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Multi-Board PCB Signal Integrity: A Complete Guide

Our new article on signal integrity in multi-board PCBs covers essential aspects like connector pinouts, cable designs, and interconnect strategies. These factors ensure reliable performance in high-speed applications across industries such as military, aerospace, and AI.

Embedded thumbnail for Finding Alternate Field-Effect Transistors: Alternate Parts Series: Pt. 3
Octopart
Finding Alternate Field-Effect Transistors: Alternate Parts Series: Pt. 3

In Part 3 of "Expert Insights on Alternative Parts" series, Phil Salmony will demonstrate how Octopart identifies suitable alternative field-effect transistors (FETs). Octopart assists in narrowing down parameters to select the right component for any application. Learn to navigate Octopart's search and filtering tools to choose the best MOSFETs for your specific application.

Embedded thumbnail for Stay Ahead of the Curve: A Half-Year Review of Altium Designer Improvements -  Recording Preview
New in Altium Designer 24
Stay Ahead of the Curve: A Half-Year Review of Altium Designer Improvements - Recording Preview

In the last six months, we have implemented significant enhancements in Schematic Capture, PCB Design, and Harness Design in Altium Designer 24. Check out our webinar recording to learn how these new capabilities can keep you ahead in the electronics industry. You can find it here: July COM Webinar Recording

Blog
Multi-CAD Support Will Be a Game Changer for Electronics Design Teams

Discover how multi-CAD support is transforming electronics design with Altium 365 by enabling seamless integration of diverse CAD file formats. This innovation addresses vendor lock-in issues, boosting collaboration, version control, and project management across different CAD tools.

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Altium Stories
How Skeleton Technologies Uses Altium Solutions

Explore how Skeleton Technologies is transforming industries with their innovative supercapacitors made from “Curved Graphene” materials. These advancements are not only powering AI data centers and stabilizing electrical grids but are also unlocking new energy opportunities and driving progress towards a net-zero future.

Blog
Pi.MX8 Project - Board Layout Part 4

We invite you to explore a new chapter in the PiMX8 Project, focusing on the final stages of PCB layout design for the Pi.MX8 compute module. This installment covers critical topics such as routing power planes and signal delay tuning, essential for ensuring proper functionality and performance.

Embedded thumbnail for LDO Regulator Essentials: From Basics to Advanced. Part II: Voltage Drop and Regulation
LDO Regulator Essentials
LDO Regulator Essentials: From Basics to Advanced. Part II: Voltage Drop and Regulation

We are returning to our LDO Regulator Essentials series. In this installment, we will focus on understanding the required dropout voltage, detecting when the regulator is out of regulation, and analyzing the performance of the LDO under higher current conditions.

Blog
How Thermoformed Flex PCB’s are Designed and Fabricated

Thermoformed flexible PCBs are specially designed and fabricated by heating and molding them into specific shapes, making them suitable for compact and complex applications like automotive dashboards and wearable devices. This process involves precise temperature control and careful handling to ensure durability and quality. Discover more from Tara Dunn's new article.

Blog
Boost Connection Integrity and Design Efficiency with Wire Bonding

Altium Designer's wire bonding feature enhances PCB design by supporting chip-up configurations for Chip on Board (CoB) designs. It offers easy validation of bond wiring in 3D views, ensuring accurate and efficient design processes. Check more about this feature on Altium's new feature page.

Blog
How High Frequency SMD Passives Work in a PCB Layout

High-frequency surface-mount device (SMD) passives like resistors and capacitors play a crucial role in PCB layouts, particularly in circuits operating above 1 GHz. Our article explores how these components function at high frequencies, their operational limits, and the importance of considering parasitic elements in design.

