News & Updates
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SAP (Semi-Additive PCB Process) – Top 5 Questions Regarding Stack Up
This Semi-Additive Process is an additional tool in the PCB fabricators' toolbox that enables them to provide feature sizes for trace width and spacing that are 25 microns, (1 mil) and below depending on the fabricators' imaging equipment. This provides much more flexibility to breakout out tight BGA areas and the ability to shrink overall circuit size and/ or reduce the number of circuit layers in the design. As the PCB design community embraces the benefits of this new printed circuit board fabrication technique, there are of course many questions to be answered.
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Improving Supply Chain Success with BOM Management
It’s no secret that component shortages have become more frequent this year. In fact, countries around the world are losing billions in revenue due to supply issues. Having the right components on hand is more crucial than ever as availability, obsolescence, counterfeit products and environmental non-compliance risks continue to grow. Fortunately, many shortages can be avoided by introducing proactive supply chain practices.
On-Demand Webinar
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Rapidly Creating New Designs And Reusing Existing Ones
It's no secret that software developers often use completed code fragments from other projects for quick and predictable results. The same can be done for PCB Design, there is no need to spend time rewiring schematics or laying out components on boards you’ve done before. Join us this webinar where we’ll go over how you can use your existing designs to create reusable design blocks, speeding up the design cycle for your future projects.
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What is the Impedance of Length-Tuning Structures?
Do length-tuning structures create an impedance discontinuity? The answer is an unequivocal “yes”, but it might not matter in your design depending on several factors. Applying a length-tuning structure is equivalent to changing the distance between the traces while meandering. Therefore, you will have a change in the odd-mode impedance of a single trace. The question then becomes: does this deviation in trace impedance in a length tuning structure matter?
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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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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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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.
On-Demand Webinar
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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 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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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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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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How to Manage ECAD Libraries for Consistent PCB Layout Design
Strong hardware starts with strong libraries. Discover how disciplined ECAD-library management dramatically improves design consistency and accelerates every stage of your PCB workflow.
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High Speed PCB Design Review: Signal Integrity Questions You Should Always Ask
As data rates increase, the risks hidden in your layout grow with them. This quick guide highlights the critical SI checkpoints that can save you from late-stage surprises and redesigns. If you design high-speed boards, you’ll want to read this before your next review.
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Supplier Negotiation: Turn Market Data Into Your Best Negotiation Tool
Don’t walk into supplier talks blind. Use market data to benchmark quotes, check lead times and uncover alternate parts. This article shows how visibility can shift the balance and de-risk your BOM.
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Via-in-Pad in Rigid-Flex Designs: When Space Is Tight, Details Matter
Designing rigid-flex boards is like solving a 3D puzzle of materials, bends and tight spaces, and via-in-pad might just be the piece you need. Dive into how and when to use via-in-pad in rigid-flex designs, and what to watch out for from fabrication to field reliability.
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Wearable Electronics: Innovations, Challenges & Future Trends
This whitepaper examines how next-generation wearable electronics are evolving through advancements in flexible and rigid-flex design, smart materials, AI, energy innovations, and connectivity. Discover what’s required to transform early prototypes into scalable, reliable products across healthcare, sports, defense, fashion, and enterprise applications.
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Streamlining Component Selection for Long Product Lifecycles
Electronic parts may now cycle from launch to end-of-life in just a few years, but many systems are expected to serve for 10–20+ years. Here’s how to build a component selection process that aligns engineering, procurement and design for longevity and stability.
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Using ECAD Software to Track Part Availability During PCB Design
As component lead-times extend and obsolescence becomes a persistent threat, PCB projects demand more than schematic capture and layout tools alone. This article details how ECAD software with embedded supply-chain intelligence can: unify engineering and procurement teams; provide visibility into stock levels, lead times and alternates; and enable proactive risk mitigation within the design loop.
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PCB Design Data Management Tips for Multi-Board Projects
In complex electronic systems, managing data from multiple printed circuit boards can quickly become a logistical challenge. This article outlines a structured workflow for handling both board-level and assembly-level design outputs, ensuring clarity and consistency across fabrication, assembly and product-level documentation.
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6 Areas Your PCB Design Reviews Should Focus On
Learn the six essential topics every electronics team should address in design reviews to improve quality, avoid surprises and bring products to market faster.
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What Is BOM Management? A Practical Guide to Avoiding Costly Part Mismatches
From design to production, effective Bill of Materials (BOM) management is critical to ensuring smooth collaboration between engineering, procurement, and manufacturing teams. In this practical guide, we break down proven strategies for structuring, maintaining, and synchronizing your BOM to prevent costly mistakes and accelerate time-to-market.
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Requirements Portal Introductory Tutorials
This series of guided demos shows how the Altium Requirements Portal transforms scattered requirement spreadsheets and emails into traceable, version-controlled data that stays aligned with your PCB design efforts.
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Bridging the Gap: When to Use Rigid-Flex Instead of Flex & Connector
Discover when a rigid-flex PCB is a better choice than a separate flex circuit and connector, especially for designs requiring compact packaging, repeated motion or high reliability. The article emphasizes that although rigid-flex needs more upfront planning and fabrication collaboration, it often pays off in simpler assemblies and improved performance.
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Bridging Mechanical and Electrical Teams for Smarter Automotive Design
As vehicles evolve into advanced electronic systems, the separation between electrical and mechanical design teams becomes a critical bottleneck. This article explores how synchronized ECAD–MCAD workflows help automotive projects move faster, reduce rework and maintain design integrity.
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Via Structures: Designing for Reliability, Not Just Density
We all want to pack more into our PCB designs, but the smallest via isn’t always the smartest one. Dive in to learn how picking the right structure can save you headaches down the line.
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How Structural Electronics Enables 3D, Flexible, and Wearable Integration
Structural electronics integrates electronic functionality directly into the physical structure of a product, eliminating the need for traditional circuit boards. This article examines how advances in materials, additive manufacturing, and flexible substrates are enabling compact, 3D, and wearable systems with enhanced performance and design freedom.
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Beyond Traces: Why Soldermask May Be the Critical Factor in Ultra HDI
In ultra-HDI designs, soldermask is no longer a passive coating but a pivotal element that can determine manufacturability. This article explores why mask registration, resolution, and feature tolerances become critical as line spacings shrink below 50 µm.
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