Printed Circuit Board Design Research Articles

Free space optical communication system for indoor applications based on printed circuit board design

<p>This study clarified an overview of wired and wireless optical communication system block diagram with practical applications. Freespace optical (FSO) communication is a trending field that is rising so fast to replace electromagnetic waves in a communication, so we have presented a theoretical circuit as an example and modified it to fit and work in communication purposes, simulation is used and then practical work is done and printed circuit board (PCB) is designed. Light emitting diode (LED) have been used as transmitter and Photo Transistor as a receiver and variable resistance to change voltage sent to the LED that indicates the change in the transmitted signal.</p>

A Method of Optimizing Characteristic Impedance Compensation Using Cut-Outs in High-Density PCB Designs.

The modern era of technology contains a myriad of high-speed standards and proprietary serial digital protocols, which evolve alongside the microwave and RF realm. The increasing data rate push the requirements for hardware design, including modern printed circuit boards (PCB). One of these requirements for modern high-speed PCB interfaces are a homogenous track impedance all the way from the source to the load. Even though some high-speed interfaces don’t require any external components embedded into the interconnects, there are others which require either passive or active components—or both. Usually, component package land-pads are of fixed size, thus, if not addressed, they create discontinuities and degrade the transmitted signal. To solve this problem, impedance compensation techniques such as reference plane cut-out are employed for multiple case studies covering this topic. This paper presents an original method of finding the optimal cut-out size for the maximum characteristic impedance compensation in high-density multilayer PCB designs, which has been verified via theoretical estimation, computer simulation, and practical measurement results. Track-to-discontinuity ratios of 1:1.75, 1:2.5, and 1:5.0 were selected in order to resemble most practical design scenarios on a 6-layer standard thickness PCB. The measurements and simulations revealed that the compensated impedance saturation occurs at (150–250%) cut-out widths for a 50 Ω microstrip.

Recommendations and Typical Errors in Design of Power Converter PCBs With Shunt Sensors

Nowadays the percentage of power electronic devices, which use shunts for sensing of electrical signals, is increasing significantly. This method of measurements is simple, reliable and low-cost, however it requires careful elaboration of schematics and meticulous design of printed circuit boards. The author provides a detailed insight into the design of power converter Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) with shunt-based sensing circuits and provides recommendations on improvement of signal measurements. He analyses the most popular design mistakes and illustrates their impact on measuring signals, which can be used for mistake localization. This paper demonstrates that the properly designed schematic can be turned into poorly operating PCB and recommends measures to avoid it. The author shares his more than 20-years experience and illustrates his statements with examples from real life. Although this paper is mainly addressed to young engineers, it could also be useful for experienced researchers, who work in neighboring areas and do not gain experience in PCB design.

An Empirical Modeling of Far-End Crosstalk and Insertion Loss in Microstrip Lines

The difference in the dielectric permittivity of the different dielectric layers (including air) surrounding the microstrip is one of the major contributors to the far-end crosstalk (FEXT) in microstrip lines. The dielectric of the microstrip in printed circuit boards (PCBs) fabrication usually consists of two layers: the solder mask layer and the substrate layer. The characterization of the relative permittivity ( <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\varepsilon_{r}$</tex-math></inline-formula> ), dielectric dissipation factor (tanδ) for the dielectric layers of the microstrip are important parameters for board-level electronic system designs. In addition, the foil surface roughness cannot be ignored for the conductor loss modeling. In this work, an extraction method with high accuracy is proposed to characterize the dielectric material and foil surface roughness properties from the measured S-parameters with known cross-sectional geometry up to 20GHz. With the extracted properties, the FEXT and insertion loss of the microstrip can be estimated more accurately, providing design guidelines for PCB design and the material selection of the microstrip.

