John Coonrod, Rogers Corp., Rogers, CT

Capacitance is a part of every circuit design, whether intended or not. Chip capacitors are available in a wide range of sizes for every function from blocking DC to filtering microwave signals. But as small as they are, chip capacitors still occupy valuable area on a printed-circuit board (PCB), and mounting them—even by machine—can be labor intensive and time-consuming. For these and several other reasons, a method for fabricating PCBs with embedded capacitance provides a way to simplify and miniaturize some circuit designs. But is it right for your design?

Thermal management in microwave printed-circuit boards (PCB) is more important than ever, with the growing demand for higher levels of circuit integration and PCB power densities. Understanding proper thermal management of a microwave PCB requires some basic theory regarding heat flow in a PCB, as well as the thermal...

Copper clad laminates used in the microwave Printed Circuit Board (PCB) industry have many properties of concern. The dielectric constant (relative permittivity or ε r ) is one of the most critical. Many design engineers have made the assumption that this property is a rigid value; however, often that...