Starting an RF PCB Design

If you're looking to start an RF design, this is the perfect place to start. Follow along with Tech Consultant Zach Peterson as he discusses frequency, losses, standard/alternative stackups, and more.

0:00 Intro
0:47 Frequency
4:08 Total Losses
6:18 A Standard Stackup
9:16 An Alternative Stackup
12:16 Floor Planning is Essential

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[yb]

Zack, I really love these videos. Both for brushing up and learning new things. keep them coming and great work

[CarlThom]

One of the most important comments is "discuss with your board partner". We are busy with an RF design working up to K-band. We had an idea on the materials and stackup we wnated to use, but before we even started the PCB layout, we contacted our board manufacturer and discussed our requirements with them.

[MrMarsjano]

TBH for freq<8GHz you dont have to worry about skin effect and roughness of copper foil - you should be more worried about proper copper finish (use for eg. ENIG or sth even better). For freq >3GHz I would also avoid covering your tracks with soldermask. Also what is worth mentioning you should avoid FR4 cores for circuits with amplifiers (eg. RF transmitters) bsc this materials cant stand much heat. For RF boards I can recommend stackup with like: RO4350B core (35um copper and like 0.5mm height) + FR4 prepreg (eg. 0.2 mm) + FR4 (35um copper and 0.6-0.8mm height). I like that you mentioned mitter bends, bcs many designers forget about them. Also folks remember that every bend changes electrical length of your trace. Really nice video as always. :)

[antiikadad]

This is an excellent intro to RF, but I would like to see some actual calculations.

[robertbox]

Just found this. What happened to Ben? Awesome set of videos and they just stop. 😢. Seriously, THE best introduction to microwave stuff I've seen.

[kapilgavali]

Wow... Even though I am an RF guy, learnt a lot of new things...!!

[TonySingh]

Great intro to RF PCB design aka black magic!

[TugaAlphaz]

Hey Zach! Amazing videos, seriously!
Just a quick question: In a board with an FPGA and DDR3 DRAM I only need 2 signal layers. Should I have 4 layer stackup with 2 signal layers and 2 GND layers, skipping the POWER plane, or should I go for a 6 layer stackup to make sure I have that power plane to ensure good decoupling? But then I will have 1 layer that I really don't need.

[etseng]

Insertion loss should be S12, S11 is for return loss