SECTION 7-2

PCB Design Issues

James Bryant

Printed circuit boards (PCBs) are by far the most common method of assembling modern electronic circuits. Comprised of a sandwich of insulating layer (or layers) and one or more copper conductor patterns, they can introduce various forms of errors into a circuit, particularly if the circuit is operating at either high precision or high speed. PCBs then, act as “unseen” components, wherever they are used in precision circuit designs. Since designers don’t always consider the PCB electrical characteristics as additional components of their circuit, overall performance can easily end up worse than predicted. This general topic, manifested in many forms, is the focus of this section.

PCB effects that ...

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