Engineering and design teams are increasingly driven to integrate AI technologies that:

• Use LLMs, neural networks and reinforcement learning
• Accelerate design workflows (schematic, layout) and reduce time-to-market
• Reduce cost across the design cycle
• Reduce risk and minimize errors in complex design tasks
• Keep their teams and business ahead of the competition.

The purpose of this master class is to equip designers and engineers with the knowledge to accelerate their workflows using AI tools. This no-nonsense course focuses on leveraging AI tools in the hardware design workflow. We will explore the time and resources involved in a typical design process and then dive into each of these processes to demonstrate how the presented tools can accelerate workflows across all ecosystems, such as automotive, defense and medical. For the sake of familiarity, this class will build on popular open-source projects. While we will mention specific vendors, our focus will be on the frameworks for interacting with these tools.

This course will alleviate fears that these tools will replace us and instead show how they can become valuable allies. Once equipped with this knowledge, participants can approach their hardware design cycles with the enhanced capabilities of AI-driven workflows. Additionally, helps keep pace with technological advancements, preparing you to evaluate the effectiveness of new tools as they emerge.

This course is for:

• All levels of electrical engineers
• All levels of PCB designers
• Product development teams

What you will learn:

• A no-nonsense approach with practical examples and workflows on how to integrate AI into current design processes for all design ecosystems
• How to establish knowledge and frameworks that will apply to current and future AI tools
• Methods that apply to the entire hardware design cycle – libraries, schematics, layout and BoMs
• The real limitations of the tools and what’s to come.

Designing complex PCBs is a critical and intricate endeavor that underpins the creation of advanced electronic systems. This abstract examines the essential considerations, methodologies and emerging trends shaping modern PCB design. The demands of contemporary electronics – featuring high-density components, multifunctional capabilities and rigorous performance criteria – necessitate sophisticated PCB layouts. Key focus areas include layout solvability, signal integrity, electromagnetic interference (EMI) management, power integrity, thermal optimization and manufacturability, underscoring the importance of an integrated and methodical design strategy.

This talk highlights the role of electronic design automation (EDA) tools in enhancing the efficiency and dependability of complex PCB designs. As the push for smaller form factors and greater functionality intensifies, designers must overcome challenges such as space optimization, signal crosstalk and EMI. Automation in component placement and routing, supported by simulation and design-for-manufacturing (DfM) tools, addresses these complexities.

Additionally, the class emphasizes cross-disciplinary collaboration between hardware and software teams as a cornerstone of successful PCB design. Integrating DfM and design-for-testability (DfT) principles is essential to streamline manufacturing processes and ensure product reliability. The emergence of Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things (IoT) introduces new challenges and opportunities, particularly in connectivity, security, and adaptability, further influencing PCB design strategies.

In summary, this talk offers a comprehensive perspective on the challenges and solutions in designing complex PCBs, highlighting the interdisciplinary approach required to achieve success in this rapidly evolving field.

What you will learn:

• Key strategies for achieving success in PCB design
• How to boost productivity and proficiency with current and future EDA tools
• The advantages of adopting best practices versus the risks of maintaining the status quo.

Differential pairs have been used in PCBs for many years to carry high-speed serial and some high-speed parallel data in a variety of bus formats. Many board designers and engineers believe the rules for differential pairs are the same in or on a PC board as they are in a cable or a twisted wire pair. This is usually not the case!

This two-hour course will discuss and define:

• Characteristics of differential pair lines
• Impact of line-to-line spacing on signal integrity
• Line length (timing) matching – how tightly?
• Impact of crosstalk on diff pair behavior
• Issues that cause timing skew, including fiber weave
• Best diff pair line termination schemes
• Impact of changing layers with differential pairs.

“As IC geometries continue to shrink and switching speeds increase, designing electromagnetic systems and printed circuit boards to meet the required signal integrity and EMC specifications has become even more challenging. A new design methodology is required. Specifically, we’ll discuss the utilization of an electromagnetic physics-based design methodology to control the field energy in a design.

This 3.5-hour course will, after an introduction to EM field behavior, describe several effective methods for designing the spaces that used to direct EM fields on a PCB. Simple rules for managing these fields will be described, based on one key behavior. How fast does the switch change states? This defines the requirements for the power distribution and the geometry of the space between the output of the switch and the receiver.

Several real-world examples of the use of these principles, both for designing compliant boards and for analyzing EMC failures, are presented. This training module will walk you through the development process and provide guidelines for building successful, cost-effective printed circuit boards. (Note: There is a 2.5 hour break in this class.)”

This talk explains how AI will empower hardware engineers to better leverage their data to inform future design decisions in the hardware development process.

Key topics covered:

• The uses cases and impact of AI for:
  • Shortening design cycles
  • Reducing errors
  • Enabling continuous testing and feedback.

What you will learn:

• Types of data hardware and electrical engineers have that are underutilized
• How to incorporate AI into daily hardware development workflows
• Predictions of AI’s long-term impact on hardware and electrical engineers.

