Printed Circuit Board (PCB) design process and fabrication

This module describes main characteristics of Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs). A brief history of PCBs is introduced in the first chapter. Then, the design processes and the fabrication of PCBs are addressed and finally a study case is presented in the last chapter of the module.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Wireless Telemetry System for Implantable Sensors

Advanced testing of medical treatments involves experimentation on small laboratory animals, such as genetically modified mice. These subjects are used to help researchers develop medication and cures for humans. To understand the effects of the treatments, innovative telemetry systems are developed, that enable remote real-time cardiac monitoring. The latest research in the field of cardiac monitoring has revealed two major limitations with wireless implantable systems: a) the current size of implantable electronics limits the physical size of the system to larger subjects; and b) the systems only interface with one sensor type (e.g., pressure sensor only). This research focuses on the design of a wireless telemetry system architecture, intended to retrieve blood pressure and volume data. A physical prototype is created that is 2.475 cm3 and weights 4.01 g. This thesis will enable a path towards miniaturization, leading to the incorporation of a wireless system into small laboratory animals

Analysis and design of power delivery networks exploiting simulation tools and numerical optimization techniques

A higher performance of computing systems is being demanded year after year, driving the digital industry to fiercely compete for offering the fastest computer system at the lowest cost. In addition, as computing system performance is growing, power delivery networks (PDN) and power integrity (PI) designs are getting increasingly more relevance due to the faster speeds and more parallelism required to obtain the required performance growth. The largest data throughput at the lowest power consumption is a common goal for most of the commercial computing systems. As a consequence of this performance growth and power delivery tradeoffs, the complexity involved in analyzing and designing PDN in digital systems is being increased. This complexity drives longer design cycle times when using traditional design tools. For this reason, the need of using more efficient design methods is getting more relevance in order to keep designing and launching products in a faster manner to the market. This trend pushes PDN designers to look for methodologies to simplify analysis and reduce design cycle times. The main objective for this Master’s thesis is to propose alternative methods by exploiting reliable simulation approaches and efficient numerical optimization techniques to analyze and design PDN to ensure power integrity. This thesis explores the use of circuital models and electromagnetic (EM) field solvers in combination with numerical optimization methods, including parameter extraction (PE) formulations. It also establishes a sound basis for using space mapping (SM) methodologies in future developments, in a way that we exploit the advantages of the most accurate and powerful models, such as 3D full-wave EM simulators, but conserving the simplicity and low computational resourcing of the analytical, circuital, and empirical models

Electronic packaging - A bibliography

Annotated bibliography of literature on electronic packaging for use in designing electronic equipmen

RAID-2: Design and implementation of a large scale disk array controller

We describe the implementation of a large scale disk array controller and subsystem incorporating over 100 high performance 3.5 inch disk drives. It is designed to provide 40 MB/s sustained performance and 40 GB capacity in three 19 inch racks. The array controller forms an integral part of a file server that attaches to a Gb/s local area network. The controller implements a high bandwidth interconnect between an interleaved memory, an XOR calculation engine, the network interface (HIPPI), and the disk interfaces (SCSI). The system is now functionally operational, and we are tuning its performance. We review the design decisions, history, and lessons learned from this three year university implementation effort to construct a truly large scale system assembly

Retention and application of Skylab experiences to future programs

The problems encountered and special techniques and procedures developed on the Skylab program are described along with the experiences and practical benefits obtained for dissemination and use on future programs. Three major topics are discussed: electrical problems, mechanical problems, and special techniques. Special techniques and procedures are identified that were either developed or refined during the Skylab program. These techniques and procedures came from all manufacturing and test phases of the Skylab program and include both flight and GSE items from component level to sophisticated spaceflight systems

Voyager spacecraft phase B, task D. Volume 2 - System description. Book 5 - Final report

Voyager spacecraft design standards, and operational support and mission-dependent equipment requirement

High-density interconnect technology assessment of printed circuit boards for space applications

High-density interconnect (HDI) printed circuit boards (PCBs) and associated assemblies are essential to allow space projects to benefit from the ever increasing complexity and functionality of modern integrated circuits such as field-programmable gate arrays, digital signal processors and application processors. Increasing demands for functionality translate into higher signal speeds combined with an increasing number of input/outputs (I/Os). To limit the overall package size, the contact pad pitch of the components is reduced. The combination of a high number of I/Os with a reduced pitch places additional demands onto the PCB, requiring the use of laser-drilled microvias, high-aspect ratio core vias, and small track width and spacing. Although the associated advanced manufacturing processes have been widely used in commercial, automotive, medical, and military applications, reconciling these advancements in capability with the reliability requirements for space remains a challenge. Two categories of the HDI technology are considered: two levels of staggered microvias (basic HDI) and (up to) three levels of stacked microvias (complex HDI). In this article, the qualification of the basic HDI technology in accordance with ECSS-Q-ST-70-60C is described. At 1.0-mm pitch, the technology passes all testing successfully. At .8-mm pitch, failures are encountered during interconnection stress testing and conductive anodic filament testing. These failures provide the basis for updating the design rules for HDI PCBs