News & Updates
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.
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.
Verification becomes much easier when requirements and system performance data stay connected automatically. This article explains how reusable parameters and V&V rules help teams detect violations earlier and validate designs with greater confidence.
This article explores how modern engineering teams manage complex projects involving multiple ECAD, MCAD, and manufacturing file formats across distributed workflows. It highlights the importance of design authority, disciplined revision control, and bidirectional collaboration to ensure accurate integration between PCBs and mechanical systems.
Complex multiboard designs demand more than just connecting boards together. They require every interface to work flawlessly under real-world conditions. Discover how better pin assignments, return paths, and mechanical planning can dramatically improve reliability and reduce rework.
Engineering and sourcing teams work best when BOM decisions happen with live market data in view. This article explains how integrated cost and availability insights help teams collaborate earlier and avoid redesigns driven by supply chain issues.
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.