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Explore content from blog posts to technical white papers gathered together for your convenience. All written by Altium's community of PCB design experts.

Order Up! Finding Your Chef Voice in Mixed Voltage PCB Design Order Up! Finding Your Chef Voice in Mixed Voltage PCB Design I was watching a cooking program on television the other day when I noticed how chefs always seem to be yelling whenever they need something or are demanding another kitchen staff to do something. It started to dawn on me how much of a mixture a kitchen has to be: there have to be all sorts of people who are both capable of being quiet and listening, and being loud and giving orders when something needs to get done. When you stop to consider all Read Article
Guidelines for PCB Design PCB Design is a complex field and every step you take to design and develop a board has its own set of best practices to help you determine the best solutions for your pending puzzle. Read on for more information about guidelines from across the spectrum of PCB design disciplines. We hope these PCB design guidelines will help you in your next project. Click the PDF above to read more about Guidelines for PCB Design in this presentation. Or read Download PDF
Preventing PCB Defects One of the most important things you can do to make sure your PCB project goes off without a hitch is to be proactive from the moment of conception. As with many things, educating yourself on the technical aspects of the most common defects and how to prevent them will serve you well for your entire PCB designing career. Knowing what to look out for will be a major asset in ensuring that your board will be the dependable, quality product you had Download PDF
Auto-Interactive Routing In the past, many PCB designers would shy away from using autorouters in their designs due to their penchant for difficult setups and questionable results. This led to many of us opting for manual hand routing to avoid the trouble and clean up. However, recent developments in auto-routing technology have allowed for a lot of saved time and effort in your design process. While some of the more critical aspects of your design will still require Download PDF
BOM Cost Analysis Shows PCB Design Savings Just Over the Horizon BOM Cost Analysis Shows PCB Design Savings Just Over the Horizon Ever have a rocky day? Or have the wind taken out of your sails? These and many other phrases have some of their roots as nautical expression but have been adapted for everyday use. “Keeping a weather eye,” for example, means to pay attention to the weather regardless of what else you might be doing. Sailors might not have intended to start this linguistic drifting, but at sea, overlooking a rapidly approaching cloud or a brief drop in the wind Read Article
The Best Layout Software for PCB Design Output Files Lets You Shop Carefree The Best Layout Software for PCB Design Output Files Lets You Shop Carefree Have you ever returned from the grocery store only to find out that you neglected something important? I have done this more times than I can count. Not that I mind getting out of the house, I just don’t necessarily want my free time consumed with trips to the store. Besides, I have already given my family plenty of reasons to have fun at my expense. I don’t need to help them out with additional ammunition. Newsflash! This is why shopping lists Read Article
Taxes Aren't All You'll Pay Without PCB Manufacturing Process Reviews Taxes Aren't All You'll Pay Without PCB Manufacturing Process Reviews Some people are afraid of spiders or snakes and I’m afraid of those too, but one of my worst fears is being audited. Now it’s time to start getting organized again and collect on all of my organization last year to make reviewing my notes and preparing for taxes easy. But, wait: my drawer full of notes and important receipts is also full of assorted shopping lists, grocery receipts, home repair goals, and that list I wrote in February for a Read Article
Princeton Racing Electrical Team and the Formula Hybrid Competition Princeton Racing Electrical Team and the Formula Hybrid Competition Judy Warner: It is a pleasure to meet you both. Jasper, let’s begin with you. Will you please share what the Princeton Racing Electric team does, how the team was formed, and in what year? Jasper Gebhardt: Princeton Racing Electric is a team of students who design, build, and race single-seat electric race cars. We compete in the Formula SAE collegiate design competitions, in particular, the Formula Hybrid competition. The team was founded by Read Article
Expert Dirk Stans Bridging Gaps in PCB Manufacturing Expert Dirk Stans Bridging Gaps in PCB Manufacturing Judy Warner: Dirk, please give us a brief overview of your career path and history in the electronics industry. Dirk Stans: As an electronics engineer, I started my career at DISC which became Barco Graphics just one year after I joined the company. From day one I was active in the sales of Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) systems for the PCB industry in Europe. It was there that I gained insight into the evolution of the European and global Read Article
Searching for Clarity: Signal Integrity Issues in PCB Design Searching for Clarity: Signal Integrity Issues in PCB Design The clarity of TV signal transmission these days is amazing. I can still remember the days when I had a set of rabbit ears perched atop my 19” RCA. It was a challenge to position them just right to get the clearest picture, not to mention having to adjust them for every channel. Sometimes it’d take all night just to find the channel I wanted, so I’d sit down for five minutes and then head to bed. And if the weather was bad, forget about it. While Read Article
Practical Setups for PCB Design and Other Tips for Success Practical Setups for PCB Design and Other Tips for Success My father did not say a lot as he was a quiet man armed with a subtle wit, but he was very wise. He’s been gone for many years now, but I will always remember how he modeled for us a consistent perseverance in getting the job done and getting it done right. Every night, regular as clockwork, he would go through the house to make sure that all of the doors and windows were locked. This was his regular practice to make sure that his family was Read Article
Listen to the Baby: Use Circuit Board Visual Indicators for Serviceability Listen to the Baby: Use Circuit Board Visual Indicators for Serviceability I’m a new dad and let me tell you: it is tough. I know everybody always tells you about the two sides of parenting, but I hadn’t really taken it to heart until now. That happy, sleeping, cuddly infant is around for about forty minutes after being fed, and then the crying begins. Sometimes, the problem is the milk temperature, sometimes a wet diaper, and sometimes because they feel like crying. In my years alive, I never anticipated being grateful Read Article
Altium Designer Evaluation Guide for Autodesk EAGLE™ Users_2017 Download PDF
Your PCB Bill of Materials Report Can Be So Much More Than a Simple Statement Your PCB Bill of Materials Report Can Be So Much More Than a Simple Statement I just finished going through my bank balances and I am very grateful for the online utilities that my bank provides. It used to be that you could only get an account statement in the mail from your bank that you had to reconcile with your checkbook. Today’s online banking systems are far superior with different utilities to help you track and organize your finances. With these tools you can move money around, create and monitor budgets, as do Read Article
What’s Worse: Holes in Your Winter Gloves or Copper Layer Defects? What’s Worse: Holes in Your Winter Gloves or Copper Layer Defects? Much of the United States is going through a remarkably cold period right now; as I write this there is only about 10% of the country experiencing temperatures above freezing. It was a true, white Christmas for many; however, not the white that most expect: instead of snow, they got ice. Living in areas where the temperature can vary by up to 40℉ in a day means dressing in layers. If you’re anything like me, you’re still mastering the art of Read Article
Altium Designer Evaluation Guide for OrCAD® Users Download PDF
Avoid Loose Signals With Successful Coin Acceptor Programs Avoid Loose Signals With Successful Coin Acceptor Programs It’s been cold as an ice cube in an igloo lately, and the only thing that’s keeping my hands warm in the morning is my coffee. You know it won’t be a good day, though, when you’re getting a hot latte from a vending machine and the vending machine eats your coins. I end up with frozen hands and a caffeine headache by 10 am, or I end up having to reroute my whole morning just to run to another cafe. I understand that vending machines fail sometimes Read Article