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Optoelectronics
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The Digital Engineer's Guide to RF PCB Layout and Routing

With modern systems running at higher frequencies, incorporating multiple wireless protocols, and interfacing with many analog sensors, advanced designs require knowledge from digital and RF design disciplines. If you’re now starting to work in the RF realm and you need to design an all-analog or mixed-signal system, RF PCB layout will need to become a new specialty. If you’re a digital designer and you’re now jumping into high-frequency analog design, keep reading to learn more about RF PCB layout and routing.

Tracks on a finished PCB
Blog
Microstrip Ground Clearance: How Close is Too Close?

If you take a look at any guidelines for controlled impedance traces, you’ll clearly see that the trace width is calculated without any ground pour near the trace. However, most designers will state that unused areas on each PCB layer should be filled in with grounded copper pour. If you bring some ground pour near a microstrip, you’ve now formed a coplanar waveguide arrangement. So now the question becomes, how much microstrip to ground clearance do you need to ensure you’ve hit your impedance goals?

Blog
PCB Layout Guidelines for Switching Power Supplies and Regulators

In this article, I want to briefly focus on how power supplies and regulators are different, although this should already be clear to most designers. For a power supply and for a PCB with an on-board regulator, the switching regulator layout will be a major determinant of overall system performance. Therefore, we’ll largely look at some layout guidelines for switching power supplies in terms of regulator layout.

PCB Sharing - What Data You Can Share in Altium 365
Blog
PCB Sharing and What Data You Can Share in Altium 365

Altium 365 is giving design teams a new way to share and manage their design data. Most users are probably aware of project-level and component-level PCB sharing features, but sharing actually extends down to the level of individual files thanks to the managed content system within Altium 365. If you’ve ever wanted a single place to store and manage all of your design data, then Altium 365 is here to help you and your team stay organized.

Power Supply Components on PCB
Blog
How to Combat Power Supply EMI in Your PCB

Power supplies are one of those systems we all tend to take for granted. Everyone’s first task in power supply design is usually to ensure the voltage and current output reach the desired level, probably followed by thermal considerations. However, due to safety issues, EMC requirements, the use of higher PWM frequencies, and the need for smaller packaging, power supply EMI should be a major design consideration. With that being said, what are the major sources of power supply EMI, and how can power supply designers keep them in check?

Free footprint library resources
Blog
Leveraging the Free Footprint Community to Design at Lightning Speed

Designing footprints is a job most people hate. It’s tedious, time-consuming, and doesn’t result in much except, well, a footprint. Companies now realize this pain point and offering designers free, well-designed PCB footprints. Why would they spend their time doing this? In this article, we’re going to review some of the free offerings that exist within the PCB design community. Once you’re armed with this information, you will spend most of your time designing and routing boards instead of pulling your hair out creating footprints all day.

PCB Motherboard with Multiple Slots with RAM Memory Installed, and Other System Hardware
Blog
Designing for Multiple PCBs in the Same Project

The majority of our PCB designs sit as a single PCB under our Altium Designer projects. It sometimes happens that we have a single project that requires multiple PCBs with various stuffing options, but when it happens, a lot of us tend to get stuck. How do you handle the exact change across both projects? How do you guarantee those changes to be identical? This article will review an approach to managing multiple PCB designs within a single project, ensuring your single source of truth.

EMI and thermal challenges in 5G design
Blog
Designing 5G Devices

The next stage in the evolution of mobile telephony is here with the roll-out of 5G. The designer looking to incorporate functionality to handle 5G signals into their circuits will face some challenging issues. So, what’s so special about 5G?

PCB tracks
Blog
All About Your PCB Trace Length: How Long is Too Long?

The maximum PCB trace length you can place between two components depends on multiple factors, such as signaling protocol, component specification, losses in PCB laminate, and skew. With all this in mind, let’s look at where losses accumulate along the channel.

