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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.

ECAD/MCAD Co-design for PCB Manufacturing with 3D Printing It is ironic that PCB design has helped drive the adoption of new technology in all industries, including manufacturing automation, yet PCB manufacturing processes themselves have not seen radical innovation for many decades. Some innovative companies are looking to change this and are driving PCB manufacturing into Industry 4.0. 3D printing is already driving new manufacturing methodologies in every industry, such as “lights out” and digital Read Article
Growth and the PCB Design Learning Zone The phone rang at my desk. Tracy was on the other end. It had been several weeks since she had surgery for her implant. I could tell from the tone of her voice that she had exciting news. “Do you think you might be able to get an afternoon off?”, she asked. “Sure, how come what’s up?” I responded. “Well, it’s been 5 weeks since my surgery, and everything is completely healed up. I wanted to ask.” She hesitated for a moment, “Wanted to know if you Read Article
High-Quality, Reviewable PCB Component Libraries Over many years, I have seen many elaborate PCB Library systems. The best ones were not based on the size, but rather the quality of the information. The old axiom is “not Quantity but rather Quality.” I recently sat with a VP of Engineering, and I asked what he thought of his PCB Library. He thought for a moment and said, “I believe it is pretty good.” I asked my question another way, “But do you know?” There is a difference. If I tell you that Read Article
Smart Architecture for Successful PCB Component Libraries Organizing is what you do before you do something so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up. - A. A. Milne Architecture is the specific structure that governs our collected data. It determines how we store, arrange, and utilize the data in the system. In a way, the architecture of your PCB library is like the architecture of a building. You need to have it completed before you build your library so you don’t wind up with a virtual Hotel Del Read Article
In-House Manufacturing for Electronics Projects The news media like to embellish the advances and proliferation of affordable 3D printers, sometimes calling them ‘a factory in your home’. While this concept of being able to avoid buying products at a store and building them at home sounds ideal, I personally don’t believe we’re anywhere near it being a reality. I purchased my first 3D Printer in 2012, built my first CNC router in 2007 and purchased my first CO2 laser cutter in 2014, so I have Read Article
EIPC: A European Community of PCB Technology Professionals In mid-June, I had the great pleasure of attending my first EIPC Conference in Leoben, Austria (pictured above). EIPC (European Institute for the PCB Community) is an organization that has been around for over 50 years and serves the European Electronics Industry and supply chain while maintaining activities that involve the global industry. In this article, I speak with Tarja Rapala, the technical director for EIPC to discuss the purpose Read Article
Engineers Embrace Failure on the Way to Success I'm sure you have worked on a project where you have spent days or weeks trying to make a solution work and at the end wish you had changed directions. I'm a big fan of the 'Fail early, fail fast' concept from software engineering, but I took many years to apply it consistently to electronic design. Some professional environments discourage failure, and unfortunately, many educational settings only offer the option of right or wrong. Changing Read Article
OnTrack Newsletter: PCB Design Zen, Component Management and Brain Food - June 2019 .showvideo:hover { opacity: 0 !important; transition: 0.3s !important } @media screen and (max-width: 600px) {.mobile-column { display: block } .p100 { width: 100% !important; height: auto !important } .p80 { width: 80% !important } .condensed { width: 100% !important; padding: 0 !important; display: block } .condensed90p { width: 90% !important; padding: 0 !important; display: block } .padleftright20 { padding: 0 20px 0 20px } .initial { height Read Article
PCB Design Certifications and Learning Programs Today we’re going to talk about the importance of learning, as Eric Bogatin emphasized at last year’s AltiumLive. Please join my conversation with Ben Jordan where we explore a variety of ways that you can continue to learn and drive your career forward. Listen to the Podcast: Download this episode (right click and save) Watch the video: Show Highlights: A current hot topic on the forum is the value of CID or Certified Interconnect Designer Read Article
Continuous Integration: An Implementation Using Altium Designer In a previous article, Continuous Integration and Deployment in ECAD, we discussed the concept of Continuous Integration while testing within a build system (leveraging Git). In this article, we will take a deeper look at how to set this up and run these “tests” against one’s PCB design project. Continuous Integration Tests: Revisited In Software Engineering, the purpose of implementing Continuous Integration into a workflow is to prevent one’s Read Article
The Evolution Of Simulation Technology and Crosstalk In Part 1 of this blog, I discussed the evolution of simulation as it applied to calculating impedance control. This article focuses on crosstalk which, along with impedance, is one of the more straightforward aspects associated with simulation. The following describes the various elements associated with crosstalk, the challenges associated with it and how to ensure that your PCB design meets crosstalk requirements. Crosstalk Solving for Read Article
The Evolution Of Simulation Technology and Impedance When design engineers started using simulation toolsets, we originally cared only about impedance and terminations. Then when things got fast, we had to worry about loss in the path. Next, we had to address differential pairs (which are specialized transmission lines) and skew. Most recently, we have had to worry about the effect of vias at very high data rates. Note: Of all of these elements, skew is the only one which cannot be simulated. From Read Article
Rigid Flex Cost Comparison Are you starting a design and contemplating whether to use a rigid-flex construction or to move forward with multiple rigid boards and wire/cable connections? Using a rigid-flex concept to replace the traditional approach of using cable assemblies to join two or more rigid boards has clear benefits: reduction in space and weight, more design freedom in packaging, reliability, and increased current carrying capabilities. But the rigid-flex Read Article
Addressing The PDS Design Challenge In part 1 of this article, I described the various challenges and problems associated with maintaining the power integrity of a PCB as accomplished through the design of a fully functioning PDS for any given product implementation. This article will address those problems and challenges by outlining the elements that comprise a PDS, what the job of an engineer is in designing a PDS and the resources available for that design process. It should be Read Article
Why and How to Use an Aluminum PCB Substrate for Your Next Design Aluminum can be used for more than just soda cans I don’t drink soda so much anymore now that I’m in my thirties, but I know aluminum has plenty of uses outside of making coke cans. One use is in the core of your PCB as a material for thermal management. Aluminum has high thermal conductivity and can be used to carry heat away from active components on a PCB when other passive or active cooling measures cannot bring component temperatures to a Read Article
What Size Decoupling Capacitor Should I Use for My Digital ICs? Are these capacitors sized properly? There is quite a bit of information out there about bypass and decoupling capacitors. Both components are vitally important for maintaining power integrity and signal integrity. When you start looking through the information on this topic, you’ll find that the procedure for sizing a decoupling capacitor for a digital IC is quite simple. Bypassing vs. Decoupling: What’s the Difference? Although you wouldn’t Read Article
Symmetric Stripline Impedance Calculators and Formulas In a previous article, we looked at the inconsistencies that can arise when using different calculators to compute the impedance of surface and embedded microstrip traces. Many of the same issues mentioned in the previous article apply to stripline impedance calculators. Symmetric striplines are easier to address than asymmetric striplines, both numerically and analytically. Here, we’ll give a short comparison of the various impedance formulas Read Article