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How to work with Variants
Creating a New Design Variant

You can create variants and allow various changes to your design while maintaining all other versions in Altium Designer. We’ll show you how to create new variants using the variant manager and what you need to know to configure your variants correctly.

Take advantage of the VCS-based workflow in Altium 365
Blog
Using Altium 365 Over Your Vanilla Version Control System

There are all sorts of version control systems (VCS) out there that people have been using with their PCB design software. As discussed in Why Use a Version Control System, we looked at different options ranging for local hard drive storage to sophisticated online revisioning systems. In this article we will be reviewing the differences between a standard VCS and Altium 365.

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Query Language
Query Language: Basic Concept Part I

In this video you will learn types of query language commands and what they can be used for.

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DFM and Fabrication Cost/Time Constraints
Configuring the Vias Annular Ring

The minimum dimension from the wall of the aperture to the edge of the pad is called an annular ring, and we can configure it with Altium Designer. We’ll show you how to get started and manage the annular ring in your design rules.

Recovering Copper Losses
Blog
Recover Conductor Losses By Clearing Your PCB Ground Layer

Controlled impedance routing at high frequencies is difficult enough, and it's important to make sure that you stay within your loss budget on long routes or in lossy media. When you have to route a long trace or a long differential pair to a connector or another component, what can you do if you're reaching the end of your loss budget? In this article, we’ll take a look at the skip reference routing method and explain how it can help recover some loss budget in a lossy interconnect.

Stackup Manager in Altium
On-Demand Webinar
Mastering The Layer Stack Manager

What most people don’t seem to grasp is that every aspect of the PCB is critical. It all plays a significant part in the operation of the final product. The layer stack is no different. We need to keep in mind materials and the intricacies therein, including thickness, weave, dielectric constants, and more. A proper layer stack is needed for each and every design, so it's important to know how to navigate the layer stack manager and all of its features.

Altium 365 SOC 2 Type 1 Certified
Blog
Announcing SOC 2 Type 1 Certification for Altium 365

We are pleased to announce that Altium 365 is officially SOC 2 Type 1 certified. System and Organization Controls (SOC) 2 is a widely recognized attestation of security compliance defined by the AICPA and is considered the standard for ensuring data security and operational maturity. A SOC 2 certification provides valuable information for companies to assess the quality of the security provided by a service such as Altium 365.

Embedded thumbnail for Design RF PCB: RF Materials for PCB
RF PCB Design
Design RF PCB: RF Materials for PCB

Unlike an ideal environment, PCB materials introduce losses into the propagated signal. In this, we tried to figure out what materials to choose for RF printed circuit boards.

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DFM and Fabrication Cost/Time Constraints
Design for Manufacturing (DFM) Overview

During your design process, there are simple steps you can take to focus on Design for Manufacturing, or DFM. Altium Designer has a unique set of tools you can use to make the DFM process efficient ensuring manufacturability. In this overview video, we’ll talk about some of topics covered in upcoming videos about the DFM tools Altium Designer offers you.

Three ways to manage your BOM costs
Blog
Improving Supply Chain Success with BOM Management

It’s no secret that component shortages have become more frequent this year. Companies will continue to grapple with supply chain challenges into 2022 and beyond. The impact of manufacturing delays can be substantial if a part is not available. Delays occur and sales plans get put on hold. It can also be very expensive and risky to replace parts from multiple sources. Fortunately, many shortages can be avoided by introducing proactive supply chain practices.

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Working with MCAD CoDesigner extension
Fixing Broken Component Models

If you have a broken component model that won’t transfer properly from ECAD to MCAD, Altium Designer will help. We’ll show you how to use the Make PCB Library tool, the Extract 3D models tool, and your MCAD tool to correct broken components and make them usable.

Reliability and failure analysis
Blog
Overview of PCB/PCBA Reliability and Failure Analysis

Reliability testing and failure analysis of a PCB/PCBA go hand-in-hand; when designs are stressed to the limit, their failure modes need to be determined through thorough inspection and analysis. To get started on this topic, it’s important to understand the qualification aspects that will govern your bare board design and the PCBA. We’ll look at the various dimensions of PCB/PCBA reliability, as well as some of the standard failure analysis techniques used to identify potential design change requirements.

Embedded thumbnail for Query Language: What is It For?
Query Language
Query Language: What is It For?