LDO
Blog
Using an LDO vs. Switching Regulator in Your PCB

For low power devices, we generally see two types of power regulators: a low dropout regulator (LDO) or a switching regulator. You can mix and match these at different points along your power bus, but there’s still the matter of choosing whether to use an LDO vs. a switching regulator in your designs. If you’ve ever wondered how these decisions are made and when to use each type of regulator, just know that there is more to this decision than simply looking at the input/output voltage/current.

Natural flux
Blog
What They Don’t Teach You About Fluxes

PCB fabrication is an extremely complex technological topic that deserves recognition as the most fundamental part of PCB engineering. Unless connectors, conductive adhesive, wire-bonding, or zebra-tape are used, in the modern electronics industry it’s always necessary to use some kind of flux during the soldering process to create an electric connection. In this article, we’ll discuss fluxes — what they are, what they are made of (yes, there is going to be a lot of chemistry, don’t be scared), how they should be used, and in what direction the industry is going.

Webinar Preview
On-Demand Webinar
Group Editing Tools and Methods in Altium Designer Webinar

Do you ever have to edit a large group of objects on your design? Whether you are dealing with your schematic or PCB, this webinar will help you get acquainted with the main tools for group editing of objects in Altium Designer. You will also learn how to effectively apply group editing methods with filters and selection tools in different design scopes.

PCB with ice for best cooling
Blog
Thermal Management for Integrated Circuits

As anyone who designs and builds electronic devices knows, the device will generate heat when it’s switched on. Wherever current flows through an impedance, energy losses will manifest themselves as heat. Integrated circuit packaging is getting smaller to meet the trend for more compact devices but at the cost of poorer thermal properties. This article describes the basic thermal management approaches to consider in your next designs. 

Embedded thumbnail for How to Edit or Manage Board Shape
How-To's
How to Edit or Manage Board Shape

Board shapes can be edited and managed several different ways in Altium Designer. We’ll show you how using 2D and 3D modes and models as well as importing from DXF or DWG.

Blog
Anatomy of Latitude Part Two: "Thread with a Needle” in the context of energy

We continue to explore the magic of energy conversion in a PWM transducer. Why is it magic? Theoretically, in a PWM transducer this happens without losses, isn't that magic? A PWM transducer, like a tailor with scissors, cuts the “fabric of energy” into pieces, and then, like a sewing machine, stitches the pieces of energy into a dress - DC Magnitude. What is a constant component and how can we get it? Let's explore!

Pulse Width Regulation Module
Blog
Anatomy of Latitude Part One: Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) as a Result of the Evolution of Linear Systems

There are different techniques in the world of technology to achieve various goals, both final and intermediate. Some techniques are so successful that they are commonly used with high efficiency. Electronics is no exception. The greatest example is the use of Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) signals (energy), which is applied in any modern electronic device. To apply PWM effectively, it is necessary to understand the engineering difficulties that engineers faced in the past, and the thoughts and ideas that subsequently were combined into effective, complete PWM power solutions.

Embedded thumbnail for How to define The Impedance Profile For a Coplanar Stripline
How to Work with Differential Pairs
How to define The Impedance Profile For a Coplanar Stripline

In this video, we show how to determine the impedance of a coplanar stripline. The impedance is configured on the Impedance tab of the Layer Stack Manager. When calculating the impedance, the Layer Stack Manager takes into account the material parameters and the distance to the return conductors.

Electrolytic capacitor
Blog
What Influences Electrolytic Capacitor Lifespan?

If you speak with a bunch of design engineers, you might quickly form the opinion that the electrolytic capacitor has a particularly dubious reputation. A faulty electrolyte mix used in these types of capacitors led to premature device failures, and quite often, a “bit of a mess” was made to the PCBs on which they were soldered. However, despite the problem of the capacitor plague, this article is focusing on helping the designer understand how to get many more years of useful life from an electrolytic capacitor.

Share Designs and track changes easily
On-Demand Webinar
Using Version Control in Your PCB Project Webinar

Version control has been a staple of software development for decades, but hardware development can benefit just as much from a version control system (VCS). Traditionally, VCS has been managed locally tying you down to a workplace, but advances in cloud technology have removed that limitation. Learn how Altium 365 cloud technology enables working concurrently on designs with built-in version control and evaluate its advantages.

