News & Updates
What can the industry do to support PCB designers as they continue taking a more active role in product development? Here at Altium, there has been a progressive shift towards looking at the system level and creating tools that get designers more involved throughout the product development process. As the saying goes, over the wall engineering is over… today’s most successful products are built in a collaborative process.
As the 5G rollout progresses and researchers continue to discuss 6G, many new 5G-capable products operating in sub-GHz and mmWave bands are reaching the marketplace. Devices that will include a 5G-compatible front-end, whether small stations/repeaters or handheld devices, use phased arrays as high-gain antenna systems to provide high data throughput without losing range at higher frequencies.
Via protection is an important part of modern PCB design. It provides additional benefits in PCB manufacturing and assembly, increasing the number of acceptable products.
Version control systems (VCS) have been around for a long time in the software world but can be surprisingly new to some folks in the electronics design industry. Version control tools are great for tracking and maintaining entire codebases without the old-school copying, pasting, zipping, and emailing steps many PCB designers use.
Power integrity problems can abound in modern PCBs, especially high-speed boards that run with fast edge rates. These systems require precise design of the PDN impedance to ensure stable power is always delivered throughout the system.
A design project doesn’t appear out of nowhere. The design process spreads over time, and project documents change. Schematic documents gradually become more complex, new functional blocks appear, and already finished parts can be modified and updated.
Capacitance is your friend whenever you need stable power integrity, which is why there is so much focus on decoupling capacitors. While these components are important and they can be used to provide targeted power integrity solutions to certain components, there is one specialty material used to supercharge capacitance in your PCB stackup or package substrate.
The problems you can experience with components and libraries are endless. These problems are the most significant source of design issues and the biggest reason behind respins, costing companies untold amounts of lost profit annually.
If you want to have a better understanding of how to use Altium 365 to maintain a strong and centralized library that is free of problems and headaches, you may want to consider attending this lecture.
As much as we would like to build every high speed PCB perfectly, with ideal SI/PI/EMI characteristics, it isn’t always possible due to many practical constraints. Sometimes a stackup can be “good enough,” even for a high-speed PCB. This always comes from the need to balance engineering constraints, functional requirements, and the need to ensure signal and power integrity in a high-speed design, and finally to ensure compliance with EMC requirements.
When it's time to release your project to your manufacturer, it's essential to ensure that all the necessary design aspects like assembly, BOM, and documentation are accurately and completely conveyed. Consistency is key to ensuring a successful release. Without clear release documentation, the designer faces increased risks of costly manufacturing response, time-consuming rework, or unintentional defects that can make it into the final product.
Involving the whole team that will bring a product to completion early on in the development cycle is vital to efficient development. Design reviews with all the relevant parties are critical at each step of the design process, starting with high-level component selection, then through the schematic capture and PCB layout stages.
Poor ECAD-MCAD coordination often leads to enclosure conflicts, connector misalignment, and costly redesigns. This article shows how integrated collaboration helps teams catch manufacturability issues earlier and keep projects moving smoothly.
Ultra HDI is changing the rules of PCB design and registration tolerance is now part of the design conversation from day one. Discover how smarter spacing, stackup planning, and collaboration with fabricators can dramatically improve manufacturability and reliability.
Because ECAD formats are typically incompatible, teams often struggle with versioning, conversions, and fragmented review processes. This article breaks down how multi-CAD viewers provide a unified, read-only environment that supports structured design reviews, comments, and task assignment across disciplines.
Sharing PCB designs doesn’t have to be complicated. Check out the best online ECAD viewers that let anyone view and collaborate on designs right from a browser.
Rigid-flex PCBs help modern devices get smaller, lighter, and more compact by eliminating connectors and fitting into tight 3D spaces. This article explains how to design them properly to avoid common reliability issues.
This webinar walks through the complete post-release workflow, from generating a managed BOM to sourcing components and assembling the first prototype. It demonstrates how integrated tools streamline data enrichment, supplier selection, and guided assembly to reduce delays and errors.
BOM management is no longer just a checklist. It’s becoming a real-time engine for smarter decisions! Discover how AI, automation, and connected systems are transforming BOMs into powerful tools for navigating supply chain uncertainty.
Working across different ECAD tools can make design reviews messy and inefficient. This article shows how a multi-CAD viewer simplifies collaboration by letting teams view, comment, and manage designs in one place.
This article examines how fragmented ECAD-MCAD workflows create costly misalignments, late-stage conflicts, and inefficiencies in multiboard system design. It shows how unified, collaborative platforms enable real-time synchronization, digital twins, and cross-domain visibility to eliminate rework and streamline development.
Choosing the right PCB tool can define your entire design workflow. Discover how Altium Designer empowers professional product development, while Flux.ai keeps things simple for fast experimentation.
Rigid-flex stackups are more complex than they seem and getting them wrong early can lead to costly failures later. This article shows how smart decisions around materials, transitions, and layer structure help ensure a reliable design.
Understand how structured design reviews within Altium Agile Teams enhance visibility, traceability, and cross-team collaboration. This webinar highlights methods to detect issues early and optimize your development workflow.
Parsing long datasheets manually slows down embedded development and introduces errors. This article shows how to use a local LLM pipeline to convert datasheets into structured data that speeds up driver creation.
PCB simulation isn’t one-size-fits-all and that’s where it gets interesting! Discover the wide range of tools available, from quick circuit checks to advanced multiphysics simulations, and how they help you design with confidence.
This article explores the shift from PCB-centric design to complex, system-level development where wiring and harnesses play a critical role in product performance. It highlights how unified electromechanical workflows and bi-directional ECAD–MCAD integration improve accuracy, reduce delays, and ensure reliable, production-ready designs.
Want to catch manufacturability issues before they turn into expensive delays? Discover the essential DFM tools from real-time checks to post-layout analysis that help you get your PCB right the first time.