Latest Assembly Technical Articles

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Assessing the Effect of Load Capacitance on the Frequency of a Quartz Crystal

Learn how the load capacitance mismatch can “pull” the crystal to oscillate at a different frequency and how we can circumvent this problem.

June 16, 2021 by Steve Arar

Four Lessons an Adult Engineer Can Learn From Children’s Toys

Children’s toys aren’t just for children. Inside every toy, there are hundreds of hours of engineering experience just waiting to be discovered.

March 24, 2021 by Mark Hughes

PCB Layout Techniques for Reducing Harmonic Distortion of a Differential ADC Driver

Summary

February 19, 2021 by Steve Arar

All About Seeing Your Projects: Optical and Digital Magnification

Smaller electronics call for more powerful inspection equipment. If you're building a collection of at-home lab equipment, these visual tools may help you see where you're going on minuscule boards.

February 14, 2021 by Mark Hughes

Processing Solutions for High-Density PCBs

Designers must consider processing temperatures, producibility, and solder joint integrity of every component as well as higher I/O connectors. This article looks at ways to enable smaller component footprints for high-density PCBs.

November 03, 2020 by Brian Niehoff, Samtec

Configuring a SparkFun Power Delivery Board using a FixturFab DEV260

The FixturFab DEV260 development fixture allows designers to debug or configure PCBAs during the development phase. See how it works in this example using the Sparkfun Power Delivery Board.

August 04, 2020 by Duncan Lowder, FixturFab

A Comparison of Reflow Soldering and Wave Soldering

This article explores the differences between two primary forms of soldering — reflow and wave — by providing details around each type, including best uses for each method.

March 03, 2020 by Peter Swann, NeoDen

How Software Automation in PCBA Manufacturing Helps Quicken Innovation

Manufacturing still takes a large portion of time in the electrical engineering cycle. This article discusses how software-driven automation and the IIoT can help hasten the manufacturing process.

December 17, 2019 by Shashank Samala, Tempo Automation

Via Configurations for Connecting Decoupling Capacitors

In this article, we’ll focus on the different via configurations that can be used to connect a decoupling capacitor to the PCB power and ground planes.

October 07, 2019 by Steve Arar

Common PCB Stackups for a Four-Layer Board

This article looks at the common options for a four-layer board stackup.

September 04, 2019 by Steve Arar

Understanding Schematics

If you're looking to get a better handle on how to read schematics, this helpful guide will give you a head start.

July 22, 2019 by Matthew Cook

6 Ways to Design for Circuit Board Rework

Learn why you should design for rework—and 6 easy ways to do it.

May 31, 2019 by Matthew Cook

A (Solder) Bridge To Nowhere: What Is a Solder Bridge and How to Avoid Them in PCB Design

Learn what solder bridges are and how to avoid them.

May 09, 2019 by Matthew Cook

Resolving the Signal Part 12: Reducing the Effects of Power-Supply Noise using Delta-Sigma ADCs

In part 12 of Resolving the Signal, we look at a power-supply noise design example to discuss which supplies are most critical when trying to increase a system's PSR. From that example, we offer best practices to maintain low power-supply noise and debugging tips for a system's overall noise performance.

January 29, 2019 by Bryan Lizon, Texas Instruments

How Do I Prep My PCB for Fabrication? Accelerating PCB Assembly with Design Best Practices

In this article, Parker Dillman, lead EE and co-founder of MacroFab, covers how to best prepare your PCB designs for fabrication and assembly.

January 15, 2019 by Parker Dillmann, MacroFab

Resolving the Signal Part 10: How Clock Signals Affect Precision ADCs

Part 10 of the Resolving the Signal series covers how clocks affect precision ADCs, touching on clock jitter, clock intermodulation and best PCB layout practices for clocking.

November 06, 2018 by Bryan Lizon, Texas Instruments

Electrical Symbols for Electronic Components: Passive Components

This two-article series provides an overview of circuit symbols, along with some information on the components that they represent.

October 31, 2018 by Robert Keim

How to Reduce Ground Bounce: Mitigating Noise with PCB Design Best Practices

Learn what ground bounce is and how you can avoid it with design decisions from PCB layout to programming.

October 29, 2018 by Mark Hughes

Guide to PCB Design: How to Choose a PCB Manufacturer

In this article, we will discuss some best practices for how to choose a manufacturer to produce your custom PCB board.

August 29, 2018 by Robert Keim

Guide to PCB Design: How to Generate Manufacturing Files for Custom Printed Circuit Boards

In this article, we'll go over the basics of generating manufacturing files for PCB design and manufacturing.

August 28, 2018 by Robert Keim