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Start Altium Designer 24 Training for Free

Level up your design skills with Altium Designer 24 training! Whether you're looking to brush up on the basics or delve into advanced techniques, our instructor-led or on-demand videos will help you master the latest features.

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PCB Layout Replication Whitepaper

Experience seamless acceleration in your design workflow with Altium Designer® 24's PCB Layout Replication feature. Effortlessly duplicate layouts for recurring circuit blocks and component groups, amplifying efficiency and reducing expenses.

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New Constraint Manager
New Constraint Manager: Physical Constraints, Layout Checks & Constraint Sets

Part IV of our Constraint Manager Series is live! In this episode, we explore essential steps like setting up physical constraints, conducting layout checks, and organizing constraint sets for efficient PCB design management. Follow along to enhance your workflow and optimize your designs.

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Wearable Design Project
Wearable Design Project - Power Supply

Part IV of our Wearable Design Project series is here! Join Piet Callemeyn as he tackles power supply strategy for our wireless heart rate sensor. Learn about battery integration, charging mechanisms, and power gating modes for optimal energy use. Whether you're a novice or expert, this episode provides practical insights into wearable tech design.

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Custom Pad Stack Whitepaper

Explore our manual on the Custom Pad Stack enhanced feature. From thermal connections to pad shapes, every detail matters. Pads are no longer merely points; they demand unique, tailored solutions. With Altium Designer 24, you can customize pad shapes, fine-tune thermal relief, and master rounded/chamfered rectangle pads to meet manufacturing standards, conquer tight spaces, and elevate your design game significantly.

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How-To's
How to Integrate Skip Vias in HDI PCB Design

Discover the intricacies of utilizing Skip Vias in HDI PCB design through this comprehensive guide. This video provides a step-by-step walkthrough on integrating skip vias into your high-density interconnect PCBs, delving into the advantages, disadvantages, and strategic applications to optimize electronic functionality.

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Pi.MX8 Project - Board Layout Part 2

We are continuing the exploration of board layout in our Pi.MX8 Project. In this chapter, we focus on defining the impedance profiles, establishing matching design rules for the correct trace width, and initiating the routing of the DRAM interface.

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New Constraint Manager
New Constraint Manager: Starting a New PCB: Testing Clearance Matrix & Custom Rules

Starting a new PCB project? Follow along as we guide you through essential steps, focusing on leveraging the Clearance Matrix and Custom Rules for precise design control. Unlock the full potential of Constraint Manager in Altium Designer 24 to kickstart your projects efficiently.

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Wearable Design Project
Wearable Design Project - Connectivity and Control

Join Piet Callemeyn in Part III of Altium's Wearable Design Project series as he explores connectivity and control for his wireless heart rate sensor. Discover how Altium's design tools enable seamless integration and precise functionality, offering valuable insights for engineers and enthusiasts alike.

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New in Altium Designer 24
Efficient Thermal Management with SPICE Simulation in Altium Designer 24 - Webinar Recording

Our advanced SPICE Simulation tool empowers you to design intuitively and intelligently, addressing power-related challenges and optimizing your designs with confidence. Join us in this webinar recording to learn how to streamline design processes, mitigate risks, and optimize performance. Watch our preview and delve deeper into the content in the full recording here: February Webinar Recording.

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Blog
Introducing Octopart Discover: From Part Search to Solutions Discovery

Octopart has announced Octopart Discover, a new platform that shifts electronic component search toward system-level solution discovery. The tool connects design intent with relevant options, enabling engineers to evaluate tradeoffs and identify the best-fit solutions more efficiently.

NEW
Blog
How to Choose the Right Components for Your BOM

A strong BOM can make the difference between smooth production and costly delays. Discover a practical approach to choosing components that stay available, meet compliance requirements, and keep your project on schedule.

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From Scattered Requirements to Confident Product Development

See how the Requirements Portal transforms disconnected requirements into a single, live source of truth that engineers can trust at every stage of a project! Real customer stories in the article prove it’s already helping teams cut down on rework and bring products to market faster.

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What is the Best PCB Design Tool For Students?

Students need PCB software that’s intuitive, affordable, and useful for building real skills. This article compares the strengths and weaknesses of leading design tools, from hobbyist platforms to industry-standard software.

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What Is Collaborative Engineering?

Collaborative engineering is all about breaking down silos so electrical, mechanical, and sourcing teams can work as one with shared data and real-time updates. This article shows how that approach helps you spot issues early, reduce rework, and get products out the door with fewer surprises.

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Bend Reliability: How Trace Geometry and Materials Impact Flex Lifespan

Focused on durability under repeated mechanical stress, this piece details how routing strategy, copper thickness, adhesive systems, and bend radius selection determine flex lifespan. Engineers will find actionable recommendations for reducing strain concentration and improving long-term performance in high-cycle applications.

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PCB Design Process: The EDA Design Approach

Dive into how a modern EDA workflow transforms PCB design by linking electrical, mechanical, and manufacturing requirements from idea to final release. With constraint‑driven integration, you can cut down on respins and bring better boards to market faster.

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Getting Started for Mechanical Engineers

Explore our collection of MCAD Collaboration walkthroughs, where you’ll discover how to synchronize mechanical constraints and keepouts, maintain traceability with advanced history and revision control, and streamline electromechanical connectivity through harness synchronization. These topics and many more are covered in this article.

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Are Your ECAD Tools Holding Back Engineers’ Productivity?