A PCB project contains many different objects. How to manage them? How to find the right ones quickly and efficiently? This video starts the series about query language. Learn the language commands and how to use them and expand your possibilities!

Embedded thumbnail for Maintaining MCAD Constraints During Exchange
Working with MCAD CoDesigner extension
Maintaining MCAD Constraints During Exchange

The Altium Designer MCAD Co-designer panel and extension give you a few tools to create a model that is unified during the ECAD MCAD Exchange. We'll show you how to make sure your models are transferred correctly across the ECAD MCAD exchange.

Plane and Cavity Resonances
Blog
When Do PCB Power Plane Resonances Occur?

By now, designers should be aware of some important behavior involved in power delivery to components in a PCB, particularly for digital components. All digital components produce and manipulate wideband signals, where the frequency content theoretically extends up to infinite frequency. As such, some radiation may propagate through your PCB, leading to resonant behavior that is not observed on the power rail.

Part Search in Altium Designer
On-Demand Webinar
How to Overcome PCB Component Availability Problems

Supply shortages have become and continue to be a common problem, especially when it comes to the world of electronics. It's hard to get all the different components for our boards. Heck! It's even tough to get the board themselves too! When electronic components become obsolete or out of stock, design and production can suffer lengthy delays. With current supply chain delays and with an average of 15 end-of-life notices issued every day, obtaining the parts you need is a challenge.

Selecting a plating material
Blog
How to Choose PCB Plating for Your Finished Board

Once your board passes through the standard PCB fabrication process, the bare copper in your PCB will be ready for the application of a surface finish. PCB plating is applied to protect any copper in your PCB that would be exposed through the solder mask, whether it’s a pad, via, or other conductive element. In this article, I’ll run over the different PCB plating material options and their advantages in your PCB. 

Embedded thumbnail for Design RF PCB: Plane Connect -direct
RF PCB Design
Design RF PCB: Plane Connect -direct

It is bad practice to use thermal reliefs to connect pads in RF path circuits. We'll show you how to quickly and easily change pad-to-polygon connection style to direct connection.

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How to work with Selection
Precise Selection with PCB Filter

Narrowing down a precise and accurate selection of objects can be difficult on a crowded board. Learn about the PCB Filter panel, how to use it to create queries to select objects on the PCB, and how to create design rules from these queries.

What is the PCB Supply Chain?
Blog
What is the PCB Supply Chain?

The PCB supply chain encompasses multiple components, raw materials, and the PCB itself. PCBs and PCB assemblies are often the most technically complex components that are purchased for electronic assemblies and products. The complexity of modern PCBs leads to several challenges for a supply chain management team that may be significantly different when compared with other commodities the team manages. In this brief guide, we'll look in-depth at the PCB supply chain, and specifically what falls within the purview of a procurement and supply chain management team.

Tag
Altium 365 New Website
Blog
Altium 365 now has its own website!

Discover everything you need to know about Altium 365 and experience our suite of applications for secure, seamless, and streamlined collaboration. Visit now to explore how to streamline your electronic product development.
 

Blog
Altium Designer: Leading the Charge in PCB Design Innovation

In the dynamic field of electronics design, Altium Designer stands out as a pioneer, continuously advancing the boundaries of PCB (Printed Circuit Board) design. Discover the latest innovations in 3D-MID design, high-speed design, and interactive routing in this new article by David Marrakchi.

Blog
What Is Solder Mask Expansion and Which Value Should You Use?

Check out our new article explaining how to ensure sufficient pad area for soldering, manage misregistration tolerance, and maintain proper solder dams between components. It also highlights the role of collaboration with fabrication houses and the use of CAD tools in defining land patterns for advanced electronics designs.

Blog
Pi.MX8 Project - Board Layout Part 3

We continue our exploration of the Pi.MX8 open-source computer module project. In this new installment, we focus on routing planning and then cover all the layers' routing with all the details you need to know if you want to prepare a similar project.

Blog
Mastering Blind and Buried Vias

Check our compilation of essential resources you'll need to use blind and buried vias successfully in an HDI PCB. In our brand new article, we present the main and most valuable information about this technology, which may not be new but is still highly useful in High-Density Interconnect projects.

Blog
Make Sure to Clean Your No-Clean Flux

No-clean flux has become popular due to its convenience. Learn more about why this solution is used, why cleaning might still be necessary, and how to remove no-clean flux residues. We will try to dispel all these doubts in this brand new article.