Elegant writing
Blog
Creating Elegant and Readable Schematics

A schematic drawing will not only tell your PCB design software what needs to connect where, but it also communicates the purpose of a circuit to other people. It’s easy to create a schematic, but it can be harder to make a helpful schematic that can be quickly and easily read and comprehended by the reader. In this guide, based on years of industry experience, we will show you how to improve your schematic layout so that your designs are elegant and readable.

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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.

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.

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.

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

Guide to Monte Carlo in SPICE
Blog
The Basics of Monte Carlo in SPICE: Theory and Demo

Anytime you place a component in your PCB, it’s almost like you’re gambling. All components have tolerances, and some of these are very precise, but others components can have very wide tolerances on their nominal values. In the event the tolerances on these components become too large, how can you predict how these tolerances will affect your circuits?

BGA Land Patterns and Footprints
Blog
What's In Your BGA Land Pattern and Footprint

If you look in datasheets for most components, you’ll often find a recommended land pattern, usually alongside some mechanical package information and assembly information. This is not always the case with BGA components, especially components with high ball count. There are a few reasons for this that we can speculate: those ball counts might just be too big to put into a single page, or the manufacturer just expects you to know how to create that land pattern.

Molded Interconnect Devices
Blog
MIDs Make a Comeback as Vertical SMD Modules for Your PCB

Molded interconnect devices are essentially plastic molded substrates with traces running along any surface, including at right angles and running vertically. Altium users can use the new 3D Routing extension to design their own component carriers, which can be mounted vertically in a standard assembly process. If you’ve always wanted to vertically mount components or entire circuits, but without the expense of adding a flex section to your design, the new 3D Routing extension with HARTING’s component carrier designs provides a unique solution.

MCAD CoDesign Process
Blog
MCAD CoDesigner 2.9.0 is Out

Altium has released version 2.9.0 of the MCAD CoDesigner. This version has the option to exclude small components when transferring from ECAD to MCAD. The arc behavior was improved, and the support for splines in board shape and cutouts was added. With this release, you can now select a specific SOLIDWORKS configuration of a part to use on the board and view the improvements made for Siemens NX.

Rigid-Flex in Altium Designer
Blog
Support for Rigid-Flex in Altium Designer

Altium Designer's world-class PCB design features help users quickly get started with new rigid-flex designs and prepare them for manufacturing. Rigid-flex in Altium Designer starts with designing a manufacturable PCB layer stack complete with via transitions and any calculated impedance requirements. Keep reading to see how Altium Designer supports your flex and rigid-flex designs.

2+N+2 PCB Stackups
Blog
2+N+2 PCB Stackup Design for HDI Boards

Like any other advanced PCB, success in HDI design comes from designing the right stackup. One common HDI stackup used to support routing into moderate pin count, high-density BGA components is the 2+N+2 PCB layer stack for HDI boards. We’ll explore this stackup more in this article, as well as how it is related to other advanced stackups used in HDI PCBs.

PDF Viewer in Altium 365
Blog
PDF in Altium 365 Web Viewer

Altium 365 Web Viewer now includes a built-in PDF viewer that allows you to view PDF files in releases without an external PDF viewer application. Keep reading to learn about new key features that make your work easier

Rigid-Flex Applications
Blog
Flex and Rigid-Flex PCB Applications

There are two basic reasons for designing a flex circuit into your product: to build a compact and efficiently assembled device, or to make the circuit dynamically integrated with the mechanical function of the product. You may, of course, lean on both of these reasons for justifying the use of flex circuits. On this note, let’s look at some rigid-flex PCB applications and design examples to see the issues that spring to mind when designing flex circuits

Sharing Settings in Altium 365
Blog
Granular Sharing — Role and Group Management

With Altium 365, you can grant permission to teams or users based on the specific needs of a project. We have expanded Altium 365’s file-sharing setting, giving you more granular control over who can download source files and reshare projects with others

