Signal & Return-Path Integrity

What RF layout means here

We keep the RF return path on an unbroken reference plane, keep switching nodes and their supplies away from the front end, and leave the antenna region free of copper, metal and tall parts so it behaves the way the design assumes. Radiating and sensitivity figures belong to the antenna vendor, so we design to the stack-up and enclosure you supply rather than to a number we cannot verify.

Radio alongside digital logic is the hard part. The digital side is noisy and the RF side is sensitive, and the board is where they meet. We lay that boundary out deliberately.

What we handle

• Controlled-impedance routing — traces sized against your fabricator’s stack-up for the material and build you have quoted, not a generic 50 ohm assumption.
• Matching networks — placement, component selection and the keep-out around them.
• Return-path discipline — unbroken reference planes under RF, stitching vias, and no accidental slots.
• Isolation — distance and shielding between switching supplies, digital edges and the front end.
• Antenna region — keep-out of copper, metal and tall parts, sized to the antenna vendor’s guidance.
• Grounding scheme — consistent across the board, with the RF ground defined rather than assumed.

What you get back

A fabrication package with the RF regions documented: impedance targets, keep-outs, and the constraints the layout was held to. Enough for a future revision to keep the RF behaviour intact without re-deriving it.

How it runs

Send the schematic, the antenna datasheet and keep-out guidance, the enclosure, the stack-up you have quoted, and the date the first prototype has to exist. We confirm the RF assumptions with you before layout, then lay out against them.

Radiating and sensitivity figures belong to the antenna vendor. We design to the stack-up and enclosure you supply.