This hands-on workshop introduces participants to a new type of circuit design automation software powered by AI. Tailored for engineers and designers of all experience levels, this session provides a step-by-step guide to using AI to accelerate the design process. Participants will learn how to create their first functional block diagram and, within seconds, automatically generate validated designs, optimized for cost, size, power and supply-chain considerations.

This real-world design project will be validated to ensure it meets performance requirements, and we will demonstrate how to seamlessly export these designs to popular ECAD tools.

Participants will leave with a fully functional design and hands-on experience with cutting-edge technology that takes circuits from architecture to schematic in seconds. Join us to explore the future of circuit design and discover how AI-powered automation can transform your design process.

In today’s volatile supply chain environment, the responsibility of sourcing transcends purchasing and supplier management. Engineers must integrate supply chain resilience into the very fabric of their designs. This two-hour workshop empowers engineers to proactively design out supply-chain risks during component selection. Attendees will learn about the current landscape of supply-chain vulnerabilities, the principles of design for sourcing and practical strategies to ensure continuity and reliability in their electronic designs. By the end of this session, participants will be equipped to make informed decisions that safeguard their projects against disruptions and contribute to a more robust supply chain ecosystem.

Key topics covered:

• Importance of design for sourcing in today’s environment
• Current trends and challenges
• Case studies of supply-chain disruptions
  • Criteria for component selection
  • Innovations in supply-chain management.

What you will learn:

• The role of engineers in sourcing decisions
• Assessing supplier reliability and stability
• Tools and techniques for risk assessment
• How to enhance cross-functional collaboration among engineering and supply managers.

How do you design a high-speed digital circuit with enough bypass caps in the right area to supply all the peak power demands? You can’t listen to all the expert advice because it seems they can’t even agree!

What you will learn:

• Power distribution network basics
• Three approaches with simulation results for each
• Real-world experience and advice on bypassing for high-speed circuits.

“Ultra-high-density interconnect (UHDI) technologies are rapidly transforming the landscape of electronic systems by enabling the development of compact, high-performance devices. This presentation delves into the design and verification of UHDI topologies, an advanced technology that permits significantly higher wiring densities in electronic circuits. It covers essential design considerations such as signal integrity, thermal management and material selection, while emphasizing the need for early collaboration with PCB fabricators. The industry’s best practice design process integrates advanced materials, high-speed interconnect strategies and multilayer PCB architectures to achieve optimized performance and scalability.

We’ll also discuss the importance of EDA tools for optimizing layouts, simulating signal integrity and highly emphasize performing design rule checks. Various verification techniques and methodologies such assimulation-based validation, electrical and thermal analysis, physical prototyping and mechanical stress testing, are explored to ensure UHDI reliability and compliance with industry standards.

Additionally, this presentation highlights emerging trends like AI-driven design optimization, machine learning (ML) EDA tools and innovative manufacturing processes, positioning UHDI technology as crucial for the future across industries like consumer electronics and aerospace. By analyzing the challenges, EDA tools and methods involved, the presentation provides a comprehensive understanding of the evolving UHDI design and verification landscape. Through this framework, attendees will gain insights into the efficient design and robust verification of next-generation UHDI topologies, addressing the increasing demands of modern electronics in sectors such as telecommunications, automotive and consumer electronics.

What you will learn:

• A better understanding of UHDI PCB designs
• Key design considerations, including signal integrity, thermal management, material selection, and the importance of close collaborations with the fabricator
• Emerging trends in UHDI technologies and the impact of miniaturization on electronic system complexity.”

Electronic devices continue to push the limits of shrinking package size while increasing performance. This often necessitates an increase in power, particularly when considering modern advancements in battery technology. Such advancements have made electric vehicles a viable consumer product, but special design considerations ensure these designs can safely withstand their voltage, current and power requirements.

In this presentation, we will walk through practical examples of systems rated for up to and beyond 1000V and 100A-500A, all implemented on a PCB.

Key topics covered:

• Designing voltage isolation per IPC-2221
• Designing conductors for high-current applications
• Thermal challenges in high power PCBs
• High-pot and insulation resistance testing considerations
• Lightning and ESD protection
• Creepage vs. clearance
• PCB designs connected to high-energy batteries
• How to connect high power busses to PCBs
• Stackup challenges for high power designs
• Component voltage/power ratings.

What you will learn:

• How to evaluate a project’s power requirements
• How to make informed design choices to ensure performance is met when pushing the limits of what is physically possible.

Venturing into the world of flexible circuit design might seem intimidating if you have only designed rigid boards in the past. While flex design does have important differences to be aware of, many of the basic principles are the same. As a designer, it is important to understand how they are different and where the key differences fall in the design process. The goal of this presentation is to provide guidance on what to watch out for in each step of the design process when designing a flex board for the first time.

Key topics covered:

• Different types of flex boards: flex, rigid-flex, flex with stiffener
• Importance of early flex fabrication house involvement: stackup, rules, cost
• Stackup considerations: material choices, layer count flexibility
• Mechanical considerations: bend lines and radius, stiffener regions
• Design considerations: footprint modifications, placement guidelines, routing suggestions
• Additional design rules: keepouts around transitions, controlled impedance
• Output files: fabrication drawing details, folded step models.