Use your DRCs
Blog
Design Rule Checking in the PCB Design Workflow

Any time you design a PCB, and you want to turn it into a real product, you will have to make sure the design obeys the constraints within the standard PCB manufacturing process. This imposes multiple rules on any design, and ECAD software will enforce design rules as you create the board to ensure you obey these important constraints. Make sure you enforce the right design rules at the beginning of the PCB design workflow 

How to select high frequency materials
Blog
Best Practices for High-Frequency PCB Material Selection

High frequency PCB design can seem esoteric, and I've heard many an engineer describe it as "black magic"! The subject is also a bit confusing, especially once someone asks which frequencies could be reasonably considered "high". Before you do anything inside the layout for a high-speed or RF PCB, you will need to pay attention to the materials being used in the board. If you're unsure which high frequency PCB materials you should use, then keep reading to learn more.

PCB Noise Reduction
Blog
PCB Noise Reduction: Do You Need Isolation, Shielding, or Filters?

Of all the noise and operational challenges designers face in their PCBs, there is one overarching problem that is arguably most popular: electronic noise. It could originate as an SI/PI problem, it could possibly arise from some external source, or it could be good old-fashioned crosstalk! These tend to fall into three categories: adding shielding, doing something to create isolation, or placing filters. Let's look at all of these as they tend to be the default solution set when confronted with many noise problems.

Tag
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.

Embedded thumbnail for How to use Copy Room Format
How to work with Rooms
How to use Copy Room Format

Rooms allow you to use rules on specific areas of your design. This helps immensely with properly defining trace widths and hole sizes for specific components. We’ll show you how easy it is to assign rules to specific rooms in the PCB.

Embedded thumbnail for How To Do Versioning And Releases by Robert Feranec and Michal Faruga
Discovering Altium 365
How To Do Versioning And Releases by Robert Feranec and Michal Faruga

Meet Robert Feranec in an educational video on version control, project history, comments, comparison and other features in Altium Designer 

Active Links in Text
What's New in 22.6
Active Links in Text

You can now specify active links to components and nets within a text frame object on a schematic. This handy navigation aid makes it much easier not only to read the document, but also to work with it.

Active Links in Text
What's New in 22.6
文本中的活动链接

您现在可以在原理图上的文本框对象中,指定指向元件和网络的活动链接。使用此导航辅助工具,即可轻松读取和处理文档。

Multifunctional Pins
What's New in 22.6
Multifunctional pins

You will often see that modern ICs consist of multi-functional pins. In this latest version of Altium Designer it has become far easier and much more convenient to work with such components.

Multifunctional Pins
What's New in 22.6
多功能引脚

常见的现代IC均由多功能引脚组成。在最新版Altium Designer中,我们能够更加轻松、方便地处理此类元件。

Embedded thumbnail for Using Rooms in Rules
How to work with Rooms
Using Rooms in Rules

Rooms allow you to use rules on specific areas of your design. This helps immensely with properly defining trace widths and hole sizes for specific components. We’ll show you how easy it is to assign rules to specific rooms in the PCB.

Embedded thumbnail for Creating a Schematic Symbol: Dealing with Power Pins
How to create a Schematic Symbol
Creating a Schematic Symbol: Dealing with Power Pins

Multiple schematic symbols often require the use of multiple power and ground pins. We’ll show you the difference between hidden and visible power pins, and the various methods you can use to use them in your design however it works best for you.

Embedded thumbnail for Allowing Permanent Display of Some Layers
How-To's
Allowing Permanent Display of Some Layers

This video demonstrates how to permanently display some layers in the PCB using the View configuration panel.

Embedded thumbnail for Creating Rooms in the PCB
How to work with Rooms
Creating Rooms in the PCB

If you want to create a room manually in the PCB or have them generated for the Schematic, Altium Designer allows you to create custom rooms. We’ll show you how to hand draw different rooms, how to create rooms by defining them through the room definition, and how to have them generated for the schematic and pushed through to the PCB by the Engineering Change Order.

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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