News & Updates
Blog
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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.
Blog
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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.
Blog
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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.
Blog
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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
On-Demand Webinar
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Increase Productivity With Easy Component Creation
Component creation is a necessary evil when it comes to design, and it’s something we all need to do. But instead of spending hours creating your components and having them turn into a complete roadblock, let it be just a simple bump on the road. Altium Designer has several tools available to you in order to create the different aspects of a component, including the symbol, footprint, 3D model parametric data, supply chain information, and more
Blog
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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?
Blog
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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.
Blog
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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.
Blog
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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.
Blog
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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.
NEW
Blog
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10 Questions to Ask Your Fabricator Before Submitting a Rigid-Flex Design
A five-minute conversation with your fabricator could save weeks of redesign. Discover the ten questions that can improve manufacturability, boost yield, and help your rigid-flex project succeed on the first build.
NEW
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Who Needs Integrated Electronic Component Search
Finding the right component shouldn't mean searching through dozens of websites and datasheets. This article shows how integrated component search helps engineers select parts faster while reducing sourcing risks and design delays.
Blog
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How BOM Portal Supports R&D and Procurement with DFM & DFC Analysis Throughout the Entire Product Lifecycle
The best sourcing decisions happen when procurement is involved early. This webinar demonstrates how BOM Portal gives both engineering and procurement access to live lifecycle, pricing, compliance, and availability data to drive smarter decisions from prototype through production.
Blog
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How to Design a PCB: From Schematic Capture to Manufacturing
This article walks through the complete PCB design workflow, from schematic capture and component selection to layout, design reviews, and manufacturing documentation. It highlights the key decisions at each stage that help engineering teams produce reliable, manufacturable products.
Blog
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5 Power Integrity Myths: AC Edition
The biggest threat to your power integrity might be outdated design advice. This article challenges five common AC power integrity myths and shows what really matters when designing today's high-speed PCBs.
Blog
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Your Design Data Has Zero Defense
Your design data may be more exposed than you think. This webinar shows how to identify common security gaps and secure engineering workflows with centralized access control and governance.
Blog
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Flex Circuit Coverlay: Design with Lamination Processes In Mind
Your flex PCB may look perfect in CAD but coverlay doesn't stay perfectly still during manufacturing. This article reveals why designing for lamination behavior is one of the most important steps in building reliable flex circuits.
Blog
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Integrated PCB Design vs. Legacy Point Tools: What’s the Real Cost?
As hardware development grows more collaborative, disconnected point tools can introduce data inconsistencies, traceability gaps, and costly coordination challenges. This article examines how integrated PCB design environments connect design, mechanical, supply chain, and review workflows to improve efficiency throughout the product lifecycle.
Blog
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Make Better Design Decisions with Signal and Power Integrity Insight
Signal integrity and power integrity are closely connected, with problems in one often affecting the other as designs become faster and more complex. This webinar explains how integrated analysis workflows help engineers evaluate PDN performance, identify potential issues early, and improve overall design quality.
Blog
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Optimizing Your Electronics Product Design Workflow and Eliminating Bottlenecks
Every manual handoff adds time and risk to the product development process. This article shows how modern design workflows automate routine tasks, improve data visibility, and help engineering teams focus on innovation instead of administration.
Blog
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Avoid Cross-Board Signal Integrity Issues in High-Performance Multiboard PCB Designs
Your signal may be perfect on the PCB and fail the moment it crosses a connector. This article explores the hidden SI challenges in multi-board systems and how engineers can eliminate them before they become costly debugging sessions.
Blog
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Proto-BOM in Minutes: How BOM Portal Accelerates Component Selection
Still building BOMs the hard way? Discover how modern workflows can help you create a prototype-ready BOM faster while improving visibility into pricing, availability, and risk.
Blog
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How to Manage Power Integrity and EMI in Complex Multiboard Systems
This article examines the challenges of maintaining power integrity and controlling EMI in complex multiboard systems. It provides practical strategies for managing return paths, connector transitions, and power distribution across interconnected assemblies.
Blog
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Agile Teams: From Design Tool to Product Development Platform
Learn how Agile Teams evolves beyond traditional PCB design workflows to support connected product development. This webinar explores how centralized data, collaboration tools, and governance capabilities help teams accelerate delivery while maintaining control.
Blog
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Benefits of Using an Integrated Design Environment for PCB Development
Using separate tools often creates inefficiencies and increases the risk of mistakes. This article explains how integrated design environments streamline workflows by keeping design data connected and accessible.
Blog
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Enterprise vs. Midsize PCB Design Software: What Actually Changes at Scale
PCB design challenges change significantly as organizations scale. This article explores the key differences between mid-size and enterprise design environments, from collaboration and governance to data management and workflow automation.
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