Enhancing the Professional Engineer’s Career
Free technical resources from PCEA and the industry.
Note: Printed Circuit Engineering Association makes no guarantee regarding their accuracy or validity.
Technical Papers
General
- Are We Teaching Electricity the Wrong Way? Bernie Hobbs
- Nickel-Plated Traces, Howard Johnson
- Nickel-Gold Plating Copper PCB traces, Polar Instruments
ARTIFicial Intelligence (AI)
- AI Roadmap for PCB Layout, Charles Pfeil
- PCEA – A Roadmap for Use of AI-Assisted Tools for the Electronics Industry rev 3.0, PCEA
DfM
- Problems and Promises of BTCs (Bottom Terminated Components), Ray Prasad
- DFM Guidelines for BGAs and LGAs, Dale Lee
HDI
- “Design and Construction Effects on PWB Reliability,” Paul Reid
- “HDI’s Beneficial Influence on High-Frequency Signal Integrity,” Happy Holden
- “The Future of HDI Via Structures, Power Delivery, and Thermal Management in Next-Generation Printed Circuits,” Tom Buck
EMI
- Effective Strategies for Choosing and Locating Printed Circuit Board Decoupling Capacitors, Todd Hubing
- 20-H Rule Modeling and Measurements, Hwan W, Shim & Todd H. Hubing
- Effects of 20-H Rule and Shielding Vias on Electromagnetic Radiation from Printed Circuit Boards, Chen & Fang
90 Degree Corners: The Final Turn, Doug Brooks - BGA Crosstalk, Dr. Howard Johnson
- Model for Estimating Radiated Emissions from a Printed Circuit Board with Attached Cables, Due to Voltage Driven Sources, Hwan-Woo Shim and Todd Hubing
- Printed Circuit Board EMI Source Mechanisms, Todd Hubing
- Estimation of Common Mode Radiated Emissions from Cables Attached to High-Speed PCB Using Imbalance Difference Model, Ahmed M. Sayegh and Mohd Zarar M. Jenu
- Does a Heated Conductor Have Signal Integrity Implications,” Douglas Brooks, Johannes Adam and Ulisses Castro
Flex Circuits
- Ask the Flexperts, Mark Finstad and Nick Koop, PCD&F Magazine column
- Design and Assembly Process Principles for Flexible and Rigid Flex Circuits, Vern Solberg, PCB West 2015
High Speed/ Signal Integrity
- “IBIS Output Impedance Made Easy,” Bert Simonovich
- “A Treatment of Differential Signaling and Its Design Requirements,” Lee Ritchey
- Anodes Crosstalk Overview, Intel, (Item 2 under the Electrical Properties Group)
- IBIS Models to Investigate Signal-Integrity, Bonnie C. Baker
Power Bus
- Power Bus Decoupling Guidelines for Printed Circuit Boards with Closely Spaced Power Distribution Planes, Todd Hubing
- Power Bus Decoupling Guidelines for Printed Circuit Boards with Widely Spaced Power Distribution Planes, Todd Hubing
- Power Bus Decoupling on Multilayer Printed Circuit Boards, Hubing, Drewniak, Van Doren and Hockanson
- PDN Application of Ferrite Beads, Steve Weir
- PDN Design Strategies: III. Planes and Materials – Are They Important Factors in Power Bus Design?
Knighten, Archambeault, Fan, Selli, Xue, Connor, and Drewniak
Stencils
- Stencil Technology and Guidelines, Greg Starrett
Switch Mode Power Supplies
- The Analysis and Layout of a Switching Mode Power Supply, AIC
- Considerations in Designing the Printed Circuit Boards of Embedded Switching Power Supplies, Marty Brown
THERMAL MANAGEMENT
- How Hot Is My Via? (Cooler Than You Think!),” Douglas Brooks and Johannes Adam
Books
General
- The Hitchhiker’s Guide to PCB Design, EMA Design Automation, 2019
- Printed Circuits Handbook, Seventh Edition, Clyde Coombs, 2016, McGraw-Hill, ISBN: 978-0-07-183395-0
- Bebop to the Boolean Boogie, Clive Maxfield, 1995, HighText Publications, ISBN: 1-878707-22-1
- Printed Circuit Board – Designer’s Reference: Basics, Christopher T. Robertson, 2003, Prentice
- Hall Modern Semiconductor Design Series, ISBN: 9780130674814
- Maxwell’s Equations Without the Calculus, Douglas Brooks, Amazon, 2016, ISBN: 1523634391
HDI
- The HDI Handbook, Happy Holden, 2009, BR Publishing, Inc., ISBN 978-0-9796189-1-8
- BGA Breakouts and Routing: Effective Design Methods for Very Large BGAs, Charles Pfeil, 2008
Flex Circuits
- Flexible Circuit Technology, 4th edition, Joseph Fjelsted, 2011
- Handbook of Flexible Circuits, 2nd edition, Ken Gilleo, 1992
EMI
- Principals of Power Integrity for PDN Design Simplified, Larry D. Smith and Eric Bogatin, Prentice Hall, ISBN: 978-0-13-273555-1
- Fast Circuit Boards – Energy Management, Ralph Morrison, Wiley & Sons, ISBN: 978-1-119-41399-8
