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Embedded thumbnail for Creating a Schematic Symbol - Placing Designators and Comments
How to create a Schematic Symbol •
Creating a Schematic Symbol - Placing Designators and Comments

Placing your designator or comments can be done automatically, but that doesn’t mean they’re visible. We’ll walk you through how to make them visible and position them correctly no matter what orientation your symbol is with automatic positioning.

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Embedded thumbnail for Creating a Schematic Symbol: Adding Additional Parts
How to create a Schematic Symbol •
Creating a Schematic Symbol: Adding Additional Parts

Altium Designer makes it easy to add additional parts to your schematic library. We’ll show you how through copying and configuring your new components through the Pin Editor and the properties panel.

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Designing the Next-Generation Electronics
Blog •
A-SAP™ – What do you need to know?

The continued miniaturization of both packaging and component size in next-generation electronics is becoming harder and harder to work around and presents a significant challenge for both PCB designers and PCB fabricators. To effectively navigate the constraints of the traditional subtractive-etch PCB fabrication processes, PCB designs require advanced PCB fabrication capabilities while pushing the limits of finer feature size, higher layer counts, multiple levels of stacked micro vias and increased lamination cycles.

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Embedded thumbnail for Component Placement Control Using Rooms
How to work with Rooms •
Component Placement Control Using Rooms

Rooms give you more control over how and where your components are placed in your PCB. We’ll show you how to use room properties to limit what is allowed in and out of a room using the room definition and custom queries.

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Pin-package and Via Delay Values
Blog •
Pin-Package Delay and Via Delay in High Speed Length Tuning

Take a look at the inside of some integrated circuit packages, and you’ll find a number of wires bonded to the semiconductor die and the pads at the edge of the component's package. As a signal traverses makes its way along an interconnect and into a destination circuit, signals need to travel across these bond wires and pads before they are interpreted as a logic state. As you look around the edge of an IC, these bond wires can have different lengths, and they incur different levels of delay and contribute to total jitter.

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Embedded thumbnail for How to work with Differential Pair Classes?
How to Work with Differential Pairs •
How to work with Differential Pair Classes?

Modern boards can contain a large number of differential pairs. For convenience, they are combined into differential pairs classes. In this video, we'll walk you through how to create and apply a differential pair class. 

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Embedded thumbnail for Adding Rooms from the Schematic
How to work with Rooms •
Adding Rooms from the Schematic

Rooms can be added directly from the schematic sheet. From the schematic sheet they are pushed to the PCB. Here we'll look at the rooms and component classes generated by default in the schematic, how to add and configure rooms manually, and how to push them to the PCB.

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6-Layer PCB Design
Blog •
6-Layer PCB Design Guidelines

Once you’ve run out of room on your 4-layer PCB, it’s time to graduate to a 6-layer board. The additional layer can give you room for more signals, an additional plane pair, or a mix of conductors. How you use these extra layers is less important than how you arrange them in the PCB stackup, as well as how you route on a 6-layer PCB. If you’ve never used a 6-layer board before, or you’ve had EMI troubles with this stackup that are difficult to solve, keep reading to see some 6-layer PCB design guidelines and best practices.

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Component Management
On-Demand Webinar •
Help Ensure The Best Designs With Component Management

There are many aspects to designing a PCB. One of the larger aspects has to do with managing your components. We all need components for our designs, but are those components in our library and designs up-to-date or even purchasable? These questions need to be answered before we can safely use them. If not, we could just be wasting our time designing with invalid components. Altium Designer® has several tools to help you manage the components in your libraries and designs.

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Altium Designer Interface
Blog •
Altium Designer 22.5 Update

We are happy to announce that the Altium Designer 22.5 update is now available. Altium Designer 22.5 continues to focus on improving the user experience, as well as performance and stability of the software, based on feedback from our users. Check out the key new features in the What's New section on the left side of this window!

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Are Hybrid PCB Stackups Reliable?
Blog •
How Reliable is Your Hybrid PCB Stackup?

PCB stackups often incorporate slightly dissimilar materials that could pose a reliability problem. Hybrid PCBs are one case where the PCB stackup will include different materials, typically a standard FR4 laminate and a PTFE laminate for RF PCBs. Designers who want to take the lead on material selection when designing their hybrid stackups should consider these factors that affect reliability. As with any PCB stackup, make sure you get your fabricator involved in the manufacturing process early to ensure reliability problems do not arise during production.

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Embedded thumbnail for How to Draw a Board Outline Using Coordinates
How-To's •
How to Draw a Board Outline Using Coordinates

In this video, we cover how to draw a curve by using coordinates. This can be very helpful when creating a board outline.

