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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.

Copper rings
Blog
Must Have Rapid Prototyping Tools

Suppose your job involves rapidly iterating designs or creating a wide variety of products for clients. In that case, there are some essential tools available that can save you a tremendous amount of time, bringing high engineering risk devices to completion successfully. Whether you’re working on internal projects or developing high mix devices for clients as a consulting or freelance firm, these indispensable tools will help you ship a higher quality product in less time. 

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.

Blog
Best Practices for Sharing PCB Files vs. Sharing PCB Projects

Even though today’s cloud platforms are immaculately secure and they allow a range of files to be easily shared, there are times where you should limit the data you’re sharing to only the critical files required. For PCB designers, this means either sharing entire design projects or sharing individual files with your manufacturer, customers, contractors, or collaborators. If you want to eliminate liabilities and keep your team’s design data secure, consider these best practices for sharing PCB design data with Altium 365.

Principial Schematic
Blog
Best Practices for Using Reference Designs

Best component companies will release reference designs for their new and legacy products to show designers an example application for a component. If the reference design is good enough and it very nicely illustrates how to quickly engineer around a few main components, I’m likely to use them in the design and the component maker has just earned my business. If you’re a newer designer and you’re wondering whether reference designs are right for your next project, follow these best practices so that you don’t make any mistakes with your reference design.

Traces on PCB
Blog
Transmission Line Fundamentals And Electromagnetic Fields, Part 1

When we deal with “abstract” aspects of electromagnetic fields and how they function, it can be easy to get lost in the weeds regarding them. The first part of this article will address an important aspect of transmission line fundamentals, namely how electromagnetic fields and waves propagate on a transmission line. This article’s end goal is to create a core understanding of these concepts so that when it comes time to design a PDS, the proper design methodologies are followed and a properly working PDS is achieved appropriately, the first time and every time.

BGA pads
Blog
Your Complete Guide to Via Stub Analysis

Via stubs are sometimes viewed as an annoyance, especially when you only need to make a transition between adjacent layers. For low speed, less-dense boards with low layer count, via stubs are an afterthought, or they may not receive consideration at all. For faster edge rates/higher frequencies, the conventional wisdom is to remove all via stubs. The question is: what exactly counts as “high frequency,” and how do you figure out the relevant length?

Thermal camera on people
Blog
Using a Thermal Camera for PCB Diagnostics

Unlike the clumsy human finger, a thermal camera can detect minute temperature differences across its view. This allows you to rapidly identify any components that are consuming current. Any parts or areas of your board that draw current will also generate heat that can easily be picked up by a thermal camera.

Soldering station
Blog
Complete Guide to DIY SMT Assembly In Your Office

I want to share a little secret with you in this article: Assembling SMT prototypes boards is not only easy, but it requires very little equipment. Using just a stencil, I can easily hand prototype down to 0.3 mm pitch ICs, and 0201 (imperial) sized passive components.  If you’re currently hand assembling boards with a soldering station, you need to stop this immediately and start using a stencil instead!

Road 2021
Blog
State of the Electronics Industry 2021

With the challenges of 2020 behind us, what challenges and opportunities lie ahead for hardware designers in 2021? In this article Vince Mazur, Technical Product Marketing Engineer at Altium, looks ahead to three emerging trends and share steps to address each one successfully in the year ahead.

Oscilloscope
Blog
The Mysterious 50 Ohm Impedance: Where It Came From and Why We Use It

When we talk about S-parameters, impedance matching, transmission lines, and other fundamental concepts in RF/high-speed PCB design, the concept of 50 Ohm impedance comes up over and over. Look through signaling standards, component datasheets, application notes, and design guidelines on the internet; this is one impedance value that comes up repeatedly. So where did the 50 Ohm impedance standard come from and why is it important?