Embedded thumbnail for LDO Regulator Essentials: From Basics to Advanced. Part I: Basics
LDO Regulator Essentials
LDO Regulator Essentials: From Basics to Advanced. Part I: Basics

We invite you to join us for a new video series on LDO (Low Dropout) Regulators. In this series, we will cover everything you need to know about LDO regulators, from fundamental theory to practical implementation. In the first video, we will begin with an in-depth chapter on the theory behind these devices and their implementation in Altium Designer.

Blog
Essential DFM Tips for Aerospace Projects

Design for Manufacturing (DFM) is a crucial aspect of aerospace projects. This process ensures high-quality designs that meet the unique challenges of the aerospace industry, such as extreme conditions and stringent reliability standards. Learn more about essential DFM tips in our brand-new article.

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Wearable Design Project
Wearable Design Project - Part VII: PCB Layout part III

Check out the final installment of the video series on the Wearable Design Project. In this video, you will learn how to set the rigid and flex parts of the design, modify the board for the project, and complete the PCB routing. For a deeper dive into this project, you can find it on our Altium Community Workspace.

Embedded thumbnail for Optimize Connections and PCB Design with Wire Bonding
New in Altium Designer 24
Optimize Connections and PCB Design with Wire Bonding

Experience our new wire bonding feature, designed to enhance connection integrity and improve PCB design efficiency. One of the main capabilities includes support for chip-up wire bonding configurations and easy validation of bond wiring in 3D view. Don’t miss this opportunity—participate in our Beta Program and be among the first engineers to explore this impressive feature.

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.
 

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Altium Stories
Innovative Jewelry: Startup Uses Altium to Embed Electronics

Discover how Safety by Cilia transformed personal protection by utilizing Altium Designer and Altium 365 to create groundbreaking jewelry that also functions as a safety alarm. This device integrates GPS tracking, dual alarm options (both loud and silent), automatic audio recording, and rapid notification capabilities, all while maintaining an accessory that excels in both aesthetics and functionality.

Embedded thumbnail for Wearable Design Project - Part VI: PCB Layout part II
Wearable Design Project
Wearable Design Project - Part VI: PCB Layout part II

Join us for Part VI of the Wearable Design Project as Piet Callemeyn finalizes the PCB layout, focusing on rigid-flex design. Learn key strategies for optimizing your wearable tech design. Like, comment, and subscribe!

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.

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Where to place AC Caps on PCIe Lanes
Blog
AC Coupling Capacitors in PCIe Routing

Coupling capacitors find plenty of uses in analog applications and on differential protocols, acting essentially as high pass filters that remove DC bias carried seen on a signal. In the case of PCIe, there are a few reasons to place AC coupling capacitors on differential pairs beyond the fact that AC coupling capacitors are listed in the standard. In this article, we’ll look briefly at where to place coupling capacitors on PCIe links, as well as the reasons these are placed on PCIe links.

Tuning dialog
Blog
Altium Designer 22.7 Update

We are happy to announce that the Altium Designer 22.7 update is now available. Altium Designer 22.7 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!

The Positive Impact of Supply Chain Visibility on Design to Cost
Blog
The Positive Impact of Supply Chain Visibility on Design to Cost

Design to cost is a lofty idea that is only perfectly executed when supply and demand for components are in perfect harmony. Unfortunately, the current landscape for component sourcing makes design to cost more of a balancing act rather than an exercise in price reduction. To help designers in their efforts to balance cost, capabilities, and procurement, we created this ebook to help users understand how modern supply chain tools can help in these complex design problems.

Evaluating Stubs on PCIe Lanes
Blog
A Brief Study of Stubs on a PCIe Connector

Stubs are an important topic in high-speed PCB design, and there is a longstanding guideline that stubs should always be removed from all vias on high-speed digital interconnects. While stubs are bad for high-speed lines, they do not always need to be removed. What is more important is to predict the loss profile and frequencies, and to floorplan appropriately to try and prevent such losses.