Model Identification to Validate Printed Circuit Boards for Power Applications: A New Technique

The idea of using model identification techniques in order to validate the design of printed circuit boards (PCBs) is proposed in this communication. With the term identification, it is intended to obtain the mathematical model of a system from input/output data. Actually, the quality requirements of PCB systems working with power devices are highly demanded by costumers of semiconductor companies. Due to the increasing market of power devices, the topic is of wide interest. In this note, a new approach is presented. It is based on both CAD techniques, used to simulate the board, and identification techniques, mainly based on linear models, to validate the board performance in the design phase. The main results regarding the analysis of the PCB design allow to establish if the PCB CAD procedures can be improved in order to elicit the parasitic effects aiming at compensating possible nonlinearity in the systems, thus providing the customers with reliable and simple models.

Determination of Core Losses Using an Inverse Modeling Technique

This paper presents an inverse thermal modeling technique to determine the core losses from the temperature rise inside the transformer core. For this purpose, initially, a customized printed circuit board (PCB) with thermal sensors is used to measure the temperature rise. Afterward, a 3D magneto-thermal forward model is developed to validate the temperature rise. The accuracy of the forward model is checked by comparing the simulated core losses and temperature rise of the transformer with experimental measurements for different supply conditions. The results show that the forward model can accurately estimate the core losses with a maximum relative error of less than 2.7&#x0025; and predict the temperature rise in the core with a maximum relative error of less than 6.2&#x0025;. Lastly, after ensuring the accuracy of the forward model, an inverse modeling technique is applied to the 3D thermal model to predict the core losses of the transformer directly from the measured temperature rise. The accuracy of the inverse model in estimating the core losses is checked by comparing the results with experimental measurements. The novel approach for the PCB design besides the inverse model shows that the technique can be applied to estimate the core losses directly from the measured temperature rise inside the core with a relative error of 2.7&#x0025; compared to experiments.

Skin Effect and its Impact on Resistance of Conductor Traces in High Speed Printed Circuit Board Design.

Skin Effect and its Impact on Resistance of Conductor Traces in High Speed Printed Circuit Board Design.

Effective Strategies for Project-Based Learning of Practical Electronics

Some universities offer specific project-based learning (PBL) courses in the third year of their electronic engineering degree to equip undergraduate students before they embark on industrial attachment and/or a capstone project. This course exposes those students to full design cycles at circuit and system levels. Students also pick up practical skills, such as component selection, circuit troubleshooting, printed circuit board design, and market analysis. This perspective offers the author’s reflections on effective learning and teaching strategies for this purpose, after running such a course for the past 10 years at Griffith University. In earlier years, students’ have complained about lack of direction and overloading, which are common issues being reported in PBL courses. In response, we have implemented scaffolding and balanced evaluation criteria for assessment, providing formative feedback, and we have designed integrated assessment items. As a result, average marks for the cohort and the percentage of students that receive the grade of high distinction have increased in the past five years. These strategies might be of help at other learning institutions that offer similar courses.

Thermal Design, Optimization, and Packaging of Planar Magnetic Components

This article is focused on the thermal design and three-dimensional (3-D) package optimization of planar magnetic components (PMCs), including transformers and inductors for application in an electric vehicle composite boost dc-dc converter. Each PMC comprises electrical windings in printed circuit board (PCB) form in combination with a ferrite core. Multiple features of each PMC package are thermally optimized for the proposed device configurations with given core size, core loss distribution, number of turns in the PCB winding, winding copper thickness, and winding loss distribution. These heuristically optimized features include a lower level cold plate structure with a conformal base for enhanced convective heat transfer, an upper level PMC cap structure for doubled-sided cooling through conductive heat flow to the cold plate, the implementation of functionally distributed copper thermal and electrothermal vias in the PCB winding for improved cross-plane thermal conductance, and judicious implementation of select materials at various locations and interfaces within the package. Detailed numerical modeling reveals the combined effect of this 3-D packaging strategy with a 79.3 °C and 48.5 °C maximum temperature reduction in the core and PCB winding, respectively, relative to a baseline device configuration. Select PMC experimental validation confirms the expected thermal performance of an optimized PCB design. The thermal design approach is relevant for a range of high-power-density electronics PMC packaging applications.