What you will learn:

• The most important differences between rigid and flex design
• Critical questions to ask early in the process
• The importance of collaboration among electrical, mechanical, design and manufacturing early in the process to come up with cost-effective and creative solutions.

One of the founding ideas of Notion Systems was to replace traditional subtractive manufacturing processes with innovative additive steps in electronics production.

Central to this vision is the use of inkjet printing and advanced machine manufacturing technologies. The novel n.jet platform plays a key role in this transformation, enabling the production of a wide range of electronic components from displays and printed circuit boards (PCBs) to semiconductor components and high-precision optical 3-D parts. It offers a comprehensive solution that spans from laboratory-scale experiments to large-scale production environments.

Inkjet printing stands out as a particularly unique and versatile approach for PCB manufacturing. It permits a highly flexible and efficient process, especially for the application of solder masks, which are critical to the functionality and durability of printed circuit boards. The novel platform supports both small-batch prototyping and large-scale mass production.

What makes inkjet printing so powerful is its adaptability: it accommodates a range of production needs – from single-color applications to multi-color processes, and from simple 2-D patterns to more complex 3-D designs. These capabilities allow manufacturers to create highly customized, precise and reliable PCBs, which can be used in an array of electronic devices from consumer electronics to advanced industrial applications. Additionally, the ability to implement multilayered structures with ease and flexibility enhances the platform’s appeal for next-generation electronic devices.

The benefits of ultra-short pulse lasers in processing of high-end circuit printed boards for advanced microelectronics applications are well-known. Challenges in electronics design and manufacturing arising from the miniaturization trend and increased performance requirements can be overcome when processing materials with short pulse lasers.

This presentation discusses the benefits for the hole quality attributes of microvia drilling with a green picosecond laser, compared to the traditional laser drilling technologies. Characteristics of laser-drilled blind vias can be optimized to achieve specified sidewall quality features. Furthermore, the drilling results with picosecond laser technology provide a clean landing surface with minimal effect on the copper target pad which improves the microvia interfacial adhesion. In other PCB laser processes, such as routing or structuring, the results show that laser pulse widths in the picosecond range applied into the materials lead to high quality PCB processing with minimal heat-affected zones.

Key topics covered:

• Fundamentals of ultra short pulse laser ablation for PCB processing
• Microvia drilling with picosecond lasers
• PCB applications with picosecond lasers
• Use case and application example.

What you will learn:

• Physics behind ultra short pulse laser processing
• Benefits of microvia drilling with picosecond lasers
• Laser tool set-up for PCB applications.

The one thing you can count on in PCB design is change. Right now, there is a lot of talk about AI and its impact on the PCB Industry as a whole. This presentation will touch on AI but also try to explore other changes that experts have predicted are coming to the PCB design Industry in the next two to five years. This is going to shed some light on what is coming so we can be better prepared.

Key topics covered:

• The current state of AI in PCB design
• Heterogeneous packaging (also known as chiplets/3DICs/SoCs)
• Textile-integrated microelectronic systems
• High-speed/high-current
• Optics
• The origin of designers.

What you will learn:

• An overview of coming trends. (It will not be a deep technical dive into any of these subjects.)
• Information to prepare designers on where the industry might be headed
• Information for career directions, opportunities and choices to consider in the coming years.

In preparation for this presentation, we talked to many of the largest PCB manufacturers in the US and abroad. We then developed a list of the most common errors found on incoming designs. We look at each of the errors and discuss ways to find them before the designs are sent out for manufacturing. The methods we will look at include netlist comparison, design for manufacturing and design rule analysis. We also talk about proper documentation needed for PCB manufacturing. We encourage attendee participation and ask folks to bring their challenges for discussion. After this seminar, the PCB designer will take back some knowledge to better assist them in using their existing tools in the market to produce better and more accurate designs.

Based on insights from over 1,000 hardware and electrical engineers, this session dives into key data collected from LinkedIn professional groups and a broad range of industries.

Key topics covered:

• Survey of 1k+ engineers on the current state of hardware development
  • Learning mediums
  • Prioritized skillsets
  • Trends

What you will learn:

• How hardware teams are overcoming their biggest challenges
• Which ECAD formats are most popular
• Which engineering skills have contributed most to your success in their careers
• When is the right time to try a new tool in the design cycle

Over the past decade, the printed circuit board manufacturing industry has made significant advancements through innovation and invention in the level of complexity a single PCB can contain. These improvements span processes, equipment and PCB specifications, all contributing to higher quality and more sustainable production practices.

Notably, the enhancements in manufacturing processes, equipment and standards have not only elevated PCB quality and durability but have also incorporated sustainability measures to better protect the environment and drive positive change through corporate social responsibility (CSR). These advancements are crucial for extending the operational lifespan in high-reliability applications, improving the longevity of PCB manufacturing facilities, and enhancing quality of life for the people who work there.

