Right angle corners for PCB traces

There is a lot of myth and misconception about whether right angle (90°), chamfered (45°) or curved PCB traces are “better”.  One of the often quoted “facts” is that right angles are bad for signal propagation or radiated RF emissions.

I came across a great paper titled “Time and Frequency Domain Analysis for Right Angle Corners on Printed Circuit Board Traces” (PDF link) by Mark I. Montrose which has in-depth analysis and experiments to test this theory out.  

The conclusion speaks for itself. A very poor summary is that the effects of vias and other connections will far exceed effects from 90° corners.

David Cannings
David Cannings
Cyber Security

My interests include computer security, digital electronics and writing tools to help analysis of cyber attacks.