IPC 2221 vs. 2152: The Truth About PCB Trace Current Ratings

Altium Develop gives your entire team real-time visibility into PCB designs, supply chain data, and manufacturing feedback — so thermal and power decisions never get made in isolation: https://www.altium.com/develop?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=ontrack-podcast&utm_content=ipc-2221-vs-2152-the-truth-about-pcb-trace-current-ratings

If you've ever sized a PCB trace using the IPC 2221 charts or relied on a 10°C rise rule of thumb, this episode of the OnTrack Podcast is essential viewing. Host Zach Peterson sits down with Mike Jouppi — the engineer behind IPC 2152 — to unpack decades of misunderstood standards, flawed assumptions, and what designers should actually be doing when it comes to conductor sizing and thermal management.

Mike walks through the critical differences between IPC 2221 and IPC 2152, explains why the internal trace data in 2221 was never derived from actual in-board testing, and reveals how adding copper planes to your design can dramatically increase power dissipation even while keeping temperature rise "within spec." If you're designing power-carrying traces without thinking in terms of power loss budgets, this conversation will change how you approach every future layout.

👉 Resources from this episode:

- High Power PCB Design: Pushing the Limits with Caleb Buck: https://youtu.be/aYi080GbV08

- Eric Bogatin on Signal Integrity, Oscilloscope Mastery & More: https://youtu.be/k88xgF8_jpk

- Connect with Mike: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-jouppi-a6547034a/

- Dive Deeper into IPC 2221: https://resources.altium.com/p/ipc-2221-calculator-pcb-trace-current-and-heating

- Explore IPC 2152: https://resources.altium.com/p/using-ipc-2152-calculator-designing-standards

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