SIX TIPS TO HELP DESKTOP PCB DESIGNERS

ADDRESS THE CHALLENGES OF RF AND

MICROWAVE DESIGNS

W H I T E P A P E R

DANIT ATAR, MENTOR GRAPHICS

Six Tips to Help Desktop PCB Designers Address the Challenges of RF and Microwave Designs

INTRODUCTION
Electronic products are no longer something you buy once every decade or so, such as TVs and refrigerators were
back in the 70s. Virtually every person in every household is now a consumer of electronic products, buying new
products each year as technology brings affordable new capabilities to smartphones, tablets, cars, and TVs.
The common base for many of these electronic products is wireless technology, which relies on RF circuitry.
Unfortunately, RF circuitry can intimidate even the most confident designers, as it brings great design challenges
and requires specialized design and analysis tools. This is why, for many years, the RF portion of a PCB has been
designed by a separate designer, one who specializes specifically in RF design.

WHY IS DESIGNING RF AND MICROWAVE LAYOUTS SO CHALLENGING?

The issues with that process are numerous and can cause quality and productivity to suffer. For example,
embedding the RF circuit of one designer into the PCB of a different designer, often using two distinct design
formats, is less than efficient. It is also common to be forced into making changes in your design, in order for it to fit
with the RF circuit. Since simulations are usually done on the RF circuit, and not in the context of the entire PCB,
significant effects of the board on the RF circuitry can be missed, and vice versa.
As RF content has increased, there has been a realization among PCB designers and engineers that, to increase
productivity and improve product quality, it would be better to tackle RF design challenges on their own, within
their design tool. Unfortunately, most desktop PCB design tools are not equipped to make this task any easier.
For example, after using the RF simulators to model the circuit, and once the desired electrical performance is
achieved, the simulator produces a representation of the copper shapes for this circuit, usually in DXF format, to be
imported into the PCB design tool. This process often causes problems for the designer, such as when the DXF file
is not converted properly and fails to translate into a copper shape. In such cases, the designer needs to manually
manipulate the imported DXF file, which can result in human errors and inaccuracies in the shape size that can
cause the RF circuit to fail.
Those are just a few of the challenges you as a PCB designer or engineer face when trying to layout RF and
microwave circuits. Fortunately, small solutions within your design tool can make a big difference in how these
challenges are resolved. In this paper, you will find six tips that you can use to make just about any RF PCB design
easier and with less stress!

1. KEEP RF SHAPES INTACT AND ACCURATE

Critical errors, such as those described above, can lead to poor performance or failure of the circuit to function. To
minimize errors, simplify the RF design task, and increase productivity, PCB design tools can provide import control
for complex copper shapes. For example, by controlling layers coming from the DXF file, and re-mapping them to
electrical CAD system layers, you can create a usable copper shape (Figure 1).

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Six Tips to Help Desktop PCB Designers Address the Challenges of RF and Microwave Designs

Figure 1: Having a design tool

that enables user control
during the DXF import process
can help reduce human errors
and inaccuracies, such as in
cases where the imported file
fails to translate into a copper
shape due to its high
complexity.

2. KEEP SHARP CORNERS SHARP

An important aspect of designing copper shapes for RF and microwave is the ability to create Gerber files with
sharp corners. A good PCB design tool can simplify this process. For example, using a 50mm line to draw a shape
often causes the design to have a smaller radius than when plotting with a 50mm round aperture. Design tools can
help achieve sharp corners by automatically, and correctly, translating the line thicknesses when creating the
Gerber file (Figure 2).

Figure 2: A good PCB design tool

will automatically consider the
line type used to draw the shape
to calculate the accurate line
thickness, helping you easily
create sharp corners.

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Six Tips to Help Desktop PCB Designers Address the Challenges of RF and Microwave Designs

3. AUTOMATE CHAMFERED CORNERS.

Chamfered corners are often used in RF and microwave circuits to reduce step discontinuity reactance between the
feed line and the capacitor, which improves frequency performance on MMICs. The distance between the 90
corner and chamfer is critical. Therefore, designers need an automated way to specify the ratio of the chamfering
that needs to be produced based on the design. Designers and engineers can benefit from having a PCB design
tool that automatically enforces the ratio of the chamfering that needs to be produced based on the design rules,
saving time and increasing design quality (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Having the ability to set rules for chamfered corners can simplify the design process and save time.

4. USE AUTOMATION TO HELP LAYOUT COPLANAR AND CHANNEL WAVE GUIDES

Coplanar and channel wave guides are also very common in RF and microwave designs. When created manually,
this can be a time-consuming and error-prone process. Designers are required to control the specific distance
between traces and vias, as well as the distance between one via to the other, in order to make sure the circuit
performs as designed. Design tools can help here as well, reducing complexity and improving quality by providing
control and automation through the use of vias (Figure 4).

5. USE AUTOMATED STITCHING VIAS

Another important aspect in designing with RF is to ensure proper function is to shield areas with vias. Although
this task could be performed manually by the designer, its an extremely time-consuming process. Having a PCB
design tool that can automate this process can shorten design cycle times and ensure all your design rules are met.
Such tools enable the designer to specify rules for via pattern generation, leaving the rest of the work to the PCB
design tool.

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Six Tips to Help Desktop PCB Designers Address the Challenges of RF and Microwave Designs

Figure 4: Having a PCB design tool that provides control for coplanar and wave-guide via creation can help reduce design errors
and design time dramatically.

6. USE DESIGN RULES TO BE CORRECT-BY-CONSTRUCTION

A PCB design tool that supports RF designs will normally let you set multiple design rules: the type of via used for
different copper areas; the type of net the via needs to attach itself to; the distance that needs to be maintained
from the edge of the copper area to a via; the distance from one via to the next; the type of via pattern; and whe
ther or not a Faraday cage can be generated by adding vias only to the outer edge of the copper area (Figure 5).

Figure 5: A PCB design tools that supports RF will let you set
design rules for via pattern generation, and will
automatically enforce them in your design, saving you time
and making sure all your design rules are met.

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Six Tips to Help Desktop PCB Designers Address the Challenges of RF and Microwave Designs

CONCLUSIONS
Having a PCB design tool that can efficiently support RF and microwave design is a necessity for todays designers
and engineers who are faced with increasing design challenges. Manual creation of complex copper shapes,
chamfered corners, and via patterns is a time-consuming and error-prone process. Improvements in the ability to
manipulate RF and microwave elements with a good design tool allows designers to concentrate their efforts on
implementing increased functionality and reducing the size of devices, while maintaining high product quality.
PADS, Mentor Graphics Personal Automated Design System for desktop PCB design, provides enhanced support for
RF and microwave design including direct DXF import of complex copper shapes and line geometries, via shielding
for channel/co-planar waveguide design, automatic via fill for any copper shape, and support for chamfered or
square corners. This variety of capabilities will help you tackle RF and microwave design challenges with ease,
saving you time and increasing your design accuracy.
NOTE: PADS is scalable! As your designs become more complex and your needs change, Xpedition solutions from
Mentor Graphics are available to tune and optimize RF circuits and to maintain parametric shapes and allow editing
in the PCB.
For more information and to try PADS for yourself, go to http://www.pads.com/pcb-layout/rf-design.

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