Complex and High Data Rate Printed Circuit Board Design

In recent years Many Pebbles has specialised in Complex and High Data Rate Printed Circuit Board (PCB) designs.

We have had an exceptional technological success rate which has saved our clients both time and money.

Wearable Technology

A wearable device for example was designed to an extremely small form factor. By employing “Flex – Rigid” PCB technology where the central 2 layers of the 10 layer PCB were flexible, it allowed the finished circuit board assembly to be folded up like origami into its final form for device integration.

On this project we worked in conjunction with a world leading German manufacturer of PCBs. We frequently reached the limits of what was feasible to manufacturer due to space constraints. Following successful PCB manufacture the feedback from the manufacturer was that the PCBs that were designed by Many Pebbles were some of the most complex that the manufacturer had ever produced.

Obviously in engineering complexity is not something to aspire to since it breads unreliability however the design was principally driven by space constraints which resulted in the solution derived. In all other instances where feasible Many Pebbles promotes simplicity as key to reliability!

High Data Rate PCBs

Several other devices recently designed by Many Pebbles included high speed data lines (signal frequencies above 100 MHz) that were both tuned for length and electrical impedance. This is necessary for very high speed data transfer circuits where all the signals used in the circuits must reach the intended destination reliably and at the same time. Requirements for circuits of this nature are driven by the underlying laws of physics and typically have a far more stringent and specialist set of design rules than even very complex conventional PCBs.

When high speed tracks must be optimised for operation, it is often that a PCB is built “from the inside out” to ensure high speed performance and data integrity.

Unfortunately due to confidentiality reasons Many Pebbles is very limited as to what it can share in terms of previous successes but please be assured that the example given above is nothing but trivial in comparison with some of the solutions that we have delivered.

Although certainly not guaranteed as an outcome of prototype complex systems, Many Pebbles achieved a 100% right first time success rate on all high speed circuits built to date.

The circuits created included the following types of high speed data connections:

  • MIPI CSI2

  • High speed USB

  • High speed Ethernet

The following types of high speed data connections (not an exhaustive list) are equivalent and are also well within the design capabilities of Many Pebbles:

  • MIPI DSI

  • Thunderbolt

  • PCIe

  • HDMI

  • DDR RAM

  • High Data Rate Telecommunication Links

  • High speed analogue circuits

Please don't hesitate to CONTACT US for further information of how we can assist you.