PCB Design Resources and Information | Altium

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

Resources for the Lifelong Learner A few years ago, in a recap video of AltiumLive, Dr. Eric Bogatin, the Dean of Signal Integrity Academy, stated the following: “Everybody recognizes that you have to continually grow. It’s kind of like in Alice in Wonderland. Alice is in the Red Forest, and the line goes something like this: ‘in this forest, you have to run faster and faster, just to stay in the same place!’ And I think that encapsulates where the industry is today. The most Read Article

Part 1: Why Your PCB Design Review Process Is Obsolete and What You Can Do About It A printed circuit board (PCB) design review is a practice to review the design of a board for possible errors and issues at various stages of product development. It can range from a formal checklist with official sign-offs to a more free-form inspection of schematic drawings and PCB layouts. Some companies do it completely in-house, while others get help from design firms and contractors. In many cases, they involve their contract manufacturers Read Article

How to Simulate a PCB Design Get started with a PCB simulation and learn how to simulate a PCB design. Make sure you use the best PCB simulation software in Altium Designer's unified environment. Read Article

What is PCB Component Creation? Learn more about PCB component creation and how you can easily create components with the best CAD features in Altium Designer. Read Article

Resistor Derating to Improve Mean Time Between Failure All resistors have a specified power rating that determines the maximum energy they can convert without its performance degrading or the component failing. Read now to learn more. Read Article

OnTrack Newsletter: AltiumLive is Back! IPC and Altium Podcast, Design Articles – August 2021 August 2021 VOL. 5 No. 2 Full Article | Watch Video | Brain Food AltiumLive is Back...Save the Date! Altium is excited to announce that AltiumLive is back! There’s been many exciting and challenging things going on behind the scenes, here at Altium, that’s led to our decision to move from our typical October dates to late January 2022. Not the least of which challenges we’re facing is the changing landscape of public health concerns and our Read Article

AltiumLive is Back...Save the Date! AltiumLive is Back..and Better than Ever! Altium is happy to announce that AltiumLive is back! Many of you have been eagerly waiting to hear about our plan for our annual users conference that typically takes place in October. For a variety of reasons, including the shifting landscape of public health conditions, we have moved AltiumLive San Diego to January 26-28, 2022. In an all new and expanded format, AltiumLive will be a hybrid conference Read Article

AltiumLive Co-locates with IPC Apex Expo Two executives are joining us in today’s episode. Ted Pawela of Altium and IPC VP Dave Bergman. Join us and learn what’s coming in AltiumLive 2022 and IPC Apex 2022. Read Article

Comparing All Serial Communications Protocols At the end of this series, we summarize the advantages and disadvantages of each type of Serial Communication Protocol available to transfer information between microcontrollers, data-producing, and data-processing peripherals, and other intelligent devices. Read Article

Troubleshooting EMC Immunity Issues Most PCB Designers wear many hats, and one of them is to solve EMC problems. How can you acquire this skill that is not offered in the university? Watch now or listen on the go! Read Article

26:26 CoDesigner and MCAD Component Placement We design products not just PCBs requiring effective collaboration between MCAD and ECAD engineers. We need to consider how we Watch Video

28:11 Using Version Control in Your PCB Project Webinar Version control has been a staple of software development for decades, but hardware development can benefit just as much from Watch Video

18:49 Communicating Design Intent with Manufacturing Outputs No one wants to do a board respin because of inaccurate or incomplete manufacturing outputs confusing design intent. This webinar Watch Video

Level Up Your Design Skills - Altium Designer Getting Started User Guide We are happy to announce the release of the new Altium Designer Getting Started User Guide. Whether you are new to Altium Designer or you want to brush up on some topics, the Altium Designer Getting Started User Guide will take you from a beginner to a master in PCB design. This is only the beginning! This guide will be updated with new information based on user feedback. Let’s first go over the contents of the guide. Read Article

50:48 PCB Component Placement Webinar Proper component placement is one of the most important aspects of PCB design. You need to familiarize yourself with the Watch Video

Designing a Multiphase Buck Converter for an RF Power Supply Consider a multiphase buck converter for the regulator stage in your RF power supply. Alongside envelope tracking, you can ensure high efficiency power delivery and transmission. Read Article

Best Practices for Using DNI/DNP Entries in Your PCB BOM You can use the DNI/DNP designation on components in your PCB BOM to create design variants as long as you’ve created your layout correctly. Read Article