IntelCAD Insights
Engineering intelligence for people who build hardware.
Deeply researched articles on PCB design, electronics technology, industry shifts and the bottlenecks engineers face every day — published every morning.
650 V GaN Half-Bridge PCB Design: Preventing False Turn-On and Gate Overvoltage
Fast GaN edges turn small PCB parasitics into serious gate-drive problems. Learn to separate real gate excursions from probing artifacts, select a device-compatible GaN gate driver, and validate Kelvin-source routing and gate-resistor tuning with double pulse testing.
Read articleGNSS Receiver Desense: How to Find and Fix PCB Noise and GPS Interference
A reference schematic cannot guarantee reliable GNSS reception. Learn how to troubleshoot GNSS receiver desense and GPS interference on your PCB using matched C/N₀ logs, A/B/A subsystem shutdowns, and near-field probes, then choose fixes (placement, return paths, filtering, active antenna LNA choices) that address the coupling path, not just the symptoms.
SAR ADC Crosstalk in Multiplexed Front Ends: Fixing First-Sample Errors
Why a multiplexed SAR ADC reads the previous channel: analog multiplexer charge injection, sampling kickback, source impedance, and short acquisition time. Learn to budget settling, size the ADC driver and RC network, and test worst-case channel switching.
10BASE-T1S Multidrop Sensor Boards: Reliable Single-Pair Ethernet Design
A working Ethernet demo is not a qualified 10BASE-T1S mixing segment. Learn how to design reliable single-pair Ethernet multidrop sensor boards—budgeting termination, stubs, connectors, protection capacitance, EMC, and PLCA—with a schematic-to-harness validation plan for robot and industrial clusters.
Recoverable OTA Firmware Updates: Designing MCU Boards You Can Patch After Shipment
A security patch helps only if the device can install it safely. Learn how to budget flash for OTA firmware updates, choose an A/B or staged update architecture, preserve recovery access, and test power-loss resilience—while separating the EU Cyber Resilience Act’s reporting deadlines from its broader requirements.
Fine-Pitch BGA Escape Routing: Stacked Microvia Reliability on HDI PCBs
A routed fine-pitch BGA is not necessarily a reliable BGA. Learn how stacked-microvia interfaces fail on HDI PCBs, why continuity and cross-sections miss weak connections, and how to choose staggered microvias, via-in-pad, and a qualified HDI stackup without sacrificing BGA escape routing density.
Why Edge-AI Boards Brown Out: Fixing Voltage Droop on 0.8–1.2 V Core Rails
Fix voltage droop and brownout resets on 0.8–1.2 V edge-AI core rails: PDN target impedance, decoupling capacitor placement, and load-step validation.
Gerber Files Explained: What PCB Manufacturers Need (Q&A Guide)
What are Gerber files? Which layers, drill and fab files a PCB manufacturer needs, how to export and check them, and Gerber vs ODB++ vs IPC-2581.
USB-C Power Delivery 240W EPR: Preventing 48V Hot-Plug Failures in Sink PCB Design
USB PD 3.1 EPR sinks at 48V/240W: EPR cable checks, inrush current limiting, MOSFET SOA, TVS/OVP coordination and USB-C PCB design for safe hot-plug.