Surface Layer DFM and Cleanup
Blog
PCB Layout Cleanup Before Manufacturing

Once you finish your placement and routing in your PCB layout, it can be tempting to wrap up the layout and send everything in directly to manufacturing. The reality is that the board may still need some work before it is considered finished. The cleanup you perform at the final stage of PCB layout will help you catch any outstanding errors that can't be programmed into your DRC engine, and it gives you a chance to add any outstanding details to the surface layers.

Low Cost and Professionally Built LED Panel
Blog
Insulated Metal Substrates: Building an LED Panel

In this project we’ll be building a moderate sized LED panel on insulated metal substrate (IMS). This light panel has three different white balance High CRI LED types on it, warm, neutral and cool. By changing the brightness of the different white balances, the light from the panel can be adjusted to match other lighting, making it perfect for film use - but also creating perfect lighting for electronics work. As with all my projects, this LED panel is open source, you can find the Altium project files over on my GitHub released under the permissive MIT License.

DFM For Your Materials
Blog
DFM in PCB Material Selection

Every design should begin with selecting the materials that will appear in the PCB stackup, as well as arranging layers in the stackup to support layout and routing. This section of our PCB manufacturing andc DFM crash course focuses on selecting the right materials for your PCB design. Materials should be selected given the particular design requirements outlined in your specifications.

PCB Layout for an BGA
Blog
How to Start an FPGA PCB Layout For Your Embedded System

FPGAs come in quad or BGA packages that can be difficult to floorplan, especially with the high number of I/Os often implemented in these components. FPGAs offer a lot of advantages in terms of their reconfigurability, but they can require a lot of effort to layout and route without headaches. If you’ve never worked with an FPGA in your PCB layout, we have some guidelines that can help you get started.

2-port VNA on a 3-port Network
Blog
How to Get 3-port S-parameters From a 2-port VNA Measurement

S-parameters are fundamental quantities in signal integrity, and an ability to understand them from measurement or analysis is very important. If you have a 3-port network, like a power divider or circulator, it may appear that you must use a 3-port VNA to measure these S-parameters. It is always acceptable to measure between two ports, but you need to know what exactly it is you are measuring. In this article, we’ll look at the relationship between the true 3-port S-parameters with a 2-port measurement.

Fab and Assembly Crash Course
Blog
A Day in the Life of the PCB Manufacturing Process

Before implementing design for manufacturing, it is important to understand the underlying process behind producing a physical PCB. Regardless of the various technologies present in each facility, a large majority of industry-leading manufacturers follow a specific set of steps to turn your design from a drawing in a CAD application into a physical board. In this article, we'll cover the basics that designers need to know as part of our crash course series on PCB manufacturing.

What Are the Main Skew Sources in a PCB?
Blog
Addressing Skew Sources in High Speed PCBs

If you compile a list of skew sources, you'll see that fiber weave-induced skew is only one entry on a long list of skew sources. We'll look at this list of possible skew sources below, and we'll see how they affect the operation of your PCB. From the list below, we'll see that some of these issues with skew are not simply solved by paying attention to the fiber weave construction in a PCB substrate.

Ground Below SMPS Inductors
Blog
Should Ground Be Placed Below Inductors in Switching Regulators?

We love answering questions from our readers and YouTube viewers, and one of the recent questions we received relates to EMI from switching elements in a switching regulator is "Should a cutout be placed below the inductor in a switching regulator circuit?". Despite the variations in inductors and their magnetic behavior, there are some general principles that can be used to judge the effects of placing ground near inductors in switching regulator circuits. We’ll look at some of these principles in this article

Alternative Pins
Blog
Altium Designer 22.6 Update

We are happy to announce that the Altium Designer 22.6 update is now available. Altium Designer 22.6 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!

Top 5 Questions Regarding Stack Up
Blog
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.

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. 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.

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Embedded thumbnail for Types of Component Variations
How to work with Variants
Types of Component Variations

Altium Designer allows you to implement several different types of component variations. We’ll show you the differences between fitted, modified parameters, not fitted, and alternate Part variations, as well as how to add and manage these variations for your design.