This presentation, delivered by a certified IPC-6012F trainer and PCB design specialist, offers an in-depth exploration of the modern PCB manufacturing process, with each step aligned to the latest IPC-6012 standard. Certain steps will include recommendations for exceeding standard requirements or best practices to enhance sustainability.

IPC-6012F establishes performance and qualification requirements for the fabrication and quality assurance of rigid PCBs. This standard covers a range of rigid PCBs, including single-sided, double-sided, multilayer and metal-core boards. Its implementation in PCB manufacturing drives improvements in product reliability, reduces defects and minimizes rework or field failures. By adhering to IPC-6012F, manufacturers ensure their products meet stringent quality requirements.

Attendees will gain a comprehensive understanding of the production process through detailed explanations and brief factory videos. This session provides a complete and insightful overview of contemporary PCB manufacturing.

This course covers the entire gamut of flexible and rigid-flex circuits from two of the most recognized names in the flexible circuit industry: Mark Finstad (co-chair of IPC-2223) and Nick Koop (co-chair of IPC-6013).

Key topics covered:

• Mechanical design/material selection
• Cost drivers
• Bending and forming concerns
• Testing
• Issues unique to rigid-flex.

This course also includes a complete virtual plant tour of a flexible circuit manufacturing facility to help attendees understand the manufacturing processes. Throughout the presentation, the instructors will share real-life stories of flexible circuit applications gained over 35+ years in the industry. Some are success stories, others not so much, but all provide excellent lessons learned. The instructors also welcome and encourage questions and enjoy wandering off-course with lively interactive discussions on specific topics from the class.

This 3.5-hour session is intended for board designers to understand the “things” RF engineers request during PCB layout. Experienced RF engineers will likely not learn anything new from this course, as the material is mainly geared to board designers.

Due to sensitivity in analog circuits, the keys to full functionality (whether you are designing very high frequency analog PCBs, mixing RF with digital or mixing low frequency analog with digital) are signal integrity and noise control in the design of the printed circuit board. The crux of a great design is contained in the board layout.

This course will discuss and define:

• Microstrip, stripline and CPWG = advantages and disadvantages
• Reflections/return loss/VSWR in lumped vs. distributed lines
• 1/4 wavelength couplers and filters designed into PCB copper
• Basic RF and analog PCB layout techniques and strategies
• Mismatched loads, signal splitters and tuning transmission lines
• RF vs. digital power distribution basics
• PCB stackups for mixed RF and digital circuits.

“Why does what is seen on the oscilloscope not look like a square wave? At today’s speeds, traces behave very differently from what we were taught in college.

This is a 3.5-hour presentation on high-speed basics that helps make the subject intuitive in a different way.

What you will learn:

• How frequency affects
  • Propagation
  • Transmission line flow
  • Impedance
  • Noise
  • Reflections.

The presentation includes easy-to-understand animations, analogies to understand this subject on a deeper level, and new examples of good/bad layouts.”

This course will walk the audience through the entire multilayer PCB fabrication process, making stops along the way to explain how PCB design requirements affect the numerous fabrication steps and if/how the finished product can meet the intended quality and reliability requirements. A detailed explanation will be given for each of the process steps and how that step affects quality and reliability.

Key topics covered:

• Design requirements, with an explanation of the dos and don’ts of how they affect fabrication and impact yields
• Process controls adopted by the fabricator to ensure maximum yields and quality are maintained during each step of fabrication
• Pros and cons of variables available to the designers
  • Solder mask
  • Surface finish
  • Materials selection
  • Copper weights
  • Feature size, etc.

The course also looks at fabrication drawing specifications and how they can affect yield, cost, quality and reliability.

Designing PCB power supplies successfully has never been more difficult. Modern ICs have an extremely demanding appetite for high-frequency energy that can be difficult for designers to satisfy with their power delivery system designs. Many common elements can block the energy delivery these ICs require. If this high-frequency energy is not properly delivered, the IC will malfunction in unusual or intermittent ways and/or cause EMI test failures.

Key topics covered:

• Power delivery system big picture
• Power delivery system design introduction
• Characteristics of a good PDS
• Conflicting demands placed on the PDS design process
• Steps in designing a power subsystem
• Sources of current demand from the PDS
• Components in the PDS
• Bypass capacitors and inductors
• Ferrite beads
• Inductance of connecting vias
• Capacitor mounting
• Capacitor placement
• Remote sense connections
• Plane capacitance
• Signal plane fills
• Modeling the PDS
• Testing the PDS.

What you will learn:

This course focuses on the practical knowledge and design techniques designers need to make a power delivery system support modern IC die power demands. Some types of power system components can have extremely undesirable power system side effects if incorrect component types are selected. Strategies are laid out for designing power delivery systems that yield reliable system designs.

Electromagnetic compatibility has the reputation of being black magic – especially when hardware is doing weird things in the test lab and you just want to pass and get out of there. I suggest that EMC is not black magic – it happens at the intersection of physics and electrical engineering when that interaction starts doing very counter-intuitive things.