Camera in water
Blog
Keeping Your Circuits Dry

For the home hobbyist, protecting their electrical devices usually means keeping the coffee cup or soda can away from anything that carries a large voltage. Good practice indicates that electrical devices should be housed in an enclosure to protect expensive components and reduce the risk of electric shocks from exposed circuitry. However, what do you do if the fantastic new device you’ve designed needs to work in a humid, damp, or dripping wet environment? 

PCB with old components
Blog
Tips for Updating Old PCB Designs with New Parts

Have you ever opened up an old design and wondered how much of it was still usable? Maybe you were contacted by an old client, and they want you to provide some updates on an old design. No matter what the situation is, there are times where updating old PCB designs with new parts makes sense. If done correctly and when armed with all the right information up front, you can cut down the total design time while preserving the best parts of your design in a new iteration. Here’s what you can do to update your old designs successfully and how your PCB design features can help.

Design correction
Blog
How to Involve Customers in PCB Product Development

The more complex the product gets, the more involved your customer will need to be to ensure you’re designing to their requirements. When you’re using a data sharing system that integrates with your PCB design tools, it’s easy to give your customers visibility into the product development process. Altium 365 is the only system that integrates with Altium Designer® and gives you the ability to give anyone access to your PCB projects, including your customers and manufacturer.

A man with tablet
Blog
Managing PCB Manufacturing Quality Control in the Cloud

Anytime you’re looking for a fabricator to produce your new design, you should ensure they have a robust quality control program. Where can quality defects arise and how can manufacturers quickly get this information back to a design team? Sometimes emails can leave too much ambiguity and it is difficult to track progress on specific design changes in the PCB layout. If you’re planning to put a new design into high volume production, there are some basic points that should be checked during fabrication and assembly as part of a PCB manufacturing quality control program.

Connector routing
Blog
Controlling Crosstalk In Connector Pinouts

Controlling crosstalk is one of the key goals in any PCB design. In most instances, when we talk about crosstalk, it’s in reference to the unwanted interaction of the electromagnetic field traveling on one transmission line with a neighboring transmission line. But crosstalk can also occur in the connector pin out. This article will describe this type of crosstalk, the types of disruptions it causes, wherein the design cycle it needs to be factored in and how it can be successfully controlled.

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.

History
Blog
What You Can Track in Your Altium Project History

When you’re working through a new PCB design project, and you need to keep track of your project revisions, Altium 365™ creates the ideal environment for collaborative PCB design and revision tracking. Once you upload your projects onto the cloud through the Altium 365 platform, Altium 365 creates a Git repository for your project. It allows you to make it available to collaborators through Altium Designer®. This includes a complete project history, which can be easily accessed by collaborators working on a complex project.

Quickly Compare Gerbers PCB
Blog
Gerber Compare in Altium 365's Online Platform

The moment you push your Gerbers to a manufacturer for a DFM inspection, it can be a nerve-wracking experience waiting for a response. Before you receive your working boards, there will likely be some back-and-forth communication before your board hits the fabrication line. When manufacturers and designers need to resolve problems in Gerber files before fabrication, it helps to have a Gerber compare utility. The newest version of Altium Designer now offers this feature through the Altium 365 platform, giving everyone visibility into changes to Gerbers before fabrication.

Electric car charging
Blog
California Bets on Electric Cars and Plans to Ban Gasoline Car Sales by 2035

No matter how you might feel about renewable energy and associated environmental issues, electric vehicles are becoming more mainstream and will become the primary mode of transportation in the future. For the engineering community, what’s much more interesting is how our power distribution and management infrastructure can support this shift to massive increases in the use of electricity on the grid. So what’s the rub for PCB designers?

Tag
Blog
Crosstalk Reduction and Elimination Techniques in Altium Designer

Whether you're designing a digital board with a ton of traces, or an RF board operating at very high frequencies, any electronic device with propagating signals will experience crosstalk. Learn more about some sure-fire ways you can reduce crosstalk in your high-speed designs.

Blog
Baxandall Volume Control for Audio

The Baxandall volume control is an especially useful, flexible, and simple-to-implement circuit for numerous audio designs. In this article, we will demonstrate how to design this type of equipment.

