Home

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

Best Methods For Design That Satisfies Power Integrity Parameters In my previous articles, I addressed Power Delivery System (PDS) design, the myths surrounding it and ways to implement a successful working PDS. At the core of all these efforts lies power integrity. What is it? What are the challenges associated with it? How can it be successfully incorporated into a fully-functioning PCB implementation? This article will address the beginnings of power integrity, the various facets of component functionality Read Article
Rigid-Flex Prototyping Tips Question: What are a few key tips for flex and rigid-flex prototyping? My answer to this question is simple: OVER COMMUNICATE with your fabricator! Typically, prototypes are needed quickly, yet approximately 75%-80% of new part numbers go on hold for engineering questions and clarifications. This can have a significant impact on scheduling. Before you can work on ways to communicate clearly with your fabricator, you need to select the right Read Article
PCB Layout Tip: Save Time with Reusable Blocks To survive today’s business environment for PCB Designers, design reuse is crucial for quick PCB layout. We must always work faster and smarter. That means whatever available methods might streamline the process to make it more straightforward and faster the better. However, when things go faster, usually more mistakes occur, and they are generally not caught. One strategy that helps tremendously is using Reusable designs. A common practice in Read Article
Continuous Integration and Deployment in ECAD Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment have become widely adopted practices within the software world. The concept of Continuous Integration and Deployment don’t need to be limited to just software - they can be extended into the ECAD world as well. In this article we will address both concepts and how they can be leveraged in ECAD tools. Continuous Deployment Designers will frequently make changes to their code and check it into the Read Article
Weekly Digest: New Author Mark Harris Welcome to the weekly digest where you can get all the latest published this week. Read articles by Mark Harris, our newest writer who weighs in this week on EMC certification and programming languages for embedded projects. Or read a fascinating article by one of Altium’s own experts, Vince Mazur. On the podcast this week listen in to Judy Warner, Rob Cooke and Jose Cordero from Calumet Electronics Corporation talk about how to make sure your Read Article
How to Conquer Data Package Problems Today we meet with Rob Cooke, Director of Engineering, and Jose Cordero, Lead CAM Engineer from Calumet Electronics Corporation in Michigan. We talk about something that’s often overlooked, which is making sure your data package references the most current revision of IPC Standards. Listen in as we discuss slash-sheets, ENIG, and Via Plugging. Listen to the Podcast: Download this episode (right click and save) Watch the video: Show Highlights Read Article
Weekly Digest: New Altium Updates Welcome to the weekly digest where all the Altium articles, videos, podcast clips and more are shared each week. On the podcast this week, get inspired by this success story - Greg Papandrew discusses his new company, Better Board Buying. We also have several articles from PCB experts detailing the benefits and requirements for good design management and design for modern mobile environments. Just can’t get enough about Altium? Tryout our latest Read Article
The Zen of Electronic Product Design and Wellness When you think of a hardware startup, chances are your first thought isn’t about a meditation training device. Yet in our very noisy, stressful world, meditation is becoming a pervasive and effective way to reduce stress and improve overall mental wellness. In this article, you’ll learn about how Core Wellness Co-founder, Sarah McDevitt, left Microsoft to launch Core Wellness and develop the Core personal meditation trainer. Judy Warner: Please Read Article
Navigating the Complexities of Component Libraries and Data Management Keeping your component libraries and data organized, accurate and optimized for team use is critical for all engineers and PCB designers. Unfortunately, it can be extremely tedious and it takes time and energy away from the actual design of the board and products. It’s akin to an artist spending 75% of their time organizing art supplies and only 25% on painting! Below you’ll find a variety of content sources that we hope will help you streamline Read Article
EMC Certification and Your Product I’ve spent most of my career in electronics working with or for small businesses and startups, and helping them shape ideas into a physical product. Some recurring misconceptions I faced with almost every client were regarding Electromagnetic Compatibility compliance. Many had no idea that their products would need EMC testing, some were unaware of the duration of time and cost of certification, and others were unaware of how requirements applied Read Article
Key Documents for Fabrication and Assembly I come from humble beginnings - a long line of farmers in central Pennsylvania. It is amazing how one can take a simple seed, place it in the ground, and tend to it. Before long, you have a mature plant with a variety of uses: food for people, feed for livestock, and most importantly, more seeds for the next growing season. With so much riding on the seed, it is no wonder why you want to guard and protect it. Your PCB Designs are like that simple Read Article
Successful PCB Design Data Management Previously, we looked at what a successful Data Management system entails and how we would identify a reliable System that is safe to use. In this blog, we’ll look at what your Data Management system will need to ensure its success. While every Data Management System is unique, there are universal principles which we’ll explore that are vital to a PCB’s utility. These principles are like pillars supporting a bridge; if any single pillar is Read Article
Advanced PCB Library Management A previous article from Altium’s PCB design blog showed everyone how to get started with integrated PCB library management. In the previous article, you can get a look at creating an integrated library project and how to compile schematics and PCBs into their own libraries. You can then take schematic libraries and your PCB libraries and compile them into an integrated library. This allows you to package sets of important design and component Read Article
Effective Integrated PCB Library Management with Altium Designer PCB library management by hand is over with Altium Designer If you’ve been designing for awhile, you’ve probably accumulated a significant amount of designs, including schematics, arranged boards, and proprietary components. Keeping track of all of this important information in your operating system’s file structure or on a network drive can leave you prone to careless mistakes. If someone moves or renames a single file, it can have a far Read Article
5G Antenna Tuning in Mobile and IoT Devices 5G antenna tuning is like tuning a guitar as you play Guitar players know all about tuning their instruments. Whether swinging a whammy bar on stage or just ensuring each string hits the right note, this tuning changes that the resonant frequencies of each to the tone desired by the musician. To continue the recent series of articles on PCB design for 5G systems, one other aspect of designing RF design for 5G-capable wireless systems involves a Read Article
Phased Array Antenna Design for 5G Applications New antenna designs are the cornerstone of next-gen 5G devices As the 5G rollout begins, designers have an important role to play in designing the technical infrastructure to support more connected devices and provide higher data rates. More component manufacturers are also providing a broader range of solutions for antennas in 5G systems. Designers of 5G-capable mobile devices need to consider appropriate antenna designs for their systems. Two Read Article
How to Buy PC Boards From a Board Shop Today we talk with Greg Papandrew who’s just started a new company called Better Board Buying. With more than 27 year’s experience in PCB sales, he knows all the inside tricks to help you get the most out of your vendor partnerships and to save money and time. Listen to the Podcast: Download this episode (right click and save) Watch the video: Show Highlights: Greg started in the industry as an inside sales and customer service guy. Believing he Read Article