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New designers looking for PCB design software are often overwhelmed by the number of options available. There are fully featured paid platforms built for enterprise-level projects, and there are free tools largely aimed at hobbyists. The key question is not just “which tool is easiest,” but “which tool prepares me for the kind of work I want to do?” If your goal is a professional PCB design career, some tools will accelerate that path, while...

So you've decided to start learning PCB design: what's the best way to get started? The first order of business is to pick a PCB design software program. All the design software options perform a few basic tasks in similar ways. These are schematic capture, component placement, basic routing of copper traces, and Gerber file generation. The software you start using should reflect your goals in learning PCB design. Is your intention to do PCB...

This article is a practical spec guide for engineers designing silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN)based power stages. It focuses on the decisions that control first-spin behavior, including edge control, isolation performance, measurement integrity, magnetics readiness, and the layout constraints that make those specs real on a PCB. If you want the context behind why these items matter, read The Board-Level Trends Shaping Wide...

Wide-bandgap switches have become the pragmatic choice when power targets collide with thermal limits and enclosure constraints. Silicon carbide (SiC) is now the default path for many high-voltage, high-power stages, where efficiency gains translate directly into reduced cooling requirements and higher usable power density. Gallium nitride (GaN) continues expanding beyond consumer fast chargers into server and telecom power, where switching speed...

For medical-electronics teams, multi-sourcing is a design and compliance requirement that underwrites continuity of care. Since 2020, cascading shocks have exposed fragility in components, foundry capacity, logistics corridors, and cross-border trade. Executive surveys show nine in ten supply leaders still encountered disruptions in 2024. Many boards still lack a structured view of supply risk. At the same time, companies are pivoting toward...

Fill out the form to get access to Altium’s guide, Lean Requirements for NewSpace: How to Iterate Faster Without Breaking Traceability. While space program announcements are growing rapidly, only about 5% of 400-plus satellite constellations are considered launched, with the vast majority still in early development or delayed by 6 to 12 months — and often longer. This guide provides practical strategies to modernize requirements management...

As a freelancer or a contract engineer, there is a common question you may get asked by a client when you're starting a design: how much will this cost to build? This question is always difficult to answer before you've started a design. The cost can't be determined until schematics are locked in and the target production volume is determined. Even then, you only know the BOM and assembly cost, but not the bare board cost. Still, it is possible...

Design reviews are the guardrails that keep medical device development safe, compliant, and on schedule. For medical electronics in particular where hardware, embedded firmware, software, and human factors converge, reviews must do more than check boxes. Design reviews demonstrate traceability from user needs to design outputs, show that risks are controlled, and prove that safety and essential performance will hold up in the real world.  The U...

If you’ve spent time learning about Ultra HDI technology, you know that the margin for error gets smaller with every new generation of technology. Lines narrow, features shrink, and suddenly the comfortable assumptions that worked for HDI no longer hold true. Ultra HDI isn’t "HDI but smaller." It’s the interaction of materials, process controls, geometries, and manufacturing tolerances that all need to work together. A good design review is one...