September 2017 • The PCB Design Magazine 73
5
Orange Co. Designers Council
Meeting Focuses on
Embedded Passives
On July 19, the Orange County Chapter of the IPC
Designer's Council hosted a lunch-and-learn meet-
ing in Tustin to discuss the benefits of embedded
passives. Approximately 40 people were in atten-
dance, which was lighter turnout than usual, most
likely because of summer vacations. But the crowd
was an enthusiastic one, as usual.
6
Stephen V. Chavez Talks
Mil/Aero PCB Design
"Steph," as he likes to
be called, is also the vice
president of his local IPC
Designers Council chapter
in Phoenix, a CID instruc-
tor with EPTAC, and a De-
signers Council Executive
Board member at large.
And each year at IPC APEX EXPO, he's a regular
speaker during the Design Forum event. So, for
our mil/aero issue, I wanted to get Steph's insight
into PCB design at a leading defense contractor.
7
ACDi Hires PCB Design
Engineer Priya Sherke
Priya Sherke has spent the past
five years with progressive
growth at Sanstar Microsys-
tems in Nagpur, India where
she was responsible for PCB
design, switching mode power
supply design, security sys-
tems design and technical support for process and
field instruments. She is also skilled in testing, and
analysis of SMPS, as well as project co-ordination.
She holds a bachelor's degree in electronics and
telecommunications from Nagpur University and
earned a diploma in software testing from SEED
Infotech.
8
Whose Fault is That
Bad Board?
Not long ago, I answered Editor
Andy Shaughnessy's "Whose
Fault is That Bad Board?" sur-
vey. When I answered the first
question ("If a board fails in the
field, whose fault is it, typical-
ly?"), I was disappointed that
he used radio buttons instead
of check boxes. I did not want to blame only the
designer for every bad board in the world.
9
Nine Dot Connects Webinar:
What Qualifies a Circuit
as High Speed?
Technologists at Nine Dot
Connects have been asked
the following question
many times: "What's the
frequency in which a design
is considered to be high
speed?" Would it surprise
you to know that a 10 MHz
design which could be wire wrapped or placed on
a protoboard could constitute high speed? The
fact is, frequency is only a part of the story.
J
Beyond Design:
Transmission Line Losses
As digital systems evolve and de-
mand for new technology push-
es the envelope for smaller and
faster systems, transmission line
losses, previously considered to
be negligible, are becoming a
primary design concern. Prag-
matic effects such as frequency-dependent losses
come into play at clock frequencies above 1 GHz
and are of particular concern for fast rise time sig-
nals, with long trace lengths, such as multigigabit
serial links.
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