How To Improve Your Productivity With Added Screen Real Estate In electronics design, there’s an inherent need to increase productivity whenever possible. To that end, electronics designers also tend to have an inherent affinity for technology that will help them to do that. They’re willing to invest money in the most up-to-date tools, training, and other bells and whistles, if it means saving time and money in the long run. However, there’s another area that’s often overlooked--and which doesn’t cost very Read Article The Basics of PDN for the PCB Designer When PCB designers hear the term “PDN”, or “Power Distribution Network”, it might conjure up notions of bode plots, black magic, and other mysterious, scary things. In reality, the goal of the PDN is as straightforward as are most of the PCB design aspects that affect PDN performance. In this paper we’ll explain the various aspects of most PDN designs and how the PCB design software can influence them. OVERALL GOAL: SUFFICIENT CURRENT AND VOLTAGE Read Article Facilitating Physical and Electrical PCB Design Comparison The increasing demand for smaller, more capable electronics has been a major driving factor behind the development of more complex, densely packed PCBs. Although Electronic Design Automation (EDA) software is regularly updated to handle the added complexity of PCB board design, board designers must still review and approve any and all design modifications made by the software. Comparing physical and electrical PCB design through a review cycle Read Article Unifying Your Component Management Workflow (Design Data Mgmt) Unify component management for better design data management. No more main components on backorder, or worse yet, in obsolescence! This Altium whitepaper can help. To learn more about this topic please see the full solution - Unifying Your Component Management Workflow - at Altium.com. Read Article DC Analysis of a PDN: Essentials for the Digital Designer PDN analysis is an essential element in any digital designer's toolbox, providing valuable insight into how to reduce a design's size and complexity while improving performance. To learn more about this topic please see the full solution - DC Analysis of a PDN - at Altium.com. Read Article Enhancing Your Design Efficiency with Project Templates HIERARCHICAL SCHEMATIC DESIGN IN ALTIUM DESIGNER New Altium Designer users may not fully understand the benefits of organizing schematic sheets into a hierarchical top-down or bottom-up perspective. As a result, users often proceed with simple (flat) schematic designs without giving a second thought to project organization. In this paper, we’ll take a comprehensive look at the sheet symbols and how they’re used to synchronize the parts of a larger Read Article How To Reduce Design Respins With Embedded 3D STEP Models Read Article Alternatives to Gerber RS-274-X Gerber RS-274-X format is used for fabricating about 90% of all PCBs designed today worldwide. Learn about Gerber alternatives. To learn more about this topic please see the full solution - Alternatives to Gerber RS-274-X - at Altium.com. Read Article Defining and Using Multiple Grids A typical PCB layout consists of electrical, electro-mechanical, and mechanical object types, each with specific grid requirements. For example, trace routing, electronic components, test points, and mechanical enclosures each may have a different grid step and size requirement, as well as a different unit of measure, or a different offset from the board’s reference origin. Polar (circular) grids may also be required to place traces or components Read Article The Breadth and Depth of Your PCB Design Workflow The routing process remains the most time-consuming layout task, Altium Designer interactive routing technology makes design dense board layouts much easier. Modern printed circuit boards must address a broad set of technology challenges. PCB design software needs to include tools that help design engineers stay productive while ensuring new designs are fully manufacturable. Designers that create advanced technology rely on interactive routing Read Article Enhancing Your High-Speed Design with xSignals To learn more about this topic please see the full solution - Enhancing Your High-Speed Design with xSignals - at Altium.com. Read Article Multi-Channel Design with a Flat Project This paper will show you how to easily replicate circuitry for multi-channel design applications using Altium Designer PCB design software. You can save yourself plenty of time by reusing existing functional blocks in your PCB, but design reuse is difficult without the right schematic editor. Each schematic you create for your board contains blocks of circuitry that can be connected together, and multi-channel design makes it easy to reuse Read Article Three Ways To Simplify Output Generation Using Altium Designer Many of the delays involved with the PCB design to Manufacturing process can be avoided with accurate data and documented notes for fabrication and assembly. In addition, easily reproducing the required data can be a huge time saver for communication between PCB designer and fabricator. The Output Job Configuration file available in Altium Designer can provide a suitable solution for controlling and ultimately simplifying the output generation of Read Article Implementing Complex Pad Shapes Component pads are not always simply round or rectangular shapes. Analog, high-power, or RF components often require geometrically complex or irregular shaped pads. This paper details an easy and efficient solution for when a user is confronted with having to quickly implement complex pad shapes that must meet the manufacturer’s layout requirements without resulting in DRC violations or manufacturing errors. INTRODUCTION Most component package Read Article Queries - How to Utilize Rules to their Full Potential Queries allow you to find, isolate, and operate on objects in a PCB design. Altium Designer provides multiple methods of utilizing queries prioritized by particular rules. This will help you use the Query Builder and Query Finder, which are two essential tools for implementing the definitions of queries in different areas of the PCB documents. INTRODUCTION A query is a string composed of various, yet specific, keywords and syntax, which will Read Article 5 Tips for Specifying PCB Hole Size Tolerance Learn how to quickly add and clearly communicate hole size tolerance specifications to your fabricator to ensure your PCB design is manufactured properly. One of the more forgotten topics in PCB design are the holes through which components are mounted. Specifying the tolerance of hole dimensions in PCB fabrication ensures proper fit of plated-through-hole (PTH) components. Just as important, those dimensions must be clearly communicated to the Read Article Assembly Variants Management Systems Keeps Designs Synchronized Altium Designer gives you a robust centralized variant management system. You can define any number of design variations of a base design, then manage component parameters and configure the variant components as fitted, not fitted, or alternate parts. As these variants share the same bare board and have impact on the assembly process only, we call these assembly variants. Now you will see how variant management in Altium Designer can harmonize Read Article Pagination First page « First Previous page ‹‹ Page215 Current page216 Page217 Page218 Page219 Page220 Next page ›› Last page Last » Load More