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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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Altium Stories
Super Capacitors Unlock the Future of Energy

In this brand new episode of Altium Stories, we invite you to explore how Skeleton Technologies is transforming numerous industries with their innovative graphene-based superbatteries. Their advanced electronics technology powers AI data centers, stabilizes electrical grids, and creates new energy opportunities, all while advancing us toward a net-zero future.

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.

Embedded thumbnail for Wearable Design Project - Part V: PCB Layout Part I
Wearable Design Project
Wearable Design Project - Part V: PCB Layout Part I

Join Piet Callemeyn in Part V of our wearable technology design series as he delves into the complexities of PCB layout for a wireless heart rate sensor. In this session, we will guide you through the initial steps of PCB layout preparation.

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.

Embedded thumbnail for Mixed Simulation Pt.5: Power Loss Optimization & Sensitivity Analysis
Mixed Simulation Series
Mixed Simulation Pt.5: Power Loss Optimization & Sensitivity Analysis

Discover methods to reduce power loss and employ Sensitivity Analysis in Altium Designer to enhance circuit efficiency and robustness. This tutorial guides you through practical techniques and tools for optimizing power usage in your designs.

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.

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New in Altium Designer 24
Custom Pad Stack: Use Cases

Unlock the secrets of custom pad stacks in Altium Designer! This video tutorial takes you from basics to advanced techniques, covering pad creation, customization, and multi-layer pads. Enhance your PCB design skills with this comprehensive guide.

Embedded thumbnail for Mixed Simulation Pt. 4: Setting Up Power Measurements and Using Measurement Expressions
Mixed Simulation Series
Mixed Simulation Pt. 4: Setting Up Power Measurements and Using Measurement Expressions

Part IV of our Constraint Manager Series is live! In this episode, we explore essential steps like setting up physical constraints, conducting layout checks, and organizing constraint sets for efficient PCB design management. Follow along to enhance your workflow and optimize your designs.

Embedded thumbnail for From Tragedy to Triumph: Personal Safety Made Beautiful
Altium Stories
From Tragedy to Triumph: Personal Safety Made Beautiful

Safety by Cilia has developed a personal safety alarm disguised as jewelry, offering a personalized security solution. Discover how Altium’s solutions can help address the complexities of miniaturization and power management in a small form factor, as the team did.

Embedded thumbnail for Mixed Simulation Series Part 3: SPICE Models & Parameters
Mixed Simulation Series
Mixed Simulation Series Part 3: SPICE Models & Parameters

Learn to select and apply SPICE models in Altium Designer to enhance the accuracy of your circuit simulations. This tutorial provides practical insights into using SPICE models effectively in your designs.

Embedded thumbnail for The Value of Upgrading: Time and Financial Advantages of Recent Altium Versions - Recording Preview
New in Altium Designer 24
The Value of Upgrading: Time and Financial Advantages of Recent Altium Versions - Recording Preview

Watch our exclusive May webinar recording to learn how Altium Designer 24 can enhance your workflow. The full video of this webinar can be found here: COM May Webinar Recording

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.

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Altium Stories
How Electronics Enable Exploration of the Earth's Last Frontier

Newgrange Design, a PCB design service bureau, and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), a leader in ocean research and technology, have partnered to advance oceanographic exploration through innovative solutions. See how Altium software helps in the development of an underwater acoustic modem.

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Blog
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.

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Blog 5月 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.

Routed tracks
Blog 5月 5, 2020
Helpful Tips for Interactive Routing in Altium Designer

Before you jump into the software, you should know the types of things you’re going to want to look out for. Traces, connection lines, differential pair routing, and route paths can all affect the routing process of your board. Make sure that you’re equipped knowing, ultimately, what you want your board design to accomplish and furthermore, where you anticipate potential problem areas to be.

Blog 4月 22, 2020
Any Angle Routing: When Should You Use It?

EDA tools have come a long way since the advent of personal computing. Now advanced routing features like auto-routers, interactive routing, length tuning, and pin-swapping are helping designers stay productive, especially as device and trace densities increase. Read full article in our blog:

Blog 3月 20, 2020
A Message from Altium on COVID-19

We understand that many of you, like ourselves, have transitioned to working remotely. This process comes with its challenges and we would like to offer all and any help we can to minimize disruptions for your teams and business.

