News & Updates
Blog
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Signal Integrity Principles based on Altium Designer 24
Check out this article where Rafał Stępień dives into the essentials of maintaining signal integrity in high-speed digital systems. Discover key techniques like controlling signal reflections, reducing crosstalk, and designing differential pairs in Altium Designer 24 to ensure reliable and efficient PCB performance.
Blog
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Launch of Requirements & Systems Portal in Altium 365
The Requirements & Systems Portal is now live in Altium 365! Engineers can write, manage, and verify requirements within the Altium 365 workspace. You can link your requirements directly to schematics and PCB designs to ensure all engineers are working with the latest data. Request access today!
On-Demand Webinar
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Introducing the New Altium 365 Requirements & Systems Portal
Watch our webinar to learn more about the new application joining the Altium 365 suite. The new Requirements & Systems Portal will help align engineering teams to get to market quicker.
Blog
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Enhancing Signal Integrity in PCB Design: Key Considerations and Strategies
Looking to enhance signal integrity in your PCB designs? Check out our latest article by David Marrakchi, where he shares key strategies and best practices for achieving reliable high-speed designs.
Blog
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Favorite Tools for BOM Review
Check out our article, where Lawrence Romine shares his top tools for conducting efficient Bill of Materials (BOM) reviews in PCB design. It highlights key features in Altium 365, Octopart, and ActiveBOM that help engineers avoid unsourceable components and streamline procurement.
Blog
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Mastering EMI Control in PCB Design: How Signals Propagate in a PCB
As the first article in the "Mastering EMI Control in PCB Design" series from our new asset Dario Fresu, this piece explores signal propagation in PCBs, highlighting the crucial roles of impedance, dielectric materials, and trace geometry in maintaining signal integrity.
Blog
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High-Speed PCB Design: Ensuring Signal Integrity, EMI Mitigation, and Thermal Management
Discover essential strategies for high-speed PCB design, focusing on signal integrity, EMI mitigation, and thermal management. Our latest article provides insights on managing crosstalk, optimizing grounding, and addressing thermal challenges to ensure reliable PCB performance.
Blog
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Designing Micro-vias with Sintered Paste for Rigid-Flex Printed Circuit Boards
Designing microvias with sintered paste in rigid-flex PCBs offers enhanced electrical conductivity and mechanical strength, crucial for high-density applications. Our new article explores the benefits of sintered paste and provides essential design tips to optimize microvia performance and reliability.
On-Demand Webinar
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How to Protect Your IP While Accelerating Electronic Product Development
Watch our webinar to learn how our centralized electronics design data platform can quickly integrate with your IT access, tracking, and compliance tools, while also making it easier to work in teams.
Blog
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Altium Designer 20 Changed My Layout Design Routines
I just finalized my first PCB design using Altium Designer 20. At the same time, I tested some new AD20 features, and in this article, I’ll share my thoughts about new layout design features which made the biggest impression for me: sliding, and any-angle routing.
Blog
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Designing for Antenna Isolation in Your Wireless System
Anyone who has taken apart an old cell phone or designs IoT devices knows multiple communication capabilities are present in these designs, each requiring different antennas. The RF designer should already take precautions for interconnect isolation, but antenna isolation is just as important when modeling and designing wireless systems.
Blog
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PCB Trace and Pad Clearance: Low vs. High Voltage
High voltage/high current designs carry safety requirements which need to be met by designers. Similarly, high speed designs need to have suppressed crosstalk in order to ensure signal integrity. The key design aspects that relate to both areas are your PCB trace clearance and pad clearance values. These design choices are critical for balancing safety, noise suppression, and manufacturability.
Blog
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Getting Through PCB DFM
In this article, we’ll discuss the key design features to implement, and steps to take prior to fabrication that will help prevent some DFM process pain.
