flex PCB technology

Top 5 rigid-flex design guidelines

Rigid-flex DFM I am not sure if you have seen a rigid-flex circuit before, but I bet you must have…

CAM Compare tool

3 use models of the CAM Compare tool

Using the CAM Compare tool Valor NPI comes coupled with multiple tool kits specifically designed to manage and assist with…

PCB assembly machine

What is the PCB Design Process?

The PCB design process can be different depending on your company, but the fundamental aspects are all the same –…

PCB Designer on Valor NPI

How do you track changes made to your CAM files?

PCB DFM comparison of CAM files CAM Compare is a popular DFM tool that comes packaged with every version of…

PCB manufacturing capabilities

Why is Design for Manufacturing important?

Who is PCB DFM for? For those of us that have climbed a mountain to take in the gaze of…

PCB material selection

Choosing the right laminate for your PCB design

A balanced approach to material selection involves understanding and considering more than just electrical parameters. In general, with dielectric materials, every parameter that improves performance comes at a marginal increase in cost. Because of this, ensuring that you don’t overdesign within your materials is quite important.

IC PCB DFT image

Proactive Design for Test (DFT) best practices

The process of PCB DFT needs to be considered sooner and more proactively in our PCB design process, incorporated in the schematic phase, not during the layout phase. A designer should determine what nets will be needed to be tested based on their likelihood of failure and position those pins in open, accessible real-estate.

Z-planner Stackup design overview.

Practical advice on PCB stackup planning

The more technology advances, the more attention we must pay to every aspect of printed circuit board (PCB) design, including…

PCB designers discussing stackup planning

You Need to Control Your PCB Stackups!

Z-planner Enterprise contains all the tools you need to design and verify stackups on fast PCB designs. In addition to being able to calculate impedance and design valid stackups, you can run the field solver and perform cross-section analysis. And, it includes the industry’s largest dielectric materials library, including laminates. The result is a stackup design that will produce first-time-right results regardless of the fabricator.