This session explains four concepts where EMC works counter to our “gut feeling” expectations, and how to EMC-proof designs to have a better chance of passing EMC testing the first time.

Key topics covered:

• Not all currents flow in easily identifiable loops as learned in DC circuits
• When switching DC voltages, the result is high frequency noise as well as DC signals
• Shields do not act like mirrors
• High-frequency current does not flow through all of a conductor; it concentrates near an outer surface.
  What you will learn:
• Where high frequency electromagnetic noise might be generated
• What paths or structures are likely to accidentally start radiating like antennas
• How to construct shields and terminate cable shields to make sure they are most effective.

Many engineers are now required to design their own PCBs but have not had the benefit of learning the particular needs of electronics, signals, placement, routing and manufacturability in those boards.

This class will feature an overview of the processes of board design from an engineering perspective. To begin, we will have a conversation about the electronics and physics involved and why controlling rise time, field energy and transmission lines is extremely important to the signals on the board. Next, we’ll discuss placement and topics such as order, flow and setting up potential routing to come. The planes and stackup structure play a major role in the quality of the design and impedance control, especially if the design is high-speed, and plane and capacitor placement are a large part of power distribution as well. The way signals are routed and how their return current is set up is critical to performance.

Also discussed:

• Fanouts
• Grids
• Signal flow from layer to layer
• Layer paired routing and spacing
• HDI technology can be a huge benefit to dense boards, fine-pitch parts and BGAs, so we will go over their setup and routing.

All these topics will include information on signal integrity, EMI and impedance control to make a board that works well from the first build. Many aspects of making a board manufacturable also help to make it less expensive, so an examination of that will wrap the technical things up, followed by information on the pros and cons of hand routing vs. autorouting and impact on board quality.

How does one reach the maximum capacity interactions between processor and memory using the new DELL/JEDEC CAMM connector? The demand for speed is here and now from media, CAD, 3-D design, scientific research and data analysis, AI and machine learning.

This presentation aims to explore through the eyes of the designer the key design challenges when routing DDR5 and from processor and memory placement considerations to maximum speed and performance.

Key topics covered:

• What is the CAMM2 connector?
• DDR5 vs previous DDR
• SODIMM vs CAMM2
• DDR5 vs LPDDR5
• DRAM layout differences
• Constraint differences
• Placement and pattern of DRAMs
• To mirror or not!
• Sharing command addresses
• Length matching
• Signal Impedance
• Signal integrity
• Power plane capacitors.

In the modern world of printed circuit board design, ADC (analog to digital converters) and DACs (digital to analog converters) play an important role This seminar is concentric around techniques used in printed circuit designs. Topic discussed and detailed will include noise reduction techniques for power distribution, input/output protection for transients as well as how to protect against ESD events.

This 3.5-hour presentation aims to explore the key considerations, challenges and techniques involved in designing efficient via structures to achieve enhanced performance and reliability.

Key topics covered:

• Noise reduction for ADC/DACs
• Signal integrity and design considerations
• Power distribution
• Design guidelines and optimization techniques
• Case studies and best practices.

What you will learn:

• Design for noise reduction
• Specific techniques to use and ones to avoid
• Analog vs. digital ground: why or why not?

This presentation will cover typical boards for speeds under 500MHz (typically FR-4, etc.).

HDI and UHDI designs push the limits on layer thickness in conventional materials in PCBs and IC substrates. Thinner materials and additive processes (SAP/mSAP) have enabled much higher trace densities on thin layers, but the impacts on SI, PI and EMI at high traces densities and in high-bandwidth channels are still being investigated. Due to the interplay between linewidth, allowable line spacing based on crosstalk, Dk value, channel bandwidth and layer thickness, it is important to understand how signal behavior is altered when designs are pushed into thinner materials.

This 3.5-hour presentation will show how thinner materials and their Dk values affect signal integrity, as well as what designers can do to hit SI targets by balancing Dk, copper roughness and laminate thickness. These trends will be discussed in terms of HDI/UHDI PCBs, but the same trends are seen in IC substrates and substrate-like PCBs, and the implementation of those practices for more advanced PCBs will be discussed to illustrate how to support bandwidths reaching 56GHz.

Topics covered:

• Why the trend is toward lower Dk in terms of signal integrity and linewidth/spacing densities
• How standard signal integrity metrics vary with Dk/Df values, and roughness down to 1 mil layer thicknesses
• How Dk and layer thickness affect single-ended and differential crosstalk, thus limiting allowed trace density
• How routing and via structures in HDI/UHDI PCBs and IC substrates affect signal integrity and available channel bandwidth
• Design examples showing how Dk and layer thickness are used to enable broadband signal integrity in single-ended nets, RF nets, and differential nets.

Simulation examples from real designs will be presented to illustrate the design tradeoffs listed above, and implementation in real designs will be shown as examples. Designers will learn how to balance tradeoffs between Dk value, Df value, copper roughness and laminate thickness when selecting stackup materials based on the frequency range that is important in their systems.