Blog 3月 2, 2020
About Altium Designer Home Page

With the new Altium Designer Home page, we are aiming to help users stay up to date with the latest features and productivity tricks available in Altium Designer. Learn more about the Home page in this documentation article.

altium-community-forum
Blog 2月 25, 2020
Getting Connected: Altium’s User Community Forums

The Altium design environment is a complex and sophisticated set of software tools. Not surprisingly, becoming proficient with these tools will take some time, and you’ll need to practice every step of the design process from beginning to end. So what happens if you get stuck along the way?

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Embedded thumbnail for How to use the Property Panel in Altium Designer
How-To's
How to use the Property Panel in Altium Designer

How to use the Property Panel in Altium Designer: The properties panel is your information hub for all objects in Altium Designer. Watch this video to learn how to best use the properties dialog in Altium Designer. 

Embedded thumbnail for How to Improve Routing Using Glossing
How-To's
How to Improve Routing Using Glossing

Routes for your design can get messy, leading to inefficiency and waste. Altium Designer’s Glossing features can help! We’ll show you how to clean up your interactive routing as you route, how to gloss tracks already routed, and some tips and tricks to clean them up exactly how you want them.

Embedded thumbnail for Tenting Vias in Altium Designer
How-To's
Tenting Vias in Altium Designer

This video shows how to tent vias in Altium Designer by using design rules. Since vias are often located very close to pads, during assembly, solder paste sometimes flows into vias, which, in turn, leads to poor soldering quality. To avoid this, cover vias with a solder mask layer.

Embedded thumbnail for How to Create and Validate Return Paths in Altium Designer
How-To's
How to Create and Validate Return Paths in Altium Designer

For high-speed projects where there are lines with a given impedance, it is important to maintain a consistent return signal path. For the return signal, reference planes are created in the form of polygons and the polygons must maintain integrity along the entire path of the signal. This video shows how consistent return paths are created and validated. 

Embedded thumbnail for How to Edit Component Directly on PCB
How-To's
How to Edit Component Directly on PCB

Once you’ve pulled your components with an ECO into the PCB you may need to edit them. We’ll show you how to edit your components in the PCB view.

Embedded thumbnail for How to Control Tuning in Altium Designer
How-To's
How to Control Tuning in Altium Designer

When dealing with high frequency boards, it is necessary to match the timing of certain nets and differential pairs. In this video, we’ll go over how to use the tuning tool to match trace lengths based on the design rules. Using the Interactive Length Tuning command, you will begin tuning and can then use the Properties panel to configure the properites of the tuning segment.

Embedded thumbnail for How to Use Text Justification
How-To's
How to Use Text Justification

This video demonstrates how to use the justification function to align text on the PCB.

Embedded thumbnail for How to control net propagation delay
How-To's
How to control net propagation delay

When dealing with high-frequency boards it's necessary to match the timing of certain nets and differential pairs. In this video, we’ll go over how to use the tuning tool to match trace lengths based on design rules. 

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.

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.

Embedded thumbnail for How to Create Complex Keepout Shapes
How-To's
How to Create Complex Keepout Shapes

Keepout regions are easy to create in Altium Designer, but they can be complex. We’ll show you a few ways to make creating your more complex keepout shapes easier and more efficient.

Embedded thumbnail for How to Use a Courtyard Layer for the Component Boundary
How-To's
How to Use a Courtyard Layer for the Component Boundary

In this video, you will see how to use the courtyard layer as a component boundary.

Embedded thumbnail for Creating High-speed Signal Classes with xSignals
How To Work with High-Speed Projects
Creating High-speed Signal Classes with xSignals

You can create, configure, and utilize xSignals in Altium Designer to make your design process more efficient and effective. We’ll show you how to do it manually, using the more comprehensive Create xSignals command, and using the xSignal wizard.

Embedded thumbnail for MCAD CoDesigner Overview
Working with MCAD CoDesigner extension
MCAD CoDesigner Overview

The MCAD CoDesigner in Altium Designer allows for seamless design transfer between the Electrical and Mechanical designers. In this overview, we’ll show you how to transfer from Altium Designer to your CAD tool of choice, then how to resize the board, add mounting holes, add a new connector, and update the board design in Altium Designer.