Blog
How to Design a Thermal Prototype PCB

Thermal problems in PCBs often go unnoticed until prototyping, which can be costly. Design teams can't afford endless iterations, but they can conduct lower-cost thermal prototypes. Learn more about this approach in our new article.

Blog
DC-Aware Return Current in Mixed Signal PCBs

In this article, we will examine specific cases involving these types of components, where a very low-frequency signal or a DC signal needs to be measured, and the return path must be tracked to ensure the current loop is tight.

Blog
PCB Layout Replication: The Perfect Tool for Test Jigs

Replicate your circuits across multiple blocks with just a few clicks using a flawless preview pane, ensuring consistent, perfect results without the need for trial and error. Check out our new article on the PCB Layout Replication feature.

Tag
Tuning
What's New in 22.7
更改调节对象层属性功能

本次发布后,即可更加轻松地进行高速PCB设计。现在,当您需要将调节元件快速移动到其他层时,仅需单击一次即可从Properties面板中执行此操作。

Simulation models
What's New in 22.7
Auto-assign Simulation Models for Components without Models

This latest version of Altium Designer makes schematic simulation even easier. System intelligence automatically recognizes SPICE models and assigns them to components from available sources.

Simulation models
What's New in 22.7
自动分配不含模型的元件仿真模型

最新版Altium Designer将确保您能够更加轻松地进行原理图仿真。系统智能自动识别 SPICE 模型并将其分配给可用来源的元件。

Paste
What's New in 22.7
Control of Paste Mask Output for Variants

Output data needs to be as accurate as possible. For multi-variant designs you can now ensure that the paste mask is only displayed where it is really needed.

Paste
What's New in 22.7
变量助焊层输出控件

输出数据需要尽量准确。对于多变量设计,您现在可以确保将助焊层仅显示在真正需要的位置。

Embedded thumbnail for Adding Designators for Assembly Drawings
How-To's
Adding Designators for Assembly Drawings

Designators for assembly drawings are added on the assembly layer. This video shows how to add the designators.

Embedded thumbnail for Stackup Material Library
How to work with Layer Stack Manager
Stackup Material Library

In this video we will learn more about the Altium designers Layer Stack Mangers built-in materials library, and how to add new material and use it in our board stack. We will also look at how we can save the user materials to an xml format.

Embedded thumbnail for Placing Footprint Pads
How to create a PCB Footprint
Placing Footprint Pads

Every footprints needs proper pad placement to ensure trace connectivity. Placing pads is the first step towards footprint creation.

Embedded thumbnail for Setting the Transparency for Layers and Primitives
How-To's
Setting the Transparency for Layers and Primitives

Customize your workspace by setting the transparency of layers and primitives in the PCB.

Embedded thumbnail for Create New Via Types Using the Layer Stack Manager
How to work with Layer Stack Manager
Create New Via Types Using the Layer Stack Manager

In this video, we will learn how to create new via types using the Layer Stack Manager, and how to create new Routing Via design rules using the PCB Rules and Constraints Editor. We will also explore how to use the different types of Via during interactive routing.

Embedded thumbnail for How to Create a Copper Board Report
How-To's
How to Create a Copper Board Report

This video will show how to create a copper board report in your PCB which can be useful for copper balance in DFM process

Embedded thumbnail for Stackup Creation and editing
How to work with Layer Stack Manager
Stackup Creation and editing

This video shows how to view and edit the PCB Layer Stack, select materials and add new layers

Embedded thumbnail for Configuring Your PCB Library
How to create a PCB Footprint
Configuring Your PCB Library

It is important to have accurate footprints to manufacture your PCB. Learn how to configure your PCB library to facilitate footprint creation.

Global parameters
What's New in 22.6
Quick Browsing of Parameters for a Board

Parametric information for your board is now conveniently available from the Properties panel. A single, convenient location with which to browse system, calculated and user-defined parameters, and place as needed in the form of special strings.

Global parameters
What's New in 22.6
电路板参数的快速浏览

您现在可以从Properties面板中轻松获得电路板的参数信息。可以在一个方便的位置,浏览系统、计算和用户定义参数,并根据需要以特殊字符串的形式进行放置。

Embedded thumbnail for How to Validate Links Between Components and Footprints
How-To's
How to Validate Links Between Components and Footprints

Before importing or updating data from the circuit to the board, you must first verify that all components of the circuit are associated with Footprint. Watch this video to learn how to validate the links between your schematic components and footprints.

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