Electronic systems and the printed circuit boards which define the core of their operation are changing our way of life daily. Even in electronic systems considered simple or a commodity (e.g., coffee makers with a display or web-connected temperature control unit), complex ICs build the core of operation. Information must be processed, transferred and somehow stored in memory-systems – defining complex requirements on signal quality and stable power-supply. Furthermore, demand for both the overall energy consumption and power delivery (stable over a period at the required level and in the quality within the IC-margins of the power-supply system) grows significantly.

In parallel, the supply voltage number increases even as many of these voltage-levels tend to decrease with every new silicon generation, contributing to the goal of enhancing the chip-functionality on one hand but in parallel reducing the system’s overall power consumption. This defines (in conjunction with the shrinking noise margins of the ICs) growing demands for the stability of power distribution in such PCBs. Consequently, tighter design rules and constraints are specified for the so-called power distribution networks (PDN) and for the decoupling-scheme PCB designers must follow. Board real estate limitations (e.g., embedded or IoT designers fight for every square mil), application-dependent manufacturing restrictions (e.g., discrete package size usage limitations in automotive) and cost targets further fuel the fire.

To mitigate these design challenges, engineers need to evolve from working based on rules of thumb, paper notes or Excel formulas within a disconnected fragmented design process to new and advanced design processes, with power-integrity requirements of the PDN in mind. Using such a methodology. and advanced tooling to validate and optimize the decoupling strategy, can help a design meet the various electrical specifications for power (which will often define a compromise anyhow).

In this two-hour workshop, the basics of PCB power distribution systems with its various requirements are explained.

Key topics covered:

• The whole problem space, ranging from DC (with aspects like IR-drop, DC voltages and current distribution) to AC with its different phenomena (e.g., noise voltage, target impedance, decoupling)
• Loop inductance and cavity resonance are explained in detail without deep math
• Side effects to signal integrity and EMC behavior of board structures, using practical examples
• The role of decoupling capacitors, their parasitic nature (ESL, ESR and connection inductance) and the technical evolution in recent years
• Guidelines to address and resolve power integrity issues
• Simulation capabilities addressing power integrity, shown in a generic vendor-neutral and CAD-flow agnostic manner, presenting industry-proven problem-solving approaches
• Silicon vendor documents (e.g., constraint documents, free tools) to address power-integrity.

Real sample cases will complement the workshop, and an outlook provided on where PDN-design and power integrity analysis will head with all the emerging of AI/ML into EDA – the research of the presenter the past three years.

New system designs often have a 33% fail rate! Learn how to make that significantly better through parts placement, orientation and knowledge of the assembly process. This class is less about PCBs and more about learning to work with assembly shop practices and understanding the assembly process. This class is based on the presenter’s experience as the EE in charge of working with the in-house assembly operation to increase yield. Design for assembly (DfA) is crucial to improving first runs and getting them to production-friendly yields.

In today’s world of PCB design, where complexity continues to escalate, ensuring manufacturability, reliability and optimal performance has never been more critical. The design rule check (DRC) functionality in modern CAD tools plays a vital role in this process, acting as an automated safety net to catch potential errors before they become costly mistakes. However, the true power of the DRC lies in its ability to enforce well-defined and contextually relevant design rules, which require a deep understanding of both the tool and the project-specific requirements.

This presentation focuses on leveraging the DRC within CAD tools to its fullest potential. It will explore the significance of defining and customizing design rules tailored to specific projects, balancing industry standards, manufacturer capabilities and performance requirements. Whether you are new to PCB design or a seasoned professional, this session will provide actionable insights to refine your approach to using the DRC, enabling you to produce higher-quality designs with fewer iterations.

The Importance of Understanding Values and Data in DRC Settings:
The DRC’s utility is directly tied to the rules the designer sets, making it critical to understand what values and parameters are appropriate for the design. Misconfigured rules can lead to false positives, overlooked issues or unnecessary design constraints.

This presentation will discuss the essential considerations for setting up rules, including:

• Aligning DRC parameters with manufacturing capabilities (e.g., minimum trace width, spacing, via size)
• Incorporating electrical performance requirements such as impedance control and high-speed signal integrity
• Understanding the implications of rule hierarchies and priorities.
• Identifying the balance between stringent and flexible rule settings to optimize productivity.
  Attendees will benefit from a comprehensive discussion, including:
• Overview of DRC functionality in modern CAD tools
• Key design rules every PCB designer should consider
• Strategies for gathering and validating rule data from manufacturers and stakeholders
• Tips for managing complex rule hierarchies in multilayer designs
• Using DRC results to identify critical design flaws and bottlenecks
• The relationship between DRC and design for manufacturing (DfM) principles
• Best practices for integrating DRC checks throughout the design cycle
• Real-world examples of successful and unsuccessful DRC implementations.

What you will learn:

• A clear understanding of how to configure DRC settings to match project requirements.
• How to gather and interpret critical data for rule-setting from manufacturers, industry standards, and design objectives.
• Techniques to optimize the DRC process, saving time and reducing errors.
• The impact of well-defined DRC rules on manufacturability, cost, and performance.
• Practical skills for troubleshooting and refining design rule violations.
• Actionable strategies to improve collaboration between design and manufacturing teams.
• Confidence in using CAD tools for robust, high-quality PCB design.