Combining Polygon Schematization and Decomposition Approaches for Solving the Cavity Decomposition Problem

The cavity decomposition problem is a computational geometry problem, arising in the context of modern electronic CAD systems, that concerns detecting the generation and propagation of electromagnetic noise into multi-layer printed circuit boards. Algorithmically speaking, the problem can be formulated so as to contain, as sub-problems, the well-known polygon schematization and polygon decomposition problems. Given a polygon P and a finite set C of given directions, polygon schematization asks for computing a C -oriented polygon P ′ with “low complexity” and “high resemblance” to P , whereas polygon decomposition asks for partitioning P into a set of basic polygonal elements (e.g., triangles) whose size is as small as possible. In this article, we present three different solutions for the cavity decomposition problem, which are obtained by suitably combining existing algorithms for polygon schematization and decomposition, by considering different input parameters, and by addressing both methodological and implementation issues. Since it is difficult to compare the three solutions on a theoretical basis, we present an extensive experimental study, employing both real-world and random data, conducted to assess their performance. We rank the proposed solutions according to the results of the experimental evaluation, and provide insights on natural candidates to be adopted, in practice, as modules of modern printed circuit board design software tools, depending on the observed performance and on the different constraints on the desired output.

SILVerIn: Systematic Integrity Verification of Printed Circuit Board Using JTAG Infrastructure

A printed circuit board (PCB) provides necessary mechanical support to an electronic system and acts as a platform for connecting electronic components. Counterfeiting and in-field tampering of PCBs have become significant security concerns in the semiconductor industry as a result of increasing untrusted entities in the supply chain. These counterfeit components may result in performance degradation, profit reduction, and reputation risk for the manufacturers. While Integrated Circuit (IC) level authentication using physical unclonable functions (PUFs) has been widely investigated, countermeasures at the PCB level are scarce. These approaches either suffer from significant overhead issues, or opportunistic counterfeiters can breach them like clockwork. Besides, they cannot be extended to system-level (both chip and PCB together), and their applications are also limited to a specific purpose (i.e., either counterfeiting or tampering). In this article, we introduce SILVerIn , a novel systematic approach to verify the authenticity of all chips used in a PCB as well as the board for combating attacks such as counterfeiting, cloning, and in-field malicious modifications. We develop this approach by utilizing the existing boundary scan architecture (BSA) of modern ICs and PCBs. As a result, its implementation comes at a negligible (∼0.5%) hardware overhead. SILVerIn is integrated into a PCB design during the manufacturing phase. We implement our technique on a custom hardware platform consisting of an FPGA and a microcontroller. We incorporate the industry-standard JTAG (Joint Test Action Group) interface to transmit test data into the BSA and perform hands-on measurement of supply current at both chip and PCB levels on 20 boards. We reconstruct these current values to digital signatures that exhibit high uniqueness, robustness, and randomness features. Our approach manifests strong reproducibility of signatures at different supply voltage levels, even with a low-resolution measurement setup. SILVerIn also demonstrates a high resilience against machine learning-based modeling attacks, with an average prediction accuracy of ∼51%. Finally, we conduct intentional alteration experiments by replacing the on-board FPGA to replicate the scenario of PCB tampering, and the results indicate successful detection of in-field modifications in a PCB.

Practical Considerations for Design and Layout of High Power Digital PCBs: Reliably Powering Complex Multilayer Digital Printed Circuit Boards

This article discusses practical aspects of powering complex multilayer digital printed circuit boards (PCBs) from high-energy sources and tradeoffs that are required to make functional and reliable boards.

