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Embedded thumbnail for Buck Converter
Simulation in Altium Designer
Buck Converter

Learn how to run a transient simulation, analyze the waveforms, and measurement techniques you can use to determine a voltage ripple with a buck converter as an example. 

Embedded thumbnail for Edge Plating in RF Design
How-To's
Edge Plating in RF Design

PCB Edge Plating provides additional noise suppression and improves EMC. In this video we provide you some practical tips for creating metalized PCB edges in Altium Designer.

Blog
Concept Phase – Lid Assembly Design Part 1

In the exciting next phase of the open-source laptop project we're (finally) diving into design, and getting hands-on with the display panel. Discover how we're selecting the right panel, integrating it seamlessly, and creating a custom DisplayPort adapter to illuminate the screen. Plus, learn how our choices impact features like microphones, webcams, and touch sensors, and how Altium can help bring it all to life. It’s not too late to join as we continue on this innovative journey!

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Custom Pad Stack in Altium Designer
Custom Paste Mask and Solder Mask

Altium Designer allows you to freely customize paste and solder mask shapes, which allows you to adapt your design for non-standard component footprints.

Embedded thumbnail for Colpitts Oscillator
Simulation in Altium Designer
Colpitts Oscillator

Learn how to effectively fix errors in circuit simulation and other problem-solving techniques using a Colpitts Oscillator design as an example. 

Embedded thumbnail for Custom Thermal Reliefs for Pads
Custom Pad Stack in Altium Designer
Custom Thermal Reliefs for Pads

Altium Designer allows you to add, remove, and edit thermal relief spikes anywhere on a pad, regardless of its shape. Using these can improve soldering and prevent manufacturing problems like tombstoning.

Embedded thumbnail for Notch Filter
Simulation in Altium Designer
Notch Filter

Learn how to run an AC sweep analysis, execute a Monte Carlo simulation, and interpret the results using a notch filter as an example. 

Blog
Unleashing the Power of Concurrent PCB Design

Concurrent PCB Design is essential to unlocking the full potential of engineering teams and delivering innovative products that meet the demands of the modern world. Learn more about the main capabilities and the numerous benefits of this upcoming feature in Altium Designer.

Embedded thumbnail for Custom Pad Shapes
Custom Pad Stack in Altium Designer
Custom Pad Shapes

Modern components often contain pads with complex shapes. Altium Designer allows you to create custom pad shapes quickly and easily, and manage them like you would a standard pad.

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.

Embedded thumbnail for Low-Pass Filter
Simulation in Altium Designer
Low-Pass Filter

Learn how to modify an op amp low-pass filter circuit for simulation. 

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How-To's
Design Reuse

If you need to shorten your time-to-market, reduce costs, and minimize errors in the design process. Then you need to make sure that you’re designing smarter, with design reuse blocks. Check out this demo to see how it works.

Embedded thumbnail for Flyback Converter
Simulation in Altium Designer
Flyback Converter

Learn how to use transient analysis on an example flyback converter and handle basic errors during the simulation preparation. 

Embedded thumbnail for Back Drilling in Altium Designer
How-To's
Back Drilling in Altium Designer

In this video, we will learn about Back Drilling technology, how to set up back drilling using the Layer Stack Manager, and how to set up the Stub Length sizes for back drilling by specifying applicable nets using the Design Rules Editor.

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.

Embedded thumbnail for Distributed - Element Circuits in RF Design
How-To's
Distributed - Element Circuits in RF Design

The capacitance and inductance of Distributed-Element circuits are determined by the shape and location of different copper elements in the PCB layout, instead of being concentrated in one point in space. Learn how to work with these circuits in Altium Designer.

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.

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Blog
How to Create a PCB Manufacturing Cost Estimation

Some manufacturers have very convenient PCB manufacturing cost estimation calculators you can use, but the real costs depend on a number of factors. If you’re an entrepreneur and you’re producing your own boards, or you are managing manufacturing, testing, and delivery for a new project, it’s your job to help clients understand the primary cost drivers for new boards. Here’s how you can get an estimate of your fabrication costs, both for local and overseas manufacturers.

Blog
PCB Mountable Connectors: SMD vs. Through-hole

Selecting a connector is as much an art as it is a science. The artistic side is all about aesthetics and satisfying clearances, while the scientific side is all about signal integrity. For PCB mountable connectors, you’ll need to choose between surface-mounted or through-hole connectors, and you’ll need to consider how each type affects signal integrity in your application. Here’s what you need to think about beyond the standard connector specifications.

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Blog
PCB Via Current-Carrying Capacity: How Hot is Too Hot?

Trace and via current-carrying capacity are legitimate design points to focus on when designing a new board that will carry high current. The goal is to keep conductor temperatures below some appropriate limit, which then helps keep components on the board cool.

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 May 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 May 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 Apr 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 Mar 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 Mar 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 Feb 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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NEW
Embedded thumbnail for Coming Soon: Advanced Via Fencing
New in Altium's Software
Coming Soon: Advanced Via Fencing

Coming soon to Altium software: Advanced Via Fencing gives you greater control over creating and managing shielding and stitching vias for RF and high-speed designs. Configure via fences directly from the Properties panel, follow traces or geometry edges, use stacked vias, define spacing and patterns, and preview the results before generating them.

NEW
Embedded thumbnail for 5 DC Power Integrity Myths That Ruin Your PCB Design
How-To's
5 DC Power Integrity Myths That Ruin Your PCB Design

DC power integrity plays a critical role in the reliability of nearly every power electronics board, yet common misconceptions can lead to costly design decisions. In this video, we break down five of the most common DC power integrity myths and explain what you really need to know for reliable power electronics design.