Blog
RF Power Amplifier Module PCB Design

RF power amplifiers can be found in many wireless products, often integrated into chipsets or modems. However, in certain specialized systems, you might require higher power output at a specific frequency. This necessitates a discrete amplifier circuit to deliver that power. In this article, we present an example project for a power amplifier that you can incorporate into your RF project.

Blog
Avoid GIGO in Your PCB Simulation Tools

Simulation tools are extremely useful for understanding electromagnetic behavior in a design. Learn more about how to avoid obtaining inaccurate results during your PCB simulation process.

Benefits of Ultra HDI
Blog
The Benefits of Ultra HDI

Learn more about the combination of using both flexible materials and ultra-HDI feature sizes in this article.

Blog
Concept Phase – Cooling and Airflow Part 1

Next step in our open-source laptop project is to explain how to design cooling and airflow. In this article, we can show you the first part of this process, such as airflow concept, fan measurement and clearance.

Harness Design
Blog
Create Connections with Harness Design

Many modern electronics have multiple boards, and connecting those different boards and systems together are harnesses. Learn more about how Altium Designer can help you create harnesses for your own multi-board designs here.

Blog
Nucleo Shields Multi-Board Design

Learn how easy it is to create multi-board projects. This practical project article covers the reasons for breaking larger boards into sub-assemblies and explores the various connection options available between sub-assembly boards.

Blog
Analog Solar Tracker Project

In this article you can learn about light sensors while building an analog solar panel tracking system. This open-source project covers multi-channel design, window comparators, driving motors, and photosensors.

Blog
Concept Phase – Initial CAD Design

We are continuing our journey through the open-source laptop project. This article explains an initialization of CAD design process from the early concept and brainstorming phase.

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Embedded thumbnail for Altium Training - Design Environment: Opening a Project from a Local Drive
Altium Training
Altium Training - Design Environment: Opening a Project from a Local Drive

Get your PCB design workflow off to a smooth start. This Altium tutorial walks you through opening projects from your local directory - a core skill that keeps your process efficient and organized from day one.

Embedded thumbnail for What Makes a Great PCB Design Review Submission?
How-To's
What Makes a Great PCB Design Review Submission?

Turn your PCB designs into professional-grade submissions. At Altium, we reveal the key practices that transform schematics, layouts, and documentation into review-ready work that stands out. Watch our brand-new tutorial and take your PCB design process to the next level.

NEW
Embedded thumbnail for Altium Essentials: Design Environment
Altium Training
Altium Essentials: Design Environment

Take control of your PCB design workflow with Altium Essentials: Design Environment. This tutorial module guides you through the fundamentals of workspace management, from handling panels and documents to mastering menus, context commands, and time-saving shortcuts.

Embedded thumbnail for Altium Training - Workspace Folder Structure: Opening the Explorer Panel
Altium Training
Altium Training - Workspace Folder Structure: Opening the Explorer Panel

Discover the key ways to access the Explorer panel in Altium Designer with this step-by-step tutorial. The video walks you through four different methods, giving you the freedom to choose the approach that best fits your workflow.

Embedded thumbnail for Altium Essentials: Workspace Folder Structure Overview
Altium Training
Altium Essentials: Workspace Folder Structure Overview

Altium Essentials: Workspace Folder Structure is a tutorial series designed for PCB designers who are learning the fundamentals of navigating an Altium workspace. This playlist walks through key Explorer panel skills, including multiple ways to open it (via keyboard shortcuts, menus, panel buttons, and workspaces), navigating projects, and understanding the panel’s six core information areas.

Embedded thumbnail for NFC Reader Project Part One: Schematics to PCB in Altium
How-To's
NFC Reader Project Part One: Schematics to PCB in Altium

Check out our new, in-depth NFC Reader Project tutorial! In this two-part video series, we design an ESP32-based NFC transceiver board from schematics to PCB layout. In Part 1, we dive into the TRF7970A NFC chip from Texas Instruments and guide you step-by-step through the complete design process in Altium.