- PCB Design for Real-World EMI Control, Bruce R. Archambeault, 2002, Kluwer Academic Publishers Group, ISBN: 978-1-4757-3642-7
- Electromagnetic Compatibility Engineering, 2nd Edition, Henry Ott, John Wiley and Sons, ISBN:978-0-470-18930-6
- EMI Troubleshooting Cookbook for Product Designers, Patrick G. André and Kenneth Wyatt, ISBN: 978-1-61355-019-1
- Grounding and Shielding Techniques, 6th edition, Ralph Morrison, John Wiley and Sons, ISBN: 978-1-119-18374-7
PCB Fabrication
- Printed Circuit Board Basics:
An Introduction to the PCB Industry
6th Edition, PCEA, 2026, ISBN: 0-9743561-0-7
Thermal Issues
- PCB Design Guide to Via and Trace Currents and Temperatures, Douglas Brooks, Johannes Adam, Artech House, 2021, ISBN: 1630818607
High Speed/ Signal Integrity
- High Speed Constraint Values (E-Book and Calculator), Charles Pfeil, 2020
- Right the First Time, volume 1, Lee Ritchey, 2003, ISBN: 0-9741936-0-7
- Right the First Time, volume 2, Lee Ritchey, 2007, ISBN: 0-9741936-1-5
- High-Speed Digital System Design, Hall, Hall, and McCall, 2000, John Wiley & Sons, ISBN: 0-471-36090-2
- High-Speed Digital Design- A Handbook of Black Magic, Howard W. Johnson and Martin Graham, Prentice Hall, ISBN: 0-13-395724-1
- High Speed Signal Propagation- Advanced Black Magic, Howard W. Johnson and Martin Graham, Prentice Hall, ISBN: 0-13-084408-X
- The Printed Circuit Designer’s Guide to Secrets of High-Speed PCBs, Martyn Gaudion Polar Instruments, ISBN: 9780998288505
- Signal Integrity Issues in PCB Design, Douglas Brooks, 2003,
ISBN: 9780131418844 - PCB Currents: How They Flow, How They React, Douglas Brooks, Prentice Hall, 2013, ISBN: 0134878477
- UltraCAD’s Best Articles and Applications Notes, Amazon, 2022
OTHER INFORMATION
Salary Surveys
- Among PCB Designers, Raises are Up, Benefits are Down and Deadlines Don’t Budge (September 2025)
- Young Guns: The 2024 PCD&F PCB Designer Salary Survey (August 2024)
- Show Them the Money: The 2023 PCD&F PCB Designer Salary Survey (September 2023)
- The ECAD Industry is Firing on All Cylinders. No Wonder Wages are Rising. (September 2022)
- In an Unpredictable World, PCB Design Engineering Stay Steady (August 2021)
- It Was Predicted for Years. Engineers Are Finally Taking Over PCB Design. (June 2020)
- “Going Green: PCB Designers Say Salaries on Rise” (February 2019)
- “Among Designers, Compensation, Job Satisfaction on the Rise” (August 2017)
- “The PCB Design Community: Seasoned, Stable, Prosperous” (August 2016)
- “PCB Design Industry Thrives While in Need of New Recruits” (September 2015)
- “Fresh Faces in the Design Community” (October 2014)
- “Better with Age” (August 2013)
- “Mixed Signals” (April 2012)
- “The Price is Right” (May 2011)
- “The Year of Staying Employed” (June 2010)
- “Designers Take on Technology Challenges in 2008” (December 2008)
- “The 2007 PCB Designer Salary Survey” (December 2007)
- The 2006 Designer and Design Engineer Salary Survey” (November 2006)
- “The 2005 Designer and Design Engineer Salary Survey” (November 2005)
- “The PCD&M Design Engineer Salary Survey” (November 2004)
- “A Year of Transition” (November 2003)
- “Satisfaction Guaranteed? Annual Salary Survey Results (November 2002)
- “2001 Salary Survey Results” (January 2002)
- “Salary Survey Results 2000” (November 2000)
Chapter Meeting Handouts
Presentations from past PCEA chapter meetings.
Don’t Let Heat Derail Your Design – Thermal Considerations Upfront in
PCB Design – Ramon Roche, NCAB Group
PCB Design Perfection Starts in the CAD Library – Tom Hausherr, PCB Libraries
Are You Cool Enough for Low Temperature Solders? – Tony Lentz, FCT Assembly
Intro to Embedded Capacitance and Thin Dielectrics – John Ranieri, Oak-Mitsui Technologies
How Embedded Resistors Can Revolutionize High-Frequency Electronics –
John Andresakis, Quantic Ohmega Ticer
VIDEO
PCEA YouTube channel: Free videos and podcasts
Printed Circuit University: Videos on printed circuit design, fabrication, assembly and supply chain (subscription required; some content is free)
Paid Materials
Conference Proceedings
PCEA offers full proceedings from all PCB West and PCB East technical conferences.
Current year proceedings are $350. Previous year conference proceedings are $225. Click the links below to order. (The 2024 UHDI Design to Package Forum proceedings are $75 and may be ordered through the PCB East Proceedings link.)