3D PCB Designing of Protecting Circuit Using Fusion 360

Every electronics equipment is manufactured with a single or multiple number of Printed Circuit Boards (PCB). The PCBs hold the ICs and other components and implement the interconnections between them. Compact devices can be manufactured by using 3D PCB design. Even though lot of software’s available for 3D PCB design, Fusion 360 has unique merits like ease of design procedure, compact size, applicable to all size PCBs etc., In this paper step by step procedure to design a 3D model PCB layout for a protecting circuit using Fusion 360 software is discussed. This model can be used to design the complete product in a Computer Aided Design (CAD) software.

3D PCB Designing of Protecting Circuit Using Fusion 360

Every electronics equipment is manufactured with a single or multiple number of Printed Circuit Boards (PCB). The PCBs hold the ICs and other components and implement the interconnections between them. Compact devices can be manufactured by using 3D PCB design. Even though lot of software’s available for 3D PCB design, Fusion 360 has unique merits like ease of design procedure, compact size, applicable to all size PCBs etc., In this paper step by step procedure to design a 3D model PCB layout for a protecting circuit using Fusion 360 software is discussed. This model can be used to design the complete product in a Computer Aided Design (CAD) software.

Electromagnetic Compatibility Analysis and Optimization Design of Switching Power Supply Printed Circuit Board

Printed Circuit Board (PCB) is not only an important electrical module of information equipment, but also an important source of electromagnetic radiation. Only when PCB works normally and is compatible with other electrical equipment, the whole information equipment can work normally. Because of the complexity of PCB structure and the difficulty of modeling, the EMC (Electromagnetic Compatibility) analysis of PCB is very difficult. For this reason, Taking the widely used full bridge current double rectifier converter as an example, aiming at the electromagnetic compatibility problems caused by the PCB design of the switching power supply, this paper proposes a simulation method based on the electromagnetic field by establishing the near-field radiation model of the PCB, analyzes the areas with high radiation intensity in the PCB layout, by optimizing the layout and wiring of the PCB, the electromagnetic compatibility performance of the switching power supply is improved. The simulation results show that the near-field radiation characteristics of PCB can be predicted by introducing the electromagnetic field simulation method in the design stage, according to the characteristics of the magnetic field, the optimal design is realized, so that the EMC of the switching power supply reaches the standard, and finally the working performance of the switching power supply is improved.

A low-cost printed circuit board design technique and processes using ferric chloride solution

This paper presents a low-cost printed circuit board (PCB) design technique and processes using ferric chloride (𝑭𝒆𝑪𝒍𝟑) solution on a metal plate for a design topology. The PCB design makes a laboratory prototype easier by reducing the work piece size, eliminating the ambiguous connecting wires and breadboards circuit errors. This is done by manual etching of the designed metal plate via immersion in ferric chloride solutions for a given time interval 0-15mins. With easy steps, it is described on how to make a conventional single-sided printed circuit board with low-cost, time savings and reduced energy from debugging. The simulation and results of the printed circuit is designed and verified in the Multisim software version 14.0 and LeCroy WJ35Aoscilloscope respectively.&#x0D; Keywords: Etching, Ferric Chloride, Insertion, Multisim, Metal Plate, Printed Circuit Board

Parasitic Loop Inductances Reduction in the PCB Layout in GaN-Based Power Converters Using S-Parameters and EM Simulations

Due to the high switching speed of Gallium Nitride (GaN) transistors, parasitic inductances have significant impacts on power losses and electromagnetic interferences (EMI) in GaN-based power converters. Thus, the proper design of high-frequency converters in a simulation tool requires accurate electromagnetic (EM) modeling of the commutation loops. This work proposes an EM modeling of the parasitic inductance of a GaN-based commutation cell on a printed circuit board (PCB) using Advanced Design System (ADS®) software. Two different PCB designs of the commutation loop, lateral (single-sided) and vertical (double-sided) are characterized in terms of parasitic inductance contribution. An experimental approach based on S-parameters, the Cold FET technique and a specific calibration procedure is developed to obtain reference values for comparison with the proposed models. First, lateral and vertical PCB loop inductances are extracted. Then, the whole commutation loop inductances including the packaging of the GaN transistors are determined by developing an EM model of the device’s internal parasitic. The switching waveforms of the GaN transistors in a 1 MHz DC/DC converter are given for the different commutation loop designs. Finally, a discussion is proposed on the presented results and the development of advanced tools for high-frequency GaN-based power electronics design.

