Substituting solid tantalum and tantalum polymer capacitors for surface-mount MLCCs
Examining key performance characteristics will help streamline the evaluation process of alternative capacitor technologies for the replacement of multilayer ceramic…
Analysis and simulation of PCB ACR losses for Vcore DrMOS optimization
PCB main-loop ripple current resistive losses are often neglected and overlooked as a switching power supply loss component.
Improve accuracy of electrical system thermal simulation with full-circuit 3D modeling
Full-circuit electro-thermal simulation, using an IGBT power inverter as an example, accounts for power dissipation and temperature variations throughout the…
It’s a wire-wrapped board sabotage
An unexpected discovery leads one engineer to believe his project was sabotaged.
Solder-wick trick characterizes bypass caps
Verify capacitor performance with a simple “homemade” test fixture.
A lifetime designing PCBs: Changing roles
Stay or go, finding the best avenue to project and company contributions involves tough choices.
A lifetime designing PCBs: Improving autorouting & design software
These PCB CAD adventures feature punched-card autorouting and a widget ruler.
A lifetime designing PCBs: Merging design and fabrication
Have you ever wanted to take a sharp (or blunt) object to your CAD system?
A lifetime designing PCBs: From design to software
One foot in PCB design, the other in CAD software development. Something’s gotta give.
A lifetime designing PCBs: Switching to eCAD
Early PCB CAD systems prove to be an uphill battle, but things eventually work out.