Blog
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Level Up Your Design Skills - Altium Designer Getting Started User Guide Update
We are happy to announce the new update of our Altium Designer Getting Started User Guide. Whether you are new to Altium Designer or you want to brush up on some topics, the Altium Designer Getting Started User Guide will take you from a beginner to a master in PCB design.
This is only the beginning! This guide will be updated with new information based on user feedback. Let’s first go over the contents of the guide.
Blog
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Modeling Copper Foil Roughness in Altium Designer's Impedance Profiler
With the new layer stack manager in Altium Designer®, you can now include copper foil roughness factors directly in your impedance calculator. This is quite easy to do in the layer stack manager, but it begs the question: what exactly is the copper roughness factor? Which value should be used for your interconnects?
Blog
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High-Speed Signal Routing: The 5 Important Constraints
After you capture your schematic as an initial layout and create an initial component arrangement, it’s time to define your routing constraints. Doing this early will allow your DRC engine to spot rules violations before you finish your layout. Likewise, you’ll be able to modify the default rule set to meet your layout requirements. Here are the important routing constraints you’ll need to check before you start routing your board.
Blog
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CoDesigner and MCAD Component Placement On-Demand Webinar
Learn how to place components from the MCAD side and synchronize them with Altium Designer ECAD models, designators, and sourcing data to simplify your design process.
Blog
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How to Create a PCB Manufacturing Cost Estimation
Some manufacturers have very convenient PCB manufacturing cost estimation calculators you can use, but the real costs depend on a number of factors. If you’re an entrepreneur and you’re producing your own boards, or you are managing manufacturing, testing, and delivery for a new project, it’s your job to help clients understand the primary cost drivers for new boards. Here’s how you can get an estimate of your fabrication costs, both for local and overseas manufacturers.
Blog
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PCB Mountable Connectors: SMD vs. Through-hole
Selecting a connector is as much an art as it is a science. The artistic side is all about aesthetics and satisfying clearances, while the scientific side is all about signal integrity. For PCB mountable connectors, you’ll need to choose between surface-mounted or through-hole connectors, and you’ll need to consider how each type affects signal integrity in your application. Here’s what you need to think about beyond the standard connector specifications.
Blog
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PCB Via Current-Carrying Capacity: How Hot is Too Hot?
Trace and via current-carrying capacity are legitimate design points to focus on when designing a new board that will carry high current. The goal is to keep conductor temperatures below some appropriate limit, which then helps keep components on the board cool.
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How to Maximize Copper in Your PCB Design: The Pros and Cons of Copper Pouring Versus Placing
There is a saying in copper pour PCB design, “Copper is free.” It means a PCB editor designer must think in reverse. A board starts off as solid copper, and the copper you don’t want is removed. It is faster to build, less consumptive, and less expensive to make a board that is mostly copper as compared to the same size board that is mostly bare. Picking the correct technique will make the difference between an effortless or frustrating experience.
Blog
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Top 5 PCB Design Guidelines Every PCB Designer Needs to Know
What’s the key to designing a board that’s realistic on paper and in physical form? Let’s explore the top 5 design guidelines that you need to know to design your next manufacturable, functional and reliable PCB.
Blog
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May 14, 2020
How to Highlight Nets in Altium Designer to Simplify Schematic and PCB Designs
Highlighting nets will help you simplify your schematic and PCB design. In Altium , there are multiple options that enable you to leverage this capability to simplify the verification of connections and circuit paths and make sure that the design you send to your manufacturer accurately reflects the printed circuit board you need built.
Blog
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May 12, 2020
Keep Your Altium Designer PCB Layout in Line with Grids and Grid-Selection Shortcuts
The grid system in a printed circuit board design CAD system really is your friend, and if you haven’t taken the time to get properly introduced yet let me help you with that.
Blog
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May 7, 2020
How to Panelize Your PCBs Before Lunch with Altium Designer
Whether you have a slew of PCBs to mass produce for your customers or a handful of project boards you wish to prototype all in one simple swoop, panelization is an effective way to bring high amounts of efficiency to your production.
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