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Embedded thumbnail for Creating a Schematic Symbol: Mapping out the Component
How to create a Schematic Symbol •
Creating a Schematic Symbol: Mapping out the Component

When creating a schematic symbol, one of your first tasks will be creating a component symbol. We’ll show you how to map out a component in the Schematic Library Editor by creating and configuring the component, adding pins, and creating graphics.

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Monte Carlo vs Sensitivity Analysis
Blog •
Monte Carlo Simulation vs. Sensitivity Analysis: What’s the Difference?

In a previous article about circuit simulation and reliability, I looked at how Monte Carlo analysis is commonly used to evaluate circuits that are subject to random variations in component values. Sensitivity analysis is a bit different and it tells you how the operating characteristics of your circuit change in a specific direction. Compared to a Monte Carlo simulation, sensitivity analysis gives you a convenient way to predict exactly how the operating characteristics will change if you were to deliberately increase or decrease the value of a component.

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Embedded thumbnail for How and When to Use Rooms
How to work with Rooms •
How and When to Use Rooms

Rooms are an extremely valuable tool within the Altium Designer PCB environment, but how and when do you use rooms? If you need to control component placement and layout, assign a specific design rule to a group of items, or if you have repeated channels that need similar layouts in your multichannel design, rooms can make it much easier.

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Simulation, Build and Test
Blog •
Creating Continuous Integration Pipelines for FPGAs

Field Programmable Gate Arrays, or FPGAs, have become ubiquitous amongst high-speed, real-time digital systems. The speed at which FPGAs operate continues to increase at a dizzying pace but their adoption into Continuous Integration pipelines seems not to trail as closely. In this article we will review the concept of CI pipelines, their application to FPGAs, and look at examples on how to set this up.

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Embedded thumbnail for MCAD CoDesigner Quick Start: Autodesk Fusion 360
Working with MCAD CoDesigner extension •
MCAD CoDesigner Quick Start: Autodesk Fusion 360

MCAD CoDesigner is built to address the challenges of electronic product design by enabling seamless collaboration between your electrical and mechanical engineers. This video will show you how to start collaborate between Altium Designer and Autodesk Fusion 360. 

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Embedded thumbnail for Component Placement Control for DFM
DFM and Fabrication Cost/Time Constraints •
Component Placement Control for DFM

Component placement is a crucial part of making sure your design is manufacturable, so you need to be able to control placement. We’ll show you how, through rules and courtyard layers to maintain accessibility and manufacturability in your entire design through component placement control.

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Collaborators Visualization
Blog •
Soft Locks [Conflict Prevention] in Altium 365

Conflicts can occur when multiple people work on the same project simultaneously. The user might not realize that they are not looking at the latest version of the documentation, leading to problems later. To address this issue, Altium features an intuitive graphical user interface that allows you to examine conflicts quickly and carefully

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Component Creation
On-Demand Webinar •
Increase Productivity With Easy Component Creation

Component creation is a necessary evil when it comes to design, and it’s something we all need to do. But instead of spending hours creating your components and having them turn into a complete roadblock, let it be just a simple bump on the road. Altium Designer has several tools available to you in order to create the different aspects of a component, including the symbol, footprint, 3D model parametric data, supply chain information, and more

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Blog •
Best Practices for Electronics Project Management - Part 2

Part 2 of this series covers essential project management techniques for electronics design teams. Rafał Stępień discusses effective data organization, revision control, and collaboration strategies to improve efficiency and minimize errors.

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Blog •
Rigid-Flex PCBs: Understanding the Pros, Cons, and Fabrication Considerations

Read our new article which discusses the advantages of rigid-flex PCBs, such as space-saving designs and enhanced reliability, while also addressing potential challenges in their fabrication. It provides essential design and manufacturing tips to help engineers effectively implement this technology in various applications.

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Blog •
The Role of Automation & Robotics in Wire Harness Assembly

Our new article highlights how automation and robotics are transforming wire harness assembly, improving efficiency, precision, and cost-effectiveness. Technologies like robotic wire handling and AI-driven testing are paving the way for smarter production. However, challenges like custom designs and high costs still persist.

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Blog •
Wiring for the Final Frontier: A Guide to Space-Grade Harness Design

Wiring harnesses are mission-critical in space systems, requiring strict adherence to ECSS-Q-ST-70-61C and NASA-STD-8739.4A. In "Wiring for the Final Frontier: A Guide to Space-Grade Harness Design", Kamil Jasiński explores key design principles, material selection, and testing to ensure reliability in extreme environments.

