On: What's the deal with square traces on PCBs?

[scld]

Yah anyone who has done RF engineering knows that "just a little bit of capacitance" can be a lot of capacitance.

[baybal2 → scld]

If you are in RF, you may well be already using "cornerless" smooth traces. Google "topological router"

[superkuh → baybal2]

That or using discontinuities in impedance intentionally. I've designed and had built a handful of successful UHF planar PCB filters using Sonnet. In a lot of them I use very small changes in trace width as the place to put resonating elements. ie, http://superkuh.com/stepped-impedance-bandstop-filter.html

The difference between square corners and compensated is real. And it gets more real if you're working in generic FR4 with 1.6mm thickness and 2-3mm wide traces for the sweet spot between 50 and 75 ohms.