Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Footprint Optimization

 

This application note describes the Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Footprint Optimization service that Rosenberger offers.  The PCB Footprint optimization service has been offered by Rosenberger for many years and has demonstrated itself to be a valuable, time saving service for our customers.  The purpose of this application note is to assist our customers when they have a footprint optimization need/application.

Rosenberger North America offers a Printed Circuit Board (PCB) footprint optimization service to its customers.  The PCB footprints are used to optimize the Radio Frequency (RF) performance of our PCB connectors for a specific PCB application.  Rosenberger may justify waiving the service fee if the business case can be made and typically requires 2 to 3 weeks to complete, depending on the workload of our signal integrity group, the complexity of the design and other non-technical factors.

This article concentrates on clarifying the following:

  • What a standard connector footprint is, where and when it may be used, and the standard footprint’s potential limitations.
  • Typical assumptions that could be made by a connector manufacturer when designing a new RF connector. 
  • Basic characteristics of an optimized footprint, what data is needed from the customer to generate the footprint, and the overall process Rosenberger uses for generating a custom footprint. 
  • A brief glossary of terms that are commonly used in custom footprint and simulation discussions. 

At the end of this applications note, four (4) of the common PCB transmission line layout styles are listed.

Download the Application Note below to learn more.