PCB Design Documentation

Browse our library of resources on documenting the PCB design process to ensure effective manufacturing. Topics covered include creating your bill of materials, schematic designs, manufacturing data and file formats.

Creating a Ground Plane for Your PCB Design It used to be that printed circuit boards seemed to have the same basic layer configuration, or at least that’s the way I tend to remember it. This meant that they were usually six layer multi-layer boards, with a ground plane and a VCC plane. The old CAD systems didn’t really have the ability to do much with power planes except to designate layers as a bottom layer or the like. The most you would see in them would be some “X’s” where there was Read Article

Identifying Minimum PCB Trace Spacing and Width in Altium Designer Taking the time to set up routing rules to govern the minimum trace spacing and trace width for PCB layout can be tedious. Many designers would prefer to jump in and start trace routing without going through this setup process first. This can be dangerous though as you may inadvertently route a trace routing at the wrong width, or pack your routing in so tightly that you don’t have the room to make any width corrections later on. The more rigid Read Article

Tips for Updating Old PCB Designs with New Parts Follow our tips for updating old PCB designs with new parts. Altium Designer helps you stay productive and design successfully. Read Article

Using the iPad Pro for Electronic Design Altium Concord Pro® on Altium 365 was updated with a smoother, more feature-full and more intuitive interface for the web design viewer. I want to use this occasion to share with you some of my favourite apps and websites for electronic design. Read Article

How Your Altium 365 Workspace Keeps You Organized If you need to collaborate with multiple users, here’s how to use your Workspace in Altium 365 to organize your projects. Read Article

Linking Managed Projects with your Git Server using Altium Concord Pro There’s been a bit of chatter on the forums lately discussing linkages between managed projects within Altium Concord Pro, and version control using external Git servers (such as GitHub or Bitbucket). In this article, we will be taking a closer look at the backend of Altium Concord Pro’s managed project system and how we can link back to your Git server. Altium Concord Pro Managed Projects: A Closer Look Historically, the Altium Vault—which Read Article

Dk And How Datasheets Impact Your Design If you design in RF, microwave or millimeter wave frequencies then this podcast is for you. Today we talk to John Coonrad who’s the Technical Marketing Manager for Rogers Corporation, a Global Manufacturer of advanced circuit materials. John talks about what dielectric constant (Dk) is exactly, the various test methods for Dk, why datasheets can sometimes be confusing and how all of this impacts your design. Listen to the Podcast: Download this Read Article

How to "Git" Collaborative with Altium Designer Getting collaboration right with any ECAD tool can be rather challenging. For most of us we tend to stick with the “old school” methods: Work on your design Send a zip package via email to another Other works on the design and sends a zip package back to you for review You work on your design and send back to the other Repeat forever This method not only clutters up your inbox but it also forces you to work in a serial fashion. The solution to Read Article

Datasheet Reliability with Ben Jordan When are datasheets accurate and can we rely on them? Ben Jordan is back on the show to discuss datasheets and how to achieve reliability for your use case. We also cover an unusual question from the forum about gilding that you won’t want to miss. Ben always enjoys catching up with the Lounge Forum, and this week, one of our users, Tim Philips, posted a datasheet that he had come across for an inductor. Listen in to explore these topics in this Read Article

Preparing Documentation for Output – Who needs What? It is a very common misconception for beginners (and even some experienced) board designers to just push the “buttons” or menu “commands” in the software for outputting fabrication & assembly data. However, there are set-ups that have to be done before you can use those buttons and commands. (Altium Designer^® commands highlighted in RED below.) While there are many ways to develop documentation for a board, it is important to realize the need to Read Article

From CAD to PCB: The Data You Give Me and What I Actually Do With It Gerry Partida, Director of Engineering at Summit Interconnect Technologies, a world class PCB Fabricator, is back to discuss your data package and what he actually does with it. Gerry began his career in the Printed Board industry in 1984 at Everett Charles Test Equipment and joined Optrotech/Orbotech in 1986. He was a member of the team that introduced CAM automation, net list compare, AOI Cad Reference to industry. His current position is Read Article

AutoRouter and Massive Potential for Routing Ease I once owned a little pop-up tent trailer, and hooking it up to my car was a very involved process. My wife would use a combination of hand signals and shouted instructions to guide me in as I moved the car back and forth in order to position the hitch perfectly under the trailer coupler. One day my father in-law-was helping me and I started my lengthy explanation to him of the hitching process. Without saying a word he simply reached down Read Article

Impedance and PCB Etching: Utilizing Altium Designer for Your Board Needs Today’s high-speed PCB designs require that the design engineer take charge of how the circuit board will be built. There was a time where PCB construction specifics were handled by manufacturing engineers in another department, or even in another company. How the board was built up didn’t have an important effect on the signal performance, and the purpose of the design team was to simply create electrical circuitry that performed the function Read Article

How Integrated PCB Design Software Helps you Manage Documentation and Outputs If you’re like me, then you’re a hardware fanatic. You’re the type that enjoys creating and watching your ideas come to life before your eyes. The last thing you want to do is sit behind a desk and create change orders, bills of materials, and assembly plans for your new product. What if there was a way to cut down the time required to generate these important documents? With deliverables and documentation requiring standardized formats and Read Article

SMART System for Data Management I have seen it, and perhaps you have too, where excessive design problems and too many re-spins of a PCB design can be attributed to just one thing; improper data management. I worked with a company once that considered half a dozen board spins acceptable just to iron out all the library problems. These kinds of problems can be greatly reduced and even eliminated with careful data management. The SMART system spells out a data management process Read Article

Take Charge of Your PCB Design with This Bill of Material Software Free Trial New Year’s resolutions are often the focus of humor as people admit that they are difficult to keep. The old joke is; “last year I resolved to lose 15 pounds, only 20 more to go.” The important thing about resolutions though is that they show that you are taking charge of something in your life. Diet, exercise, learning, or whatever, the point is that you have seen something that needs to change and you are committing yourself to make it happen Read Article

Looking Forward What to Expect After Switching from OrCAD In my collection of tools out in the garage, I have a pair of tin snips that are far older than I am. I inherited this tool from my father, and it may be 80 years old for all I know. These tin snips are difficult to use because they’ve become dull and loose due to their age, but it was hard for me to make a change because they had belonged to my dad. The tin snips frustrated me to no end, so I would find ways to work around them. Finally, after Read Article