As communication systems push into millimeter-wave frequencies and high-speed digital designs approach 10+Gbps data rates, signal degradation becomes the limiting factor in system performance. At these frequencies, a PCB trace is no longer a simple...

In high frequency PCB design, the dielectric material typically receives most of the attention. Engineers spend considerable effort evaluating loss tangent, dielectric constant, and thermal stability of substrate materials. Yet the copper foil—the ...