Embedded thumbnail for A fraction of a millimeter is the difference between a robot that fits and one that doesn't
Collaborative Engineering with Team Ribbot
A fraction of a millimeter is the difference between a robot that fits and one that doesn't

Check out the latest episode about Team Ribbot and see how they move design data between their electrical and mechanical tools without losing accuracy. Discover how Altium Designer and MCAD CoDesign help bring the boards, housings, and custom motors together right the first time with no surprises.

Embedded thumbnail for  HDI PCB Stackup Breakdown - Etching Weight Via Spacing, & More
How-To's
HDI PCB Stackup Breakdown - Etching Weight Via Spacing, & More

HDI PCB design depends on getting the stackup and manufacturing constraints right. In this deep dive, we examine a real HDI audio-interface board and explore common pitfalls, from how copper weight and etching affect minimum clearances to why solder mask slivers below 1 mil can cause manufacturing issues. You’ll also learn how proper board-edge clearance and copper pullback help protect SMD pads during routing.

Embedded thumbnail for  How do you review a robot design when your team is never in the same room?
Collaborative Engineering with Team Ribbot
How do you review a robot design when your team is never in the same room?

Team Ribbot’s engineers are spread across five states and juggle full-time jobs while building a 250-pound combat robot in their spare time. Discover how Altium Designer and Altium 365 keep the team connected, letting engineers open the live design from a laptop or phone, inspect the board in 3D, and leave comments directly on the design.

Embedded thumbnail for  Improve Visual Accuracy with True Arcs
New in Altium's Software
Improve Visual Accuracy with True Arcs

Discover how True Arc Rendering improves arc visualization in the PCB Editor and PCB Library Editor by displaying true arcs across 2D, 3D, and Board Planning modes. This provides a more accurate representation of board geometry and helps you work with curved features with greater precision throughout the design process.

Embedded thumbnail for Two engineers, one board, nobody's work gets wiped out
Collaborative Engineering with Team Ribbot
Two engineers, one board, nobody's work gets wiped out

When Team Ribbot’s electrical and mechanical engineers work on the same combat-robot design, unwanted changes can mean hours of lost work. See how Altium Designer and MCAD CoDesign let the team review and selectively accept changes, enabling seamless parallel collaboration across different locations and schedules.

Embedded thumbnail for Visualize and Refine Your Harness Designs
New in Altium's Software
Visualize and Refine Your Harness Designs

Create detailed views of bundle contents, control wire and cable paths, and rotate physical models to accurately represent the final harness assembly. These capabilities give you greater control over harness design and help ensure your digital model reflects the physical result.

Embedded thumbnail for Introducing Agentic Requirements Engineering
New in Altium's Software
Introducing Agentic Requirements Engineering

Discover a new way to work with Requirements Portal through Agentic Requirements Engineering. AI agents analyze your project data and surface proposals for your approval, reducing friction in requirements management and helping align your team's shared model with your design intent.

Embedded thumbnail for Simplify Rule Set Updates and Replacement
New in Altium's Software
Simplify Rule Set Updates and Replacement

Learn how to import rule sets with greater flexibility in Altium. When importing rules, you can add new rules to your existing set, replace only rules that match, or completely replace the current rule set giving you full control over how design rules are updated.

Embedded thumbnail for  How Team Ribbot fits 40 kW of power into a 250-pound combat robot
Collaborative Engineering with Team Ribbot
How Team Ribbot fits 40 kW of power into a 250-pound combat robot

What do you get when you pack the power of a small electric car into a combat robot with virtually no room to spare? In the first episode of our collaboration with Team Ribbot and Altium, explore how seamless ECAD-MCAD collaboration helps the team tackle complex design challenges, optimize high-performance designs, reduce errors, and bring products to life faster.

Embedded thumbnail for Just Released: Supplier Data Merging
New in Altium's Software
Just Released: Supplier Data Merging

Discover how the Supplier Data Merging feature brings together supplier information from your custom parts database and the Altium Parts Provider into a single, unified view. Access consolidated supplier data wherever supplier part numbers appear, including in ActiveBOM and during component selection.

Embedded thumbnail for How Altium’s Layer Stack Manager Actually Works
How-To's
How Altium’s Layer Stack Manager Actually Works

Take a look inside Altium's Layer Stack Manager and discover how its impedance calculator determines the ideal trace width for your target impedance. In this video, we break down the "black box" behind the calculation and show how the Simbeor-based field solver provides accurate results while eliminating the need for advanced field solver expertise.

Embedded thumbnail for Connect Requirements Directly to Your PCB Design
New in Altium's Software
Connect Requirements Directly to Your PCB Design

See how the Requirements Portal integration in Altium Designer simplifies requirements management by bringing system requirements directly into your PCB design workflow. Connect requirements to design documents, assign tasks, track verification in real time, and keep your entire team aligned with seamless synchronization in Altium 365.

Embedded thumbnail for SFP Connector Routing: High-Speed Differential Pair Design Tips
How-To's
SFP Connector Routing: High-Speed Differential Pair Design Tips

Discover practical SFP and SFP+ routing tips in our latest video, inspired by a real question from the Altium subreddit. We cover how aggressive serpentine length tuning can be, how to reduce impedance discontinuities in tight meanders, and how meandering influences mode conversion at 10G and higher data rates.

Embedded thumbnail for Handle High-Density PCB Layouts with Ease
New in Altium's Software
Handle High-Density PCB Layouts with Ease

Push the limits of PCB design with support for up to 128 signal layers, empowering the development of even the most complex, high-density boards.

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