Embedded thumbnail for HDI PCB Design Review: nRF52840 Via Sizing & Stack-Up Best Practices
How-To's
HDI PCB Design Review: nRF52840 Via Sizing & Stack-Up Best Practices

Explore key HDI design strategies, from calculating aspect ratios and optimizing pad diameters to managing drill tolerances and refining stack-ups for improved signal integrity. This comprehensive review highlights practical solutions to common HDI challenges, including via-in-pad layouts, clearance violations, and layer thickness adjustments for both mechanical and laser drilling processes.

Embedded thumbnail for 13 Common PCB Problems & How to Fix Them in Altium
How-To's
13 Common PCB Problems & How to Fix Them in Altium

Stop wasting time on manufacturing rework. This guide shows you how to set up Altium’s design rules to prevent the 13 PCB issues that most often derail production ensuring your boards are built right the first time.

Embedded thumbnail for What's Inside Your MCU Module?
How-To's
What's Inside Your MCU Module?

Are you curious about what’s inside a microcontroller module? Join us as we take a closer look at the Texas Instruments CC3235 Wi-Fi module under the microscope. In this video, we’ll explore its key components, including the microcontroller, flash memory, and RF circuitry, and explain how they work together to power the module.

Embedded thumbnail for Altium Harness Design Tutorial - From Schematic to 3D Layout
How-To's
Altium Harness Design Tutorial - From Schematic to 3D Layout

Design professional harness systems in Altium with confidence. Follow this comprehensive tutorial to learn multiboard project setup, create wiring diagrams, visualize in 3D, and produce manufacturing-ready documentation complete with ECAD-MCAD integration for precise wire length measurement.

Embedded thumbnail for Arduino to Custom PCB: Professional Design Transformation
How-To's
Arduino to Custom PCB: Professional Design Transformation

Discover how to upgrade your Arduino Nano-based PCB design into a professional, custom PCB. This tutorial walks through the process of replacing development boards with individual components to create a production-ready design, using a real drone project as the example.

Embedded thumbnail for PCB Library Management: One Library or Many?
How-To's
PCB Library Management: One Library or Many?

This detailed guide walks you through the pros and cons of each approach and offers proven strategies for managing component data, whether you're an independent designer or overseeing libraries for an entire organization.

Embedded thumbnail for Coming Soon: Sawtooth Rounding Support for Length Tuning
New in Altium Designer 25
Coming Soon: Sawtooth Rounding Support for Length Tuning

Sawtooth Rounding for Length Tuning improves signal‑path accuracy by applying controlled corner‑rounding to sawtooth geometries during both Interactive Length Tuning and within‑pair matching in the Auto Tuning engine. Discover this capability and additional innovations on our Coming Soon page.

Embedded thumbnail for Coming Soon: Z-Axis Clearance Rule
New in Altium Designer 25
Coming Soon: Z-Axis Clearance Rule

The Z-Axis Clearance Rule checks the shortest distance between copper features on different layers in a PCB design. It is available in both the Constraint Manager and the legacy PCB Rules Editor. Discover more new features in Altium on our Coming Soon Page.

Embedded thumbnail for Coming Soon: Advanced Polygon Pour Engine
New in Altium Designer 25
Coming Soon: Advanced Polygon Pour Engine

Now supports true arcs instead of approximated curves in copper pours. This enhanced engine marks a major advancement in the polygon pour process in Altium Designer, delivering smoother and more accurate copper shapes. Native arc rendering improves visual quality and helps ensure cleaner, more professional PCB designs.

Embedded thumbnail for How to Design Rigid-Flex PCB Stackups from Scratch
How-To's
How to Design Rigid-Flex PCB Stackups from Scratch

Watch this tutorial to learn the fundamentals of Rigid-Flex design. We cover everything from understanding polyimide materials and adhesive layers to building complex, multi-layer Rigid-Flex constructions that are ready for manufacturing.

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