The article highlights that productivity issues often stem from tool limitations rather than engineer effort, especially as project complexity grows. ECAD tools that offer clear version control, cross-discipline integration, and workflow awareness are key to sustaining efficiency.

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7 Ways to Catch Rules & Constraints Early – Checklist

Discover seven actionable ways to spot and fix rules and constraint issues before they derail your PCB project. Using Altium Designer Agile, these tips help you build more manufacturable and reliable boards with fewer iterations.

Blog
Do You Need an IPC-D-356 Netlist?

If your output package is Gerber-based, adding an IPC-D-356 netlist can dramatically improve how your design is reviewed and validated for production. Here’s when it matters, what it contains, and how to generate it quickly in Altium.

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How-To's
Arduino to Custom PCB: Professional Design Transformation

Discover how to upgrade your Arduino Nano-based PCB design into a professional, custom PCB. This tutorial walks through the process of replacing development boards with individual components to create a production-ready design, using a real drone project as the example.

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How-To's
PCB Library Management: One Library or Many?

This detailed guide walks you through the pros and cons of each approach and offers proven strategies for managing component data, whether you're an independent designer or overseeing libraries for an entire organization.

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New in Altium Designer 25
Coming Soon: Sawtooth Rounding Support for Length Tuning

Sawtooth Rounding for Length Tuning improves signal‑path accuracy by applying controlled corner‑rounding to sawtooth geometries during both Interactive Length Tuning and within‑pair matching in the Auto Tuning engine. Discover this capability and additional innovations on our Coming Soon page.

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New in Altium Designer 25
Coming Soon: Z-Axis Clearance Rule

The Z-Axis Clearance Rule checks the shortest distance between copper features on different layers in a PCB design. It is available in both the Constraint Manager and the legacy PCB Rules Editor. Discover more new features in Altium on our Coming Soon Page.

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New in Altium Designer 25
Coming Soon: Advanced Polygon Pour Engine

Now supports true arcs instead of approximated curves in copper pours. This enhanced engine marks a major advancement in the polygon pour process in Altium Designer, delivering smoother and more accurate copper shapes. Native arc rendering improves visual quality and helps ensure cleaner, more professional PCB designs.

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How-To's
How to Design Rigid-Flex PCB Stackups from Scratch

Watch this tutorial to learn the fundamentals of Rigid-Flex design. We cover everything from understanding polyimide materials and adhesive layers to building complex, multi-layer Rigid-Flex constructions that are ready for manufacturing.

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How-To's
How to Draw Antipads - Complete Tutorial

Discover how to draw and define antipads in Altium with this complete tutorial. Learn three different methods for creating antipads around vias. From simple design rules to advanced polygon cutouts for both basic and complex PCB designs.

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How-To's
Do PCB Manufacturers Actually Look at Fabrication Drawings?

Explore this in-depth tutorial featuring real fabrication drawings, stackup specifications, and drill tables - all created using Altium Designer’s Draftsman tool. Learn essential insights into PCB data management and manufacturing requirements from an industry perspective.

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How-To's
Compensating Transmission Line Losses in a PCB Calculator

This tutorial uncovers the key difference between ideal, lossless impedance calculations and real-world signal behavior giving you practical techniques to design controlled impedance PCBs that deliver reliable performance.

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How-To's
How Close Can You Bring a Reference Plane?

Explore our in-depth investigation into practical simulations using both Altium Designer and Polar Si9000. We demonstrate impedance sensitivity analysis and reveal the real limitations of optimizing reference plane proximity for improved signal shielding.

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How-To's
Do PCB Thermal Vias Actually Work?

Are thermal vias really helping your PCB’s heat management? Tech Consultant Zach Peterson dives into simulation data, research, and a controversial article to uncover the truth. Learn why via count and spacing matter more than sheer quantity.

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How-To's
Stripline Routing Deep Dive: How Close Is Too Close?

In this video, Zach Peterson takes a deep dive into what happens when reference layers are incorrectly set in a PCB stackup and how that affects impedance, signal integrity, and EMC. He also shares valuable insights into stripline routing proximity issues and best practices for assigning reference planes.

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New in Altium Designer 25
Coming Soon: Solder Mask Zero Expansion

Solder Mask Zero Expansion marks a move toward industry alignment, specifically with IPC-7351B and IPC-2581B standards. It changes the default solder mask expansion value from 4 mil to 0 mil. Discover more upcoming updates on our Coming Soon Page.

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How-To's
Analog Supply without a Ferrite: Proper Isolation Techniques Explained

In our new tutorial, you'll learn why ferrite beads may not be the best choice for isolating analog and digital supply pins on integrated circuits. Zach Peterson debunks common misconceptions about ferrite bead isolation and introduces better alternatives, including dedicated LDOs, precision voltage references, and effective filtering techniques to help you achieve cleaner analog signals in your designs.

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Enhanced Constraint Manager in Altium Designer 25
Enhanced Constraint Manager in Altium Designer 25. Part II: Physical Constraints and Routing Differential Pairs

In the second video of Samer Aldhaher’s "Enhanced Constraint Manager" series, we continue designing a 1 kW, 400 V brushless DC motor driver. This episode focuses on setting physical constraints using constraint sets, routing differential pairs, and demonstrating the Auto Shrinking feature in Altium Designer 25.

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Altium Designer's 25 Quantitative Benefits
Auto-tuning Your Way to Faster PCB Design

Watch how the Auto Tuning feature in Altium Designer 25 delivers optimized DDR4 routing in a single click! Fewer steps, massive time savings. Try our Benefit Calculator to estimate your own time and cost savings.

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