The PCB or Printed Circuit Board design process is long and complicated. Typically, it has several stages that range from the initial schematics to the final finished layout. With products becoming increasingly more advanced, PCBs are also getting more complicated with greater component densities, higher signal speeds, and tighter tolerances. Higher complexity in PCB design, if done manually, can not only make the process more expensive but can also introduce errors, while slowing down the entire process. Latest breakthroughs in AI Artificial Intelligence, and ML or Machine Learning are revolu ..read more

Industry 4.0 is leading to huge gains in factory productivity, efficiency, and data automation. This is primarily due to parallel advancements in AI or artificial intelligence, smart manufacturing, and IoT or the Internet of Things. According to Rush PCB Inc., machines in the future will be responsible for industrial processes. This will include specific learned tasks and exploitation of closed feedback loops for monitoring and reporting highly detailed production data, and detecting deviations that automatically trigger source parameter adjustments. The net result of all this will be systems ..read more

What are Flexible Displays and Foldable Devices? Flexible displays and foldable devices have been making the rounds of the market in recent years. Numerous phones, monitors, and other devices are now available incorporating this new and innovative technology. Flexible screens are a new spin on the traditional rigid flat-screen display—it is possible to flex and bend them. Foldable devices incorporate flexible displays to give you an appliance that the user can fold and unfold like paper. Flexible screens are not a new idea. In 1974, Xerox PARC developed a flexible electronic display, which the ..read more

With so much design and manufacturing effort going into creating a PCB, it is necessary to improve the design to avoid expensive responses due to EMI/EMC test failures. According to Rush PCB Inc., this is easily accomplished by following some basic design techniques and principles and applying modern EMC analysis software. Designers must overcome numerous challenges when designing printed circuit boards. These include mechanical integration, size constraints, power efficiency, and thermal considerations. EMI or Electromagnetic Interference, and EMC or Electromagnetic Compatibility only add to ..read more

Staggered and stacked microvias are standard in HDI or High-Density Interconnect boards. In fact, these boards achieve their unique density primarily because of these tiny vias and closely spaced, narrow traces. Eminent PCB manufacturers like Rush PCB Inc. create effective, efficient, and compact circuit boards by incorporating staggered and stacked microvias in the design of their boards. A rapid change has been evident in the entire electronic industry in the last few decades. The form factor of almost all electronic devices and equipment has been steadily decreasing. Two factors are respons ..read more

The focus of the electronic industry is on HDI or High-Density Interface boards right now. Rightly so, as the trend of the industry is to produce devices with minuscule form factors, for which, boards made with the HDI technology are of paramount importance. However, the most common question that arises is whether HDI boards are economical. Here, Rush PCB Inc. analyses this question from different angles, and the conclusion is a resounding yes, HDI boards are certainly economical. Let us look at the arguments offered. Layers and Laminations It is true that boards with multiple laminations are ..read more

Manufacturing HDI PCBs requires a variety of materials. They are necessary to create a layer stackup, etch the unwanted copper, apply a solder mask, apply a surface finish, and print the silkscreen. While the other materials are fairly standard, dielectric material for creating the multilayer PCB stackup must have different material properties like dielectric constant and thermal conductivity to suit the application. Rush PCB Inc. recommends making a thorough comparison of the properties of PCB materials when designing for specialized applications, as this helps to select the right base materi ..read more

Designers can pack an astounding amount of functionality into a small device, and they have the HDI design technique to be thankful for this. HDI design techniques, including microvias design, are useful in generating compact printed circuit designs. They pack very small structures and traces in multilayer PCBs to create a high interconnect density and a high layer count. If a size study determines that 6 mil smaller traces are necessary to fit all the components on a printed circuit board, the design is dense enough to need microvias that will support routing between layers. In this article ..read more

Eminent PCB manufacturers like Rush PCB Inc. know that a board’s stack up directly affects its cost. Additionally, there are fabrication variables that also contribute to the cost of a board. Therefore, many manufacturers are switching to additive manufacturing to circumvent the cost of a board, but without sacrificing its performance. PCB manufacturers often come across complex layouts with deadlines that refuse any attempt at completion within the scheduled time. In such situations, they have two alternative solutions—to ask the customer for more time or charge them more—to meet the board’s ..read more

PCB or Printed Circuit Board designers, targeting high-volume production, are familiar with fiducials. These are copper features, visible through the solder mask openings, typically appearing around the edge of a PCB. Automated imaging equipment uses fiducials to set the board properly against its orientation and angular skew. This helps in the accurate placement and assembly of components on the board. According to Rush PCB Inc., although the above reason is important for the placement of components, designers often place fiducials in other locations as well on the board, such as on panels an ..read more