Differential pairs are the primary routing style used in many high-speed digital protocols. The current class of advanced digital systems will rely on data rates up to 224Gbps channels with PAM-4 modulation. Examples include data center architecture, servers, compute accelerators, and high-end applications in mil-aero. This presentation will show the fundamental theory and practical applications of designing differential interconnects for these very high data rates.

Designers will learn important contextual points surrounding differential pair design and routing in high-speed PCBs as they apply to 112G and faster systems. Some basic factors affecting signal integrity at high speeds and in high-bandwidth protocols will be presented. The resulting design decisions and best practices will be supported by simulation data prepared by the author and from other experts in the field.

Topics covered and what you will learn:

• Examples of PCB stackups that can support routing in these systems
• How materials affect SI at these very high data rates
• Via designs targeting 28GHz and 56GHz bandwidths
• SI factors such as mode conversion and reflections
• Examples from demonstration/test boards that illustrate best design practices
• Factors affecting differential channel bandwidth
• Approaches for modeling designs targeting these bandwidths.

Examples of real systems designed by the presenter and now in volume manufacturing will be presented to illustrate these important concepts. Simulation examples will also be used to help illustrate the importance of certain design choices and to illustrate some basic rules that help ensure signal integrity. Designers will learn the important concepts and practices required for successful differential pair design and routing in systems operating from lower speeds up to 56GHz bandwidths.

Having a solid understanding of SMPS PCB layout can eliminate SI and EMI problems. Switch mode power supplies have five circuit loops, all of which are important, but a couple of the loops are critical.
An improperly designed switch mode supply will often have EMI problems or not function as intended; in some cases, it will not function at all.

Understanding what makes up a switcher circuit and knowing how to take care of the loops, during board layout, permits these supplies to operate flawlessly, with very high efficiency, and without EMI.

This two-hour course will discuss and define:

• Basic operation and EMI concerns of SMPS circuits
• Self-contained SMPS Controllers, Good and Bad
• PCB layout of critical circuit loops, including feedback
• Proper Grounding on 1&2 Layer vs Multilayer PCBs
• Should ground be opened under “switch node” and/or Inductor?
• Good and “Not Good” EMI control techniques
• Resolving board congestion with grid systems.

When a board is designed without uniformity, there can be part footprints that do not match, part placement that does not permit good trace spacing, signal fanout that is blocked by random via placement and routing channels that do not permit a consistent number of traces.

Grid systems can have some great benefits and can help make challenging boards possible. They can help with the symmetry of placing parts and keeping them aligned so that part pads don’t encroach routing lanes. Using a gridded pattern for through-hole and HDI fanout vias helps get more signals out of large parts, permitting more complete fanout possibilities on fewer layers, and can also help set up an effective return path as well.

A good routing via grid can set up the maximum number of signals flowing through the open areas on any layer, and can help with some spacing, heat and manufacturability issues as well.

In this 3.5-hour presentation, we will talk about each of these grid systems and more and show ways to implement them to make designing a complex board more efficient.

This presentation addresses design for manufacturing (DfM) principles tailored for ultra-high-density interconnects (UHDI) in advanced PCB technology. UHDI, characterized by 25-micron feature sizes and below, enables higher wiring densities essential for modern applications such as smartphones, IoT devices, automotive systems, 5G infrastructure and medical electronics. The document emphasizes the critical role of DFM in ensuring manufacturability, cost efficiency and high yield amidst the growing miniaturization and complexity of UHDI designs.

Key topics:

• Emerging trends like AI-driven design optimization
• Challenges in UHDI design and manufacturing
• Principles of DfM tailored for UHDI.

The discussion highlights the importance of collaboration between designers and manufacturers to address complexities such as high wiring density, material compatibility and thermal management. The adoption of design guidelines, including trace width optimization, EMI compliance and thermal relief, underscores the need for early integration of DdM principles to achieve scalable and robust designs.

The presentation advocates standardization, interdisciplinary collaboration and technological innovation to advance UHDI development and manufacturing processes, paving the way for future technologies.

What you will learn:

• DfM principles tailored for UHDI and why industry standardization for UHDI in needed.
• Emerging trends like AI-driven design optimization and challenges in UHDI design from design and manufacturing perspectives
• The importance of collaboration among designers and manufacturers to address complexities such as high wiring density, material compatibility and thermal management.

Amid the fast-paced advancements in PCB design, thermal consideration and thermal management of designs are of paramount concern. Engineers and designers constantly seek innovative ways to meet efficiency and reliability standards. This class aims to explain complex thermal theories and introduce practical approaches to optimizing PCB design for superior thermal performance. An examination and understanding of the design strategies and process to promote a performant and reliable system. This will be tied together with design examples and personal anecdotes

Key topics:

• An explanation of heat transfer mechanisms – conduction, convection and radiation – will establish a solid foundation to explore thermal management in PCB design
• Introducing the process of the thermal design engine and how it applies to given applications
• Unveiling the process of preliminary thermal structuring, physical testing and refinement of the system, illustrated through case studies.