A Comprehensive Study of Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Design Techniques for High-Speed Digital Signal Transmission

The purpose of this work is to provide a comprehensive review of PCB design techniques for the transfer of digital data at very high rates. PCB design for high-speed digital signal transmission requires a number of important considerations, including the selection of the appropriate stickup and layer count, the management of impedance, the reduction of crosstalk, and the optimization of power and ground planes. In order to guarantee the reliability of high-speed signal transmission, it is necessary to conduct an exhaustive analysis of signal integrity problems. In this study, we look at a variety of different design approaches and compare and contrast the advantages and disadvantages of each one. In addition to this, we provide an all-encompassing method for the development of printed circuit boards (PCBs) for the transmission of high-speed digital signals. We also discuss some of the challenges that are faced when developing printed circuit boards for the transmission of high-speed digital signals. Some of these challenges include reducing the amount of electromagnetic interference and maintaining control over the dissipation of heat. Because of this, we have arrived at the conclusion that the reliable and effective operation of the electronic system is dependent on PCBs that have been designed using an approach that is both systematic and comprehensive to high-speed digital signal transmission.

A low power flexible dielectric barrier discharge disinfects surfaces and improves the action of hydrogen peroxide

There is an urgent need for disinfection and sterilization devices accessible to the public that can be fulfilled by innovative strategies for using cold atmospheric pressure plasmas. Here, we demonstrate a successful novel combination of a flexible printed circuit design of a dielectric barrier discharge (flex-DBD) with an environmentally safe chemical reagent for surface decontamination from bacterial contaminants. Flex-DBD operates in ambient air, atmospheric pressure, and room temperature without any additional gas flow at a power density not exceeding 0.5 W/cm2. The flex-DBD activation of a 3% hydrogen peroxide solution results in the reduction in the bacterial load of a surface contaminant of > 6log10 in 90 s, about 3log10 and 2log10 better than hydrogen peroxide alone or the flex-DBD alone, respectively, for the same treatment time. We propose that the synergy between plasma and hydrogen peroxide is based on the combined action of plasma-generated OH· radicals in the hydrogen peroxide solution and the reactive nitrogen species supplied by the plasma effluent. A scavenger method verified a significant increase in OH· concentration due to plasma treatment. Novel in-situ FTIR absorption spectra show the presence of O3, NO2, N2O, and other nitrogen species. Ozone dissolving in the H2O2 solution can effectively generate OH· through a peroxone process. The addition of the reactive nitrogen species increases the disinfection efficiency of the hydroxyl radicals and other oxygen species. Hence, plasma activation of a low concentration hydrogen peroxide solution, using a hand-held flexible DBD device results in a dramatic improvement in disinfection.

Study of CNC System for PCB Design using Proteus

A Computer Numerical Control (CNC) system for Printed Circuit Board (PCB) design using Proteus Design Suite has been presented. A schematic diagram and single-sided PCB layout of a high voltage circuit for Geiger– Muller (GM) tube is designed using Proteus software. Subsequently, the PCB layout of the circuit is converted into Gerber files that are decoded into G-code through Flat CAM software. The G-code is introduced to the CNC system consisting of a computer, a CNC controller and a CNC machine. The code is stored in the memory of the computer and is uploaded to the CNC controller byMach3 software. The controller operates the CNC machine to perform isolation routing, drilling and milling for PCB as per the instructed design. It is noticed that the CNC system associated with Proteus makes the PCB designing process automated and easier by reducing the process of printing as well as etching. This study reveals that the proposed system can eliminate human error to achieve better accuracy and higher productivity as compared to the conventional methods of PCB design.