Valley Services Electronics

The dielectric constant of materials has taken on an increasingly larger role in manufacturing, with tighter tolerances on controlled impedance transmission lines and greater losses at high-speed rise/fall times.  While the dielectric constant is a material property, fabrication methods and the shape of laminates, sub-products, and other board materials can lead to a significant deviation…

Manufacturers require accurate documentation from the design team to translate the manufacturing files into the expected board dimensions, performance, and other critical characteristics. These files correspond to individual steps in the manufacturing process, like the XY-data for pick-and-place assembly, Gerber/ODB++ for etch-resist photoimaging, and the PCB drill chart for drill hit location. The placement of…

Embarking on production can become a harrowing ordeal for design teams unfamiliar with production quality or those previously burned by manufacturers without the necessary protocols. When time-to-market deadlines are tight, there can be significant pressure to find a manufacturer who meets cost, lot size, and production capabilities; however, all these factors are for naught if…

New designers and engineers may suffer from missing the forest for the trees. In this scenario, they become so laser-focused on solving a particular problem that they fail to account for how the solution fits into the overall design landscape. I recall a project where I spent ages pouring over datasheets for a pulse width…

All but the simplest boards today utilize multiple layers to accommodate increasingly dense interconnections or smaller board areas. Four-layer PCBs are exceedingly popular and pose little additional processing difficulties for manufacturers; further layer counts are also easily achievable. However, the presence of multiple conductor layers means manufacturers must be aware of these layers’ linear and…

In recent years, I’ve grown to love making stovetop popcorn. Cooking on the stovetop is not much more complicated than throwing it in the microwave, with one wrinkle: storage. Since I like to buy my popcorn kernels in bulk, I must be aware of their age and moisture content, as both affect the cooking time…