One of the most rewarding things you can do as a PCB designer is to specialize in EMI.
Some people say that you're either cut out for it or you're not.
I would say it's all about mastering a few key concepts, and the rest will naturally unfold.
Many stop learning, and that’s actually the biggest mistake you can make.
A senior engineer once told me that now he’s the one teaching, not the one who needs to be taught.
Unluckily for him, his project got stuck in a vicious circle of EMI testing because he couldn’t figure out what the real problem was.
If he had continued learning, he would have noticed right away from his design that neither the stackup nor the layout would have allowed him to pass EMC testing.
The necessary fixes wouldn’t have changed anything in terms of board cost, but they would have definitely changed the board's behavior from an EMI perspective.
The concept is always the same: we have to think in terms of fields, not in terms of a water-flow analogy.
If you want to be the best at PCB design, you can’t just connect the dots from point A to point B; you also have to understand what happens in between.
Oh yeah, the rewarding part...
While his project kept failing EMC tests, mine was in and out (with a pass stamp) on the first try.
Which one would you rather be?
Dario
----
P.S. If you want to become an EMI specialist yourself, come join us here: https://fresuelectronics/mentoring