lunch break. Andy Shaughnessy: It seemed fitting to talk with you here in Anaheim during your class on constraining your high-speed board cor- rectly. Tell us a little about the class. Filbert Arzola: Sure. One of the things we've learned is that some high-speed designers have, in the past, put too much focus on mate- rials that had a certain glass weave. We went through so much waste trying to use glass weave at a certain angle. We had so much trou- ble getting a board done that we've gone to other material types, adding dielectric to them just to make things work better. I learned there are certain kinds of material and FR-4 materi- Feature Interview by the I-Connect007 Editorial Team