PCB Design Resources and Information | Altium

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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.

Raspberry Pi CM4 Carrier Boards from Gumstix Create your next embedded application with a Raspberry Pi CM4 dev kit. Once you’ve finished development, you can deploy your application on a custom carrier board. Read Article

Managing PCB Polygon Pour and Copper Features in Complex Layouts PCB polygon pour and copper features in your PCB layout need to be carefully managed, especially when collaborating with other designers. Read Article

LLC Resonant Converter Design and PCB Layout You can use an LLC resonant converter design to provide stable DC power in your circuits. Here’s how to layout your LLC converter design. Read Article

Altium Designer’s Free PCB Viewer Download Allows You to Explore Your BRD Files Today, it almost seems if there are as many PCB design file formats as there are PCB manufacturers. Using a custom file format is advantageous when working with the originating company’s program. However, there are many times when you need the capability to view or use non-native files. This can be a challenge when working with most PCB software companies, but not Altium. Altium offers a freeonline BRD viewer powered by the Altium 365 platform Read Article

Designing Capacitive Touch Sensor PCBs in Altium Designer If you’re familiar with the way smartphones and other devices with touch screens work, then you’re already familiar with capacitive touch sensors. These sensors do more than just allow touch screens to distinguish fingers from other objects. Many sensors use capacitive sensing, sensors for measuring proximity, displacement, force, humidity, and fluid level. With the number of HMI devices that are projected to come into demand in the near future Read Article

Component Parameters Describe Features of a Part Component parameters define features of electronic parts necessary to meet form, fit, and function within the design for use across the enterprise. ALTIUM DESIGNER No matter the model, attributes, or values - input component properties with smart PCB design software. Component parameters describe features of a part PCB Component parameters are simply text strings in EDA software that describe characteristics. Characteristics such as name, value Read Article

Altium PCB Special Strings Elegantly Designed for Intuitive Use During Layout Placing PCB special strings is commonplace within Altium’s workspace with direct access to predefined, and custom, special strings in the Properties Panel. Just DO text! ALTIUM DESIGNERAltium special strings allow for more advanced printed text string and graphic design management during the schematic design and manufacturing process. These special strings, in addition to many other streamlined functions, make Altium Designer the best PCB design Read Article

Making the Switch from Proteus to Altium Designer for PCB Design With so many PCB design software packages on the market, you need design software that is adaptable to any design requirements. Features like interactive routing, layer stack and copper pour management, and defining design rules can make or break your next design. The best design software makes using these tools easy and gives you the power to customize them to meet your design requirements. With Altium Designer, you can rest assured that your Read Article

Crosstalk or Coupling The words crosstalk and coupling are used to describe the injection of electromagnetic energy from one transmission line to another running nearby. In printed circuit boards crosstalk is usually two traces running side by side in the same layer or one over the top of the other in adjacent layers. This coupled energy appears as noise on the victim trace and can cause malfunctions if the amplitude is too large. Learn how this noise is transferred Read Article

Transmission Lines and Terminations in High Speed Design A transmission line is a pair of conductors used to deliver energy in the form of an electromagnetic field. Most of us are familiar with the wires that lead to our houses to deliver the power needed to operate our lights and appliances. In the context of PCB design, it is a signal in a signal layer on top of a plane or between two planes. TRANSMISSION LINES AND TERMINATIONS FOR PCB DESIGNThe purpose of this section is to explain what transmission Read Article

Increasing PCB Prototype Iteration Speed in the Cloud Stay productive and increase PCB prototype iteration speed with the right set of design collaboration utilities in your PCB design software. Read Article

IEEE EPEPS 2020 Roundup: Get Ready for Advanced CAD and Modeling Techniques SI/PI engineers and layout engineers presented their research work at this year’s IEEE EPEPS conference. Read Article

Design Your Own USB-MicroSD Card Reader PCB Altium Designer makes it easy to design your own USB-MicroSD card reader. Here’s a simple project to help you get started. Read Article

Clone and Modify an Arduino Mega Schematic in Altium Designer There are many different Arduino boards available for development and prototyping, and you might consider designing your own Arduino variant. If you want to modify an Arduino Mega schematic, you need design software that lets you easily build around an Arduino board and quickly add functionality. Your design software should make it easy to use any Arduino board, like the Uno, Mega, Zero, or other model. The best PCB design software with Read Article

Get Started with the Best Electronic Circuit Design Software Today, there are many electronic circuit design software options available. Determining the best electronic circuit design software for you, your team, and your organization can seem like a daunting task. The answer is to find unified electronic circuit design software that can meet all of your needs. Only Altium Designer integrates all the critical tools you need for design, simulation, manufacturing, and much more into a single platform. ALTIUM Read Article

The Best PCB Layout & Design Software for Your Needs When designing circuit boards, there are some functions that your PCB design tools must excel at without exception. These include the basic functions of schematic design, schematic capture, placing parts, and routing traces. There are other important functions you won’t find in free PCB design software. These include bill of materials compilation, generation of Gerbers and other deliverables, and data management functions.When you have a set of Read Article

Circuit CAD Software for PCB Design Altium Designer is the complete circuit CAD software for PCB design. Altium Designer unifies capabilities from CAD software to help you complete challenging designs. Read Article