Embedded thumbnail for Bringing an MCAD Enclosure to ECAD
Working with MCAD CoDesigner extension
Bringing an MCAD Enclosure to ECAD

The Altium Designer MCAD CoDesigner panel and extension make it easy to move a 3D enclosure model from your MCAD tool to Altium Designer. We'll show you how and what to watch out for while your transferring your enclosure model to Altium Designer.

Embedded thumbnail for How to Perform a Component Search in Concord Pro - Altium Academy
How-To's
How to Perform a Component Search in Concord Pro - Altium Academy

In this video, I'll show you how to perform a component search in the Components Panel. Learn how to perform a component search in the Components Panel while using Altium Concord Pro to effectively host all your component libraries from Altium Designer. You can always locate any particular component using this library navigation and place it on your schematic with pricing information from global suppliers. This availability and pricing information gets updated daily directly from the suppliers so you will always get fresh, up to date information. 

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Altium Designer interface
On-Demand Webinar
ECAD-MCAD Collaboration for Improved Product Development

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 has the way they store and manage their design and project data. Watch this video to learn about seamless ECAD/MCAD Collaboration on the project, how to comments for other design teams and how to review, Approve or Reject design changes from your mechanical engineer.

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.

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.

Complex Design Made Easy Preview
On-Demand Webinar
Altium Designer® 21: A Better Way To Design

The design process often requires repetitive work with tedious tasks. Altium Designer 21 represents a better way to design by revitalizing long-standing functionality and improving the user experience, as well as performance and stability, based on the feedback from our users. These improvements streamline existing design tasks and empower you to complete sophisticated rigid and rigid-flex designs with realistic 3D modeling.

Printed tracks on PCB in Altium Designer
On-Demand Webinar
Printed Circuit Design in Altium Designer

Printed Electronics is emerging to become as common as 3D printing. With this fast-emerging technology, new possibilities have come into the manufacturing arena, allowing engineers and designers to develop products in markets never before realized. With the emergence of many contract manufacturers possessing this capability, the cost is competitive. Quick-turn prototypes and volume production are now all possibilities, and with Altium 365® you stay connected directly with your manufacturer throughout the design process.

Webinar preview
On-Demand Webinar
Using Output Job Files for Rapid, Repeatable PCB Manufacturing Data Generation

An OutJob is simply a pre-configured set of outputs. Each output is configured with its own settings and its own output format, for example, output to a file or to a printer. OutJobs are very flexible – they can include as many or as few outputs as required and any number of OutJobs can be included in a project. The best approach is to use one OutJob to configure all outputs required for each specific type of output being generated from the project. 

Article preview
On-Demand Webinar
Best Practices: Efficient Use of Snapping in Altium Designer

Getting your PCB layout design done takes patience and precision. Complex footprint geometries, board shape, and dense component placement require accurate primitive positioning. Each stage of PCB design needs a different snapping configuration. Often your settings can be excellent for one stage and be unfavorable for another. Learn more about different snapping usage patterns and best practices of efficient snappings.

On-Demand Webinar
Communicating Design Intent with Manufacturing Outputs

No one wants to do a board respin because of inaccurate or incomplete manufacturing outputs confusing design intent. This webinar covers the information needed for PCB Manufacturing and Assembly, as well as, a simple way to communicate and collaborate with manufacturing.

Article preview
On-Demand Webinar
Editing Your PCB Geometry with MCAD Tools Webinar

You need to define your PCB geometry in the context of your enclosure. If your board cannot physically be assembled into the final product, it doesn't matter how well laid out it is electrically. This webinar focuses on how the MCAD CoDesigner allows you to edit your PCB in the context of a higher-level assembly, allowing you to respect the relevant mechanical constraints.

Article preview
On-Demand Webinar
Editing Your PCB Geometry with MCAD Tools

You need to define your PCB geometry in the context of your enclosure. If your board cannot physically be assembled into the final product, it doesn't matter how well laid out it is electrically.

This webinar focuses on how the MCAD CoDesigner allows you to edit your PCB in the context of a higher-level assembly, allowing you to respect the relevant mechanical constraints.