"Effective RF And Microwave Design With KiCad" - Seth Hillbrand (KiCon 2019)

Working in the microwave spectrum places a number of unique requirements on PCB layout and design. This talk shows how to use KiCad to create effective high-frequency circuits. I will focus on a 300MHz - 3GHz spectrum analysis circuit that I created to search for a type of Dark Matter called Dark Photons. I will demonstrate effective techniques for designing DRC-compliant curved traces, spline-based zone fills and SolidWorks MCAD integration.
Slides for this talk are available here: kicad-kicon.com/wp-content/upl...
About the speaker:
Seth Hillbrand is the Design Engineer for the physics department of the University of California, Davis. He designs circuits to support research that looks for Dark Matter, tries to measure "hidden" photons and measures physical processes in extreme environments. Previously, he worked on high altitude ballooning and in electromagnetic warfare. He is currently one of the developers of the KiCad project.
KiCon 2019 was a conference for people who use and love KiCad. For more information: kicad-kicon.com
Produced by NDV: / @nextdayvideo

[@manojkumarsubramaniam7122]

Summary: 1. Rounded track matter above 3 GHz 2. Champher (45 deg) are better than 90-degrees bent, simulation shows input impedance varies by 10% span of 1-10 GHz @8:47 3. No straight forward or out of box way to create curved trace multiple workarounds available

[@lucvanhove9639]

Thank you for this clear education

[@rfengr00]

Thanks for posting this. The one thing that keeps me on Altium, for now, is the ability to have nets assigned to arbitrary polygons. I import DXF from Microwave Office and convert to polygons, then assign nets.

[@BobBeatski71]

ok, now you've got my attention.

[@Gabriel-kz8ns]

Nice job Chris! very interesting series of videos. If I may suggest, next time try to use some over the ear mics or something...

[@benjaminpajk1299]

You can also use a mitered bend instead of the curved bend. The main benefit is that it is much more compact.

[@notsailytys2069]

This is cool man

[@rogeronslow1498]

If your bandwidth is so important and return loss so critical then use stripline for the small section. What I mean is glue in a small piece of substrate over the track in question. This removes the effect of differences in velocity of propagation in air (above substrate) and in the substrate. Microstrip is crude (but effective) for connecting RF signals but sometimes stripline is required, such as in couplers. Also, get a copy of ADS and see how it's done.

[@harviecz]

Can the "autocomplete routes" feature be used in generic autorouting scenario? eg. with entangled traces needed to be crossed...

[@fute27]

would freecad Stepup do the tricks instead of inkscape...

[@sheetalmekhale]

Miter function like Eagle is preferred in Kicad

[@harviecz]

When i have footprint of RF design with multiple pads on the same net, the ratsnest still wants me to connect all of them. There is no way of telling kicad that these pads are already connected through the footprint.

[@heikkipulkkinen5442]

Nice,. but still my Trackitems tools are easiest and safest way to do curves.

[@BenjaminEhrlich272]

I have a plugin to round corners.

[@TheVideoVolcano]

how do install that plugin? I tried to install following the instructions and nothing was added into kicad

[@ga12f12o]

Imagine the first thing he said, fuck Altium, we're better. No, in all honesty we need guys like him to make changes for the better.

[@sercansbnclr1376]

how do i install this plugin? PLEASE HELP