The job of hardware engineer is not so easy that is why it is joked "hard"ware by designers. There are many domains across which hardware engineer works. Some of the requirements include designing a circuit with discrete components and could range up to a complex server designs. Looking at such a broad range of circuits hardware engineer works on, it is interesting to know where the hardware engineer has to focus on. If you ask any hardware engineer, one says the kind of frequencies they have to work on bothers them. If we see the Electromagnetic spectrum, it is the HF beyond which the circuit turns an enemy to Hardware Engineer. As per the spectrum the High Frequency range starts from 3MHz. This is range from where all the below criteria has to be carefully considered:
- Reference Planes
- Avoid plane splits
- Grounding requirements
- Careful consideration of stack up
- Careful selection of the PCB Layout Material
- Routing constraints
- Demanding simulation for the circuits
- Parasitic characteristics of the passive components
- Rise time, Fall Time requirements
- Setup time, Hold time requirements
- Load capacitance considerations
- Net Antennae
- Routing in inner layers
- Impedance matching
- Controlled impedance
- Signal Integrity
- Proper cable shielding
- Mechanical shielding requirements
- Component package effects
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