About Author

Zachariah Peterson

Zachariah Peterson has an extensive technical background in academia and industry. He currently provides research, design, and marketing services to companies in the electronics industry. Prior to working in the PCB industry, he taught at Portland State University and conducted research on random laser theory, materials, and stability. His background in scientific research spans topics in nanoparticle lasers, electronic and optoelectronic semiconductor devices, environmental sensors, and stochastics. His work has been published in over a dozen peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings, and he has written 1000+ technical blogs on PCB design for a number of companies. He is a member of IEEE Photonics Society, IEEE Electronics Packaging Society, and the American Physical Society, and he currently serves on the INCITS Quantum Computing Technical Advisory Committee.

Most Recent Posts

PCB Manufacturing and Impedance Control: How to Specify Your Requirements PCB manufacturing houses can easily accommodate impedance control requirements as long as you can specify requirements clearly. Here’s what to tell your fabricator. Read Article

What is Multi-board Design? Learn more about what is multi-board design and how to use native 3D design with ECAD MCAD collaboration aids complex PCB layout. Read Article

Best Practices for Using DNI/DNP Entries in Your PCB BOM You can use the DNI/DNP designation on components in your PCB BOM to create design variants as long as you’ve created your layout correctly. Read Article

Testing the Limits of Your LDO's Efficiency The efficiency of your LDO isn’t a fixed value, but neither is your maximum current output. Read about your LDO efficiency curve to better see why LDOs have narrow operating ranges. Read Article

Switched-Mode Power Supply PCB Layout Guidelines Create and simulate your design and follow these switched-mode power supply PCB layout guidelines. Read Article

Should You Route Signals in Your PCB Power Plane? Before you cut up your PCB power plane with signals, pay attention to things like impedance control power plane current capacity to ensure reliability. Read Article

Using SPICE as a MOSFET Power Dissipation Calculator The circuit design and simulation features in Altium Designer can be your MOSFET power dissipation calculator. Read Article

How to Use Input Impedance in Circuits and Transmission Lines The concept of input impedance is used to understand power transfer and matching in complex interconnects. Read Article

Altium Designer Helps You Track Reference Designators on Your PCB Make sure you use the right reference designators in your PCB and in your drawings, schematic sheets, and circuit board layout. Read Article

What PCB Copper Thickness Should You Use? Do you know what PCB copper thickness you should use in your circuit board? Learn more about copper thickness and what it means for your fabrication process in this guide. Read Article