Building a High-Speed PCB with Bittele: What to Consider

High-Speed PCBs are complicated devices, with many variables to consider in order to effectively achieve a High Quality PCB Assembly. In addition to basic PCB Design Rules, high speed PCB designs often require a variety of auxiliary options that are less familiar to many designers. As fields such as communications, aerospace, and IoT PCBs continue to grow, more and more PCB design engineers will need to familiarize themselves with high speed PCBs, and Bittele Electronics is here to help. This article will present the most common special requirements for high speed PCBs, providing brief descriptions for each topic, and outlining Bittele’s specific capabilities and recommendations.

High Speed PCB Material

Bittele provides a variety of PCB Materials for our clients’ convenience. Our standard and most commonly used material is FR-4 epoxy laminate, but some clients find that the dielectric constant for FR-4 is not well suited to high-speed designs, particularly in the hundreds of MHz into the GHz range. For these instances, we offer a selection of High Speed PCB Materials that are specifically intended for just these sorts of projects. The image below shows the datasheet for RO4003C and RO4350B, developed by Rogers, which are the most common laminate material choices in high speed designs.

High Speed PCB Stackups

It is common for high speed PCBs to fall under the category of High-Density Interconnect (HDI) PCBs as well. In this case, Bittele can work with you to develop a custom Multi-Layer PCB Stackup to suit your project, or we can follow any custom stackup specification you send our way. As a HDI design, your PCB is also subject to our standard rules for options such as Micro-Vias or Blind/Buried Vias.

Impedance Control

Controlled Impedance and Controlled Dielectric PCBs are very commonly used in high-speed designs, since these projects often require differential pairs or impedance matching to an antenna. Bittele engineering team is here to help at whatever level of involvement you need. We can provide some minor advice, perform the full impedance control calculation and create a stackup according to your specification, or provide any level of service in between.

Please note that the services discussed in this article are special requirements, not included in our PCB Options at a Standard Price. If you are interested in getting more detailed information about Bittele’s specific capabilities, we recommend you read our comprehensive High Speed PCB Design For Manufacturability (DFM) and PCB Design For Assembly (DFA) Guidelines documents. For more information about our capabilities with regard to high speed PCBs, or to send us your PCB Design Files for an official quotation, please feel free to Contact Us any time! We can be reached via email at sales@7pcb.com, or toll-free at 1-888-812-1949.