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Query Language
Query Language: Basic Concept Part III

Often the criterion for searching certain objects in Altium Designer is matching parameters to some string (text) values. Learn from this video how to use substitution symbols in queries and increase your productivity when working on projects

Embedded thumbnail for Solder Mask Expansion and Minimum Sliver
DFM and Fabrication Cost/Time Constraints
Solder Mask Expansion and Minimum Sliver

Using the solder mask expansion and the minimum solder mask sliver rules, you can make sure your solder mask layer doesn’t interfere with any of your exposed copper and is manufacturable.

Embedded thumbnail for Query Language: Basic Concept Part II
Query Language
Query Language: Basic Concept Part II

Do you want to learn how to make more complex queries consisting of several commands? This video is about auxiliary operators that exist in the Altium Designer query language, and how to combine and use them together.

Embedded thumbnail for Teardrops for DFM
DFM and Fabrication Cost/Time Constraints
Teardrops for DFM

If you need to increase the width to any primitive, but need to maintain manufacturability, you can use teardrops. We’ll show you how to create a teardrop and specify the shape and size.

Embedded thumbnail for Creating a New Design Variant
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.

Embedded thumbnail for Query Language: Basic Concept Part I
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.

Embedded thumbnail for Configuring the Vias Annular Ring
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.

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.

Embedded thumbnail for Design for Manufacturing (DFM) Overview
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.

Embedded thumbnail for Fixing Broken Component Models
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.

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.

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.

Embedded thumbnail for Precise Selection with PCB Filter
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.

Embedded thumbnail for Rigid-Flex Board Shape Design in MCAD
Working with MCAD CoDesigner extension
Rigid-Flex Board Shape Design in MCAD

The MCAD Codesigner allows you to design or edit your board shape in the MCAD environment and have it pushed back to Altium Designer. We’ll show you how to configure the board shape, rigid and flex regions, and mounting holes.

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Altium Designer Interface
On-Demand Webinar
Preparing your files for Fabrication Release

When you’re done creating a new board, it’s time to send your design data to the manufacturer. Before releasing your designs, you’ll want to make sure that everything is ready and works as intended. In this informative video, we’ll review some of the must-have checks before sending your output data for fabrication. 

Webinar Preview
On-Demand Webinar
CoDesigner and MCAD Component Placement On-Demand Webinar

We design products not just PCBs requiring effective collaboration between MCAD and ECAD engineers. We need to consider how we can reduce the likelihood of errors when placing critical design components. Component placement in the context of enclosures can be easily handled in an MCAD environment while it is more difficult to achieve in the ECAD domain. 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.

On-Demand Webinar
Intelligent Supply Chain Webinar

Many factors can affect your supply chain. Currently, supply disruptions are being felt due to the effect of the Covid-19 Pandemic. In this webinar, learn how Concord Pro on Altium 365 can mitigate disruptions in your supply chain and help you stay on schedule and budget for your designs.

Altium Designer interface
On-Demand Webinar
Preparing your files for Fabrication Release

When you’re done creating a new board, it’s time to send your design data to the manufacturer. Before releasing your designs, you’ll want to make sure that everything is ready and works as intended. In this informative webinar, we’ll review some of the must-have checks before sending your output data for fabrication.

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.

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.

Preparing your files for Fabrication Release
On-Demand Webinar
Preparing your files for Fabrication Release

When you’re done creating a new board, it’s time to send your design data to the manufacturer. Before releasing your designs, you’ll want to make sure that everything is ready and works as intended. In this informative video, we’ll review some of the must-have checks before sending your output data for fabrication.

Article preview
On-Demand Webinar
Efficient PCB Routing Using Gloss and Retrace Tools

The primary goal of your traces is to carry signals throughout your board without losses. To do this properly, you must familiarize yourself with the requirements for signals on the printed circuit board and how to optimize the topology of the board in terms of signal integrity. We will analyze the most popular routing cases applicable for using the Gloss and Retrace tools in Altium Designer to optimize your signal integrity.

