{"id":7074,"date":"2019-12-13T09:21:07","date_gmt":"2019-12-13T16:21:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.mentor.com\/jimmartens\/?p=7074"},"modified":"2026-03-27T09:34:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T13:34:16","slug":"the-importance-of-a-quality-pcb-stackup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/2019\/12\/13\/the-importance-of-a-quality-pcb-stackup\/","title":{"rendered":"The Importance of a Quality PCB Stackup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Stackups, as minor as they may seem, can make or break a PCB design. With the latest technology incorporating ICs with edge rates well below the nanosecond range, a well planned stackup is as important as ever. When defining your board\u2019s stackup, there are electrical factors, layer substrates, and costs to consider.<\/p>\n<h3><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/55\/2019\/12\/stackup.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-7219 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/55\/2019\/12\/stackup-520x229.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"520\" height=\"229\" \/><\/a><\/h3>\n<p><strong>Electrical factors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In designing any circuit, trace parameters effect the signal integrity, crosstalk, and electromagnetic interference of your design. We\u2019re living in a world where high speed designs with different technologies is the norm \u2013 creating a necessity for finely designed stackups accommodating trace widths and impedance variations to meet design requirements.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Substrates:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Variations in layer arrangement and material in a stackup can prove to cause very different final crosstalk and signal integrity results. For example, deciding to use power planes in multi-layer stackups can aid in shorter return paths and temperature control throughout the board.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Costs:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Costs vary from project to project \u2013 based on materials used and layers in your stackup. It\u2019s important to work with your NPI team and fabricator to make sure you\u2019re using materials that are both cost efficient in meeting your design requirements. Looking into heights of different dielectrics, whether or not to add a power plane, number of ground planes, etc. can be beneficial to the design and reduce costs \u2013 it all comes down to requirements and restrictions.<\/p>\n<p>If you want to learn more about PCB stackups, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mentor.com\/pcb\/resources\/overview\/tips-for-pcb-stackup-design-1a26beb5-4f9a-4d26-945e-2d437d065a06?cmpid=9049\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">check out this video for tips<\/a>. To learn more about avoiding crosstalk and signal integrity issues, we have a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pads.com\/multimedia\/player\/pcb-pads-how-to-avoid-crosstalk-and-signal-integrity-issues-on-your-pcb-webinar-25f7b554-ad3c-4406-bf9d-417832780f16?cmpid=9049\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">webinar that would be worth diving into<\/a>. Enjoy and happy designing!<\/p>\n<p>Thanks for reading,<\/p>\n<p>Shivani<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stackups, as minor as they may seem, can make or break a PCB design. With the latest technology incorporating ICs&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71662,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spanish_translation":"","french_translation":"","german_translation":"","italian_translation":"","polish_translation":"","japanese_translation":"","chinese_translation":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[48,89,96,104,113,137],"industry":[],"product":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-7074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-crosstalk","tag-mentor","tag-pads","tag-pads-professional","tag-pcb-design","tag-signal-integrity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/71662"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7074"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7074\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10769,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7074\/revisions\/10769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7074"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=7074"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=7074"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/electronic-systems-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=7074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}