pcb

Low-cost designs are often an underserved and challenging part of a layout engineer’s career and getting increasingly complicated.

The mirror technique is a very old technique to be used with PCBs when failing in radiated EMC tests. An easy solution to avoid changes in layout if the technique can be applied to your product.

Adding a guard trace between PCB traces sounds like a simple crosstalk fix — but grounding it wrong can actually make interference worse, not better. See how capacitive and inductive coupling respond differently to grounding placement, and why one counterintuitive result changes the design approach.

At low frequencies, current takes the shortest path home. At high frequencies, it abandons direct routes for minimal inductance paths beneath traces. Ground plane discontinuities create radiation havoc—measurements prove theory right.

Software tools can give the EMC engineer a better chance to pass EMC requirements the first time.

The article explains crosstalk between circuit traces, showing how signals propagate between nearby conductors through capacitive and inductive coupling. It demonstrates experimentally how reducing separation distance and adjusting ground plane proximity affects near-end and far-end crosstalk voltages in PCB microstrip configurations.

It is very common for people doing simulations to make a measurement of a similar set up to validate the simulation. This is a reasonable precaution since modern simulation tools will give a very accurate answer to whatever question it is asked.

There are several scenarios where integrated circuits (ICs) are mounted on printed circuit boards (PCBs) which might be charged-up and experience CDM-like events.

A 1988 study of current distribution in printed circuit boards reveals how return‑current paths, ground‑plane impedance, and trace coupling drive EMI and signal‑integrity issues. Its insights on low‑impedance ground structures remain foundational for today’s high‑speed digital designs.

Although the foundation of a failure analysis is rooted in science, there is also an art to completing one, successfully. The path from “problem discovery” to “problem solution” has many bumps and twists along the way and this article will hopefully help guide you on your journey.