Article preview
On-Demand Webinar
Length Matching in High Speed Buses

With ever increasing speeds in high-speed data systems comes a couple of PCB layout challenges. High-speed busses like DDR, VME, PCIe just to mention a few can all reach data transfer speeds that require strict timing with very tight tolerances, thereby leaving very little slack in the PCB layout. Watch this on-demand webinar to learn why it's imperative to match track lengths in high-speed data systems and differential signals. You’ll see how to properly define PCB length matching and time delay constraints, and how to effectively route high-speed signals in Altium Designer®.

Simple Simulation in Altium Designer
On-Demand Webinar
SPICE Simulation Made Simple

SPICE simulation saves you critical time in the prototyping phase. Understanding your simulation interface makes it simple to analyze how your circuits work in different scenarios. Altium Designer provides an intuitive, dedicated interface to support your simulation verification, setup, and analysis directly in your schematic environment. You also benefit from growing support for popular model formats, as well as generic models, simplifying circuit definition and simulation.

Altium Designer Signal Integrity
On-Demand Webinar
What is High-Speed Design?

The primary source of high-speed problems is not due to high clock frequency but rather the fast rise and fall times of component signals. With fast edge rates, reflections may occur at the receiver side, and when the board routing is dense, crosstalk may become a problem. During this webinar, you'll sharpen your knowledge and develop new skills that you can use to design High-Speed PCB's more efficiently and effectively.

Altium Designer Interface
On-Demand Webinar
What is High-Speed Design?

The primary source of high-speed problems is not due to high clock frequency but rather the fast rise and fall times of component signals. With fast edge rates, reflections may occur at the receiver side, and when the board routing is dense, crosstalk may become a problem. During this webinar, you'll sharpen your knowledge and develop new skills that you can use to design High-Speed PCB's more efficiently and effectively. 

Webinar slides
On-Demand Webinar
Designing PCBs 5x Faster Despite the Pandemic | Customer Success | Kinetic Vision

Kinetic Vision, a Cincinnati-based design, engineering, and development firm, is an innovator’s one-stop shop for transforming even the wildest ideas into real products. The company’s design approach keeps everything in-house, including industrial design, mechanical, and electrical design, as well as, engineering, hardware/software development, machine learning, and sometimes even short-run production. Watch this webinar to learn how Kinetic Vision uses the Altium 365 platform to enable a connected and frictionless PCB design experience, increasing their productivity 5 times even

Altium Designer interface
On-Demand Webinar
One-Stop Design Team Configuration

A heavy focus is usually put on managing your design data, but what about managing your design team? A mismanaged design team can lead to a disorganized and inaccurate design library and data. Watch this webinar to see how Altium 365 can help you to organize users into access restricted groups, manage design and designer access rights, avoid design conflicts when multiple members are working on the same design, and standardize your entire project using templates

SolidWorks interface
On-Demand Webinar
ECAD MCAD Capabilities For Today’s Most Demanding Designs

Working between the Electronic and Mechanical design domains brings unique challenges. ECAD and MCAD tools have different design objectives and have evolved down different paths, and so have the way they store and manage their design and project data. To successfully design these products, the designers must fluidly pass design changes back and forth between the ECAD and MCAD domains beyond outdated file exchanges.

Altium Designer Constraints Editor
On-Demand Webinar
Getting Started with Design Rules and Constraints

Getting started with design rules can sometimes be a difficult task, but it doesn’t have to be. Altium Designer has added a new design rules user interface along with a new way to define rules, while not compromising past methods. Now, rules and constraints have a design-centric view rather than a rules-centric view which allows for easier visualization and is less prone to error. Watch this video to learn how you can best utilize the improved Rules 2.0 design rule interface.