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Blog •
Ideal Rectifier Bridge

Read Marcin Lewandowski's article explaining how MOSFETs are replacing traditional diodes for reverse polarity protection. Step into the future of energy-efficient electronics!

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Blog •
Overview of the Gerber X3 File Format

Want to learn how the Gerber X3 file format simplifies data exchange by unifying assembly and fabrication details in a single file? This article explores the format and its role in streamlining PCB manufacturing.

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Blog •
Mastering EMI Control in PCB Design: How to Design PCBs for Low EMI

This article by Dario Fresu delves into effective techniques for designing PCBs to reduce electromagnetic interference (EMI). It covers key topics such as stackup selection, routing strategies, and grounding best practices, offering actionable insights for improved performance.

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Embedded thumbnail for Altium 365 Getting Started: Schematic Compare
Getting Started with A365 •
Altium 365 Getting Started: Schematic Compare

The schematic sheets in a project are subject to change over time, and sometimes it may be necessary to compare several different versions and detect differences between them. In Altium Designer you can easily perform an automatic comparison of any revisions of schematic documents. 

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Embedded thumbnail for Altium 365 Getting Started: Migrate to Altium 365 from other VCS
Getting Started with A365 •
Altium 365 Getting Started: Migrate to Altium 365 from other VCS

The development of electronic devices always involves the release of many different types of files. And these files are not static - they change as the project progresses. Traditionally, one way to manage data is to use a version control system such as Git or SVN. Unlike other VCSs, Altium 365 is the system designed specifically for managing project data.

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Embedded thumbnail for How to get a BOM for a Multi-board Design
How-To's •
How to get a BOM for a Multi-board Design

When designing a multi-board project, an up-to-date and accurate BOM for the entire device is a necessity. Watch this video to learn how to properly create a BOM for your multi-board project.

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Embedded thumbnail for Remove Unused Pad Shapes
Working with Polygons •
Remove Unused Pad Shapes

Unused pad shapes create holes in your copper geometries. You can quickly examine all pads in the design to remove unused pad shapes and restore previously removed pads. 

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Embedded thumbnail for Effective use of "Objects for snapping" when creating a Footprint
How to use Snapping •
Effective use of "Objects for snapping" when creating a Footprint

Learn how to effectively use snaps that allow you to create a component footprint quickly and conveniently

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Embedded thumbnail for How to Control Routing in Altium Designer
How-To's •
How to Control Routing in Altium Designer

The routing functionality in Altium Designer is constantly evolving. Check out this video to learn the basics of routing in Altium Designer. 

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Embedded thumbnail for Polygon Creation
Working with Polygons •
Polygon Creation

Learn how to create polygon pours to ensure proper copper distribution on your board.

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Embedded thumbnail for Creating Guide Lines and Snap Points
How to use Snapping •
Creating Guide Lines and Snap Points

Explanation of guides and snap points and how to create and use them.

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Embedded thumbnail for Polygon Types and Parameters
Working with Polygons •
Polygon Types and Parameters

Each board requires different copper geometries. Polygon types make sure you can create the perfect copper geometry for every need.

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Embedded thumbnail for How to Define Different Clearance for Internal and External Layers
How-To's •
How to Define Different Clearance for Internal and External Layers

If you need to define difference clearance values for your external and internal layers, the answer is with design rules. We’ll walk you through it in this short video. 

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Embedded thumbnail for Setting Snap Distance and Axis Snap Range
How to use Snapping •
Setting Snap Distance and Axis Snap Range

Learn more about what snap distance and axis snap range are and how to use them.

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Embedded thumbnail for Polygon Editing
Working with Polygons •
Polygon Editing

Editing existing polygons is crucial for optimizing your design. You can easily select polygons to edit, resize, combine, and more.

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Embedded thumbnail for How to Open All Schematic Documents
How-To's •
How to Open All Schematic Documents

This video shows how to open all your project's schematic documents at once.

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Embedded thumbnail for Calculating Impedance in Altium Designer
Impedance calculation •
Calculating Impedance in Altium Designer

This video covers how to calculate impedance in Altium Designer. This is especially important when dealing with high-speed designs. You want to make sure impedance is matched to avoid any reflections and maintain good signal integrity.

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Embedded thumbnail for Using 3D Component Body Features for Precise Component Creation
How to Work with 3D Mode •
Using 3D Component Body Features for Precise Component Creation

Learn to quickly and accurately place 3D models of components on their footprints

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Embedded thumbnail for How to Define an Impedance Profile for an Assymetric Stripeline
Impedance calculation •
How to Define an Impedance Profile for an Assymetric Stripeline

This video shows how to define an impedance profile for an asymmetric stripline.

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