News & Updates
This one area of PCB design can be contentious among some designers as it is related to copper pour, which it is often stated is not needed in most designs. Regardless of your feelings about copper pour, stitching vias have important uses in PCBs at low frequencies and at high frequencies.
The IPC-2221 standard includes many requirements for printed circuit board design and manufacturability, and there are several online calculators that have been developed based on this standard.
When you’re ready to manufacture a new device at production volume, there are many aspects of the product that must come together. The enclosure, cabling and connectors, embedded software/firmware, and of course the PCBA all have to be considered in totality. There is a quick way to get your product into a usable enclosure, complete with input power and cabling, and with a form factor that fits your PCBA. This overused route to a new product is a box build assembly.
It is essential to ask questions and review the design approaches used with your team. Design reviews are essential in the design process, but they can be inconvenient for team members and lack traceability or history. To create the best designs, you need review methods that are as cutting edge as the boards you're making.
Printed circuit board fabricators have become skilled at manufacturing these technologies and also at understanding the reliability and producibility challenges associated with high-density-interconnect technology. Let’s look at where the PCB industry is at today.
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.
When engineering and procurement remain disconnected, supply-chain problems will sneak up on you. This guide argues convincingly: embed sourcing constraints into your requirements from day one, and avoid costly rework down the line.
Power integrity is the backbone of reliable PCB design. This whitepaper explains how to analyze and optimize voltage drop, current density, and grounding directly within Altium Designer Agile using the Power Analyzer by Keysight.
Strong hardware starts with strong libraries. Discover how disciplined ECAD-library management dramatically improves design consistency and accelerates every stage of your PCB workflow.
As data rates increase, the risks hidden in your layout grow with them. This quick guide highlights the critical SI checkpoints that can save you from late-stage surprises and redesigns. If you design high-speed boards, you’ll want to read this before your next review.
Don’t walk into supplier talks blind. Use market data to benchmark quotes, check lead times and uncover alternate parts. This article shows how visibility can shift the balance and de-risk your BOM.
Designing rigid-flex boards is like solving a 3D puzzle of materials, bends and tight spaces, and via-in-pad might just be the piece you need. Dive into how and when to use via-in-pad in rigid-flex designs, and what to watch out for from fabrication to field reliability.
This whitepaper examines how next-generation wearable electronics are evolving through advancements in flexible and rigid-flex design, smart materials, AI, energy innovations, and connectivity. Discover what’s required to transform early prototypes into scalable, reliable products across healthcare, sports, defense, fashion, and enterprise applications.
Electronic parts may now cycle from launch to end-of-life in just a few years, but many systems are expected to serve for 10–20+ years. Here’s how to build a component selection process that aligns engineering, procurement and design for longevity and stability.
As component lead-times extend and obsolescence becomes a persistent threat, PCB projects demand more than schematic capture and layout tools alone. This article details how ECAD software with embedded supply-chain intelligence can: unify engineering and procurement teams; provide visibility into stock levels, lead times and alternates; and enable proactive risk mitigation within the design loop.
In complex electronic systems, managing data from multiple printed circuit boards can quickly become a logistical challenge. This article outlines a structured workflow for handling both board-level and assembly-level design outputs, ensuring clarity and consistency across fabrication, assembly and product-level documentation.
Learn the six essential topics every electronics team should address in design reviews to improve quality, avoid surprises and bring products to market faster.
From design to production, effective Bill of Materials (BOM) management is critical to ensuring smooth collaboration between engineering, procurement, and manufacturing teams. In this practical guide, we break down proven strategies for structuring, maintaining, and synchronizing your BOM to prevent costly mistakes and accelerate time-to-market.
This series of guided demos shows how the Altium Requirements Portal transforms scattered requirement spreadsheets and emails into traceable, version-controlled data that stays aligned with your PCB design efforts.
Discover when a rigid-flex PCB is a better choice than a separate flex circuit and connector, especially for designs requiring compact packaging, repeated motion or high reliability. The article emphasizes that although rigid-flex needs more upfront planning and fabrication collaboration, it often pays off in simpler assemblies and improved performance.
As vehicles evolve into advanced electronic systems, the separation between electrical and mechanical design teams becomes a critical bottleneck. This article explores how synchronized ECAD–MCAD workflows help automotive projects move faster, reduce rework and maintain design integrity.
We all want to pack more into our PCB designs, but the smallest via isn’t always the smartest one. Dive in to learn how picking the right structure can save you headaches down the line.