Copper can conduct current and heat, but board materials conduct only heat.

Most PCB designers have had at least some exposure to electrical engineering principles and fundamentals. For example, they have some understanding and a working knowledge of such things as current, voltage, power, resistivity and resistance. But most designers have had almost no exposure to thermodynamics. And thermodynamic fundamentals are very relevant when it comes to such things as determining how much current a trace can carry (and how hot it will get), how to cool a heated component's pad, and what role a copper plane might have in distributing heat across a board, for example.

Analytical formulas, plus Microsoft Excel, are all you need.

Look at just about any expert-level signal integrity guide and you will (or rather, should) see a lot of simulation data. Most often, these results are generated with 3-D electromagnetic field solvers, even if the author is not performing simulations directly from a finished PCB layout. 3-D field solvers and 2-D field solvers are also used on the front-end to design and engineer an interconnect for a specific interface.

Even after a long growth streak, observers still think the industry has life ahead.

The Electronic Systems Design Alliance in October reported yet another staggering quarter for printed circuit board design software sales. Revenues were not only up big year-over-year, but a look at the longer-term historical trends shows just how far the sector has come even in the past few years.

Indeed, over the past seven-plus years, this supposedly mature market has experienced a year-over-year quarterly drop only thrice – in the periods ended September 2016, June 2019 and December 2020 – two of which came during the Covid pandemic. Year to date, revenues are up almost 12%. The June 2023 period, the most recent quarter for which data are available, marked the second-highest quarterly figure, behind the March 2023 period (Figure 1). (The September quarter data are due to be released this month.)

Analysis and summary of the most fundamental design guidelines.

Technological advantages associated with the use of laser systems include flexibility, material efficiency and performance. To exploit the potential of filigree laser tools it is necessary to know and understand the physical and technological possibilities and limitations. This article focuses on material efficiency and design rules. Various factors are decisive for the design of PCBs, such as components and their heights, and potential mechanical or thermal stress.