Further, the class will delve into the diverse landscape of PCB materials and design strategies:

• A comprehensive overview of IMS and Aluminum boards, shedding light on material selections, stackup configurations and the mantra “Copper is Your Friend” in board design
• An introduction to copper coins, their types, applications and their important role in heat dissipation, complemented by a real-world high-power Mosfet design case study and a comparative analysis of a high-power Mosfet with and without a copper coin
• A showcase of simulations reflecting the impact of conductive vs. nonconductive fill vias in thermal management.

The discussion explores simulations on thermal performance with a comprehensive simulation, evaluating the thermal performance of the discussed design strategies and integrating learned concepts into system design.

What you will learn:

• Real-world examples and hands-on experience with various thermal management strategies
• Techniques for effective thermal simulation, analysis and integration into their PCB design workflow
• Insights into collaborative frameworks that foster innovation in thermal management, derisking designs, increasing the likelihood of success and reliability.

Join us to demystify the intricacies of thermal management in PCB design and propel yourself toward a mastery of the art and science of creating thermally efficient and reliable systems.

As a PCB designer, creating longevity for your designs is a skill that differentiates you from your peers. It’s easy to prototype and build a PCB in a lab, but how can you start to prepare for the system your PCB will be a part of? Are there things you can do to prepare for the end application and conditions your board will face?

Accounting for every use case of a PCB during design is hard, but it’s important to know what the main functions of the PCB will be and how to design the board according to this. If your design will be in a compact enclosure, is the heat sink you’ve used before optimal for this design? Do you need to move components around to better manage heat when in the customer’s hands? These are thoughts a designer must consider early in the design process to reduce the number of times a board must be redesigned.

If the PCB will be used in a car or industrial end-equipment, have you considered the effects of solder fatigue on the silicon packaging? It might have been easier to use QFN package type, but what if solder fatigue analysis could have told you to design using a QFP for better product reliability? Learning the requirements from your system engineer will help, but there are also ways to use simulation to make data driven decisions about the design.

This class will focus the ways PCB fail after manufacturing. We will investigate quality issues linked to assembly, adding an enclosure, and even using the PCB in the field. We will show examples of how to simulate the effects of field use to better design PCBs. Finally, we will talk about how to better include the system engineers and mechanical engineers in the design review process to create a better final product.

Key topics:

• DfA importance for system level design
• Thermal analysis for PCBs and enclosures
• Understanding solder fatigue and how to calculate lifecycle due to thermal stress.

What you will learn:

• •Designing with the end in mind: understanding some ways boards fail in the field and how to leverage that when designing
• Understanding how enclosures affect PCB heating
• Understanding solder fatigue and how to reduce its likelihood.

Introduction to protective coatings:

• Overview of conformal and non-conformal coatings
• Importance of protection against environmental hazards (moisture, corrosion, chemicals, etc.)
• Traditional coating methods and their limitations.
  Fundamentals of conformal coatings:
• Definition and purpose of conformal coatings
• Common traditional coatings: Acrylics, epoxies, silicones, urethanes
• Application methods: Spray, dip, and brush techniques
• Industry requirements and selection criteria.

Advancements in thin-film coatings:

• Miniaturization and its impact on protective coating needs
• Development of solvent-free, ultra-thin coatings (as thin as 10 nm)
• The rise of chemical vapor deposition (CVD) for high-performance applications.

Comparing traditional and emerging coating technologies:

• Mechanical seals, gaskets, and conventional conformal coatings vs. modern nanocoatings
• Challenges with traditional coatings: Thickness, weight, masking and environmental concerns
• Newer liquid-based and hybrid coating solutions.
  Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and Its variants:
• Overview of CVD as a dry, solvent-free coating process
• Introduction to different CVD techniques:
  • Parylene coatings: Gold standard for uniformity and durability
  • Plasma-enhanced CVD (PE-CVD): Customizable chemistries and reduced masking requirements
  • Atomic layer deposition (ALD): High-density, gas-barrier coatings for semiconductor and medical applications.

Advantages of modern nano-coating technologies:

• Ultra-thin, lightweight protection for sensitive components
• Improved dielectric and thermal management properties
• High chemical and moisture resistance for longevity and reliability
• Cost and efficiency benefits in manufacturing
  Hybrid coating technologies and future trends:
• Combining ALD, PE-CVD, and Parylene for tailored coating solutions
• Applications in medical devices, electronics, aerospace and packaging
• Future advancements and industry adoption trends.

Conclusion and key takeaways:

• The role of thin-film nanocoatings in improving product reliability and lifespan
• Strategies for selecting the right coating based on performance requirements
• How advanced coatings reduce failure rates, downtime, and overall costs.

This course is designed for engineers, product designers, and decision-makers looking to enhance the performance and durability of electronic components and other critical applications through innovative protective coating solutions.