You're in the middle of designing a very small wireless data collection. The size has made it a real challenge and you've always thought that you could get another important chip or two on the board if it could just... Read more
Until fairly recently the use of flexible PC board material (flex) was considered only for specialized or exotic applications. As tends to happen with advanced technology, the "mainstream" has caught wind of flex. With so many Internet of Things (IoT)... Read more
Should folks building small numbers of circuit boards use surface-mount parts, or should they stick with through-hole components that are so much easier to handle and solder (not to mention see)? I spend my days and nights surrounded by printed... Read more
Yes. As a matter of fact, you can. This example - our "You Do You" motion activated lapel pin for the 2020 Open Source Hardware summit in New York City, March 13 says that you can. You can find all... Read more
In designing my YouDoYou lapel pin for the upcoming Open Source Hardware Summit (March 13, 2020 in New York city), I had a couple of firsts. This was my first design using a lot of 0201 passives and this was... Read more
Some parts just look cooler than others. I really like the super tiny WLCSP (wafer level chip scale package) BGAs that some newer ARM microcontroller and power components come in. They not only fit the "smaller is cooler" mantra, but... Read more
Most of what I write about here on the Screaming Circuits blog relates to DFM (design for manufacturing) and PCB layout best practices. Being in the business of prototype and on demand manufacturing (POD), we are frequently exposed to the... Read more
PCB Design Tip of the Day: Ensure Connector Locations & Orientations are Correct Connectors, especially thru-hole connectors, present opportunities for error in both layout and in assembly. First, it's not always obvious to the PCB layout specialist which side of... Read more
There’s nothing like a good synonym roll, just like Grammar used to make. AKA Semantics do matter in schematics, especially when dealing with multi-page schematic diagrams, reusing schematic sections or working on a team project. Tip of the day: Use... Read more
It's often the little things, the seemingly obvious small traps that leap out and bite two weeks later. Mark, PCB design expert from our San Diego PCB Phoenix office has another piece of advice for you when getting your schematic... Read more
