Fresh PCB Concepts: Key Considerations for Reliability, Performance, and Compliance in PCBs
Elementary Mr. Watson: Navigating RF—A Glide Path Approach to Design Success
Designers Notebook: Layer Stackup Planning for RF Circuit Boards
Speaking the Same Language as Your Fabricator
March 12, 2025 | Andy Shaughnessy, Design007 MagazineEstimated reading time: 2 minutes
“What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate.” —Strother Martin as the captain in “Cool Hand Luke”
Strother Martin might have been talking about PCB designers and fabricators when he uttered the most famous line of his acting career. We do indeed have a failure to communicate; designers and fabricators often seem to be talking past each other, which can lead to jobs being put on hold.
We asked Jen Kolar, VP of engineering for Monsoon Solutions, and columnist Kelly Dack to share their thoughts on ways that we can break down the communication barrier between design and fabrication. As they point out, a design kickoff checklist and a solid review process can be invaluable tools in a designer’s toolbox.
Andy Shaughnessy: Welcome, Jen and Kelly. What are the most common communication mistakes, miscues, and missteps that you see between design and fabrication?
Jen Kolar: Oftentimes, we ask our project manager, “Can you please remind our designers to actually follow our process?” We have a standard process for how all outputs and packages should be created. However, many of our customers add their own tweaks. Speaking of language, when fab shops don't have CAM350 and they're using a lower-end tool, I have seen issues flagged as errors when they were not actually errors. It’s happened many times. I try to avoid having designers send both Gerbers and ODB++ because invariably, the fab vendor will have differences, and you'll spend a lot of time with the fab vendor trying to resolve this.
Kelly Dack: Jen and I have had similar experiences. She hit the nail on the head about sending ODB++ and Gerber in parallel. One North American supplier built it using the ODB++ data, and when the boards came in, the customer asked, “Why is this different from the PCBs we received from our offshore supplier?” Well, it turned out they had Gerber data different from the ODB++ data. Jen, where does it all start with the design tool? It's so easy for designers to start clicking away and have our layout tools guide us through the process using the standard design rule settings. New designers don't know what they don't know, and they may be relying on standard out-of-the-box settings from their layout tools.
To read this entire conversation, which appeared in the March 2025 issue of Design007 Magazine, click here.
Share on:
Suggested Items
Material Selection and RF Design
04/21/2025 | Andy Shaughnessy, Design007 MagazineInnovation rarely sleeps in this industry, and the RF laminate segment offers a perfect example. RF materials have continued to evolve, providing PCB designers much more than an either/or choice. I asked materials expert Alun Morgan, technology ambassador for the Ventec International Group, to walk us through the available RF material sets and how smart material selection can ease the burden on RF designers and design engineers.
EDA Tools and RF Design Techniques
04/14/2025 | Andy Shaughnessy, Design007 MagazineHigh-speed PCB design is complex enough, but RF design can be a whole new ball game. RF designers have to contend with tuning and other ideas that traditional PCB designers don’t have to worry about, as well as crosstalk, parasitic capacitance, and material limitations. Most PCB design tool companies now offer RF design options, so designers no longer have to use pureplay RF design tools for anything but the most cutting-edge designs. Cadence Design Systems expanded its RF EDA offerings by acquiring the RF software company AWR a few years ago. We asked David Vye, product management director at Cadence, to share his thoughts on EDA software, RF design, and what new RF designers and engineers need to understand.
The Key to First-pass Success in PCB Design
04/10/2025 | Gerry Partida, Summit InterconnectIn the dynamic world of PCB manufacturing, achieving first-pass success hinges on more than just cutting-edge equipment and skilled teams. At Summit Interconnect, we have seen countless successful launches of advanced HDI designs that can be traced directly to engagement between designers and fabricators early in the design phase. Unfortunately, collaboration in the PCB industry often begins only after problems arise—such as field failures, assembly fallout, or low fabrication yields. This reactive approach is the wrong starting point for collaboration.
Real Time with... IPC APEX EXPO 2025: Insights into PCB Design and Manufacturing with Polar Instruments
04/03/2025 | Real Time with...IPC APEX EXPOErik Bateham discusses Polar's latest book, which enhances insights for PCB designers and manufacturers. The book, "The Designer's Guide to... More Secrets of High-Speed PCBs," features a guest chapter on 2D via design modeling. Erik highlights the industry's shift towards UHDI and the challenges in measuring at micron levels.
Target Condition: Designing vs. Inventing
03/27/2025 | Kelly Dack -- Column: Target ConditionAfter hearing me rave about IPC APEX EXPO for years, my boss, Chad Orebaugh, joined me at the show for the first time last year. We met at the registration counter, got our badges, and he said, “Okay, Kelly, impress me.”