Design for Manufacturing (DFM)

The Hateful Five of PCB Manufacturing

The Hateful Five of PCB Manufacturing You just completed your last design review, got that needed approval signature, and the finish line has never been closer, or so you think. Even after your components are sourced and your board is laid out perfectly, the biggest challenge is yet to come - ensuring that all those months of design and team effort don’t go to waste when it comes time to communicate design intent to manufacturing. But how do you navigate this stage of your post Read Article

The Top Two File Format Alternatives to Replace Gerber RS-274X

The Top Two File Format Alternatives to Replace Gerber RS-274X Despite its popular use in about 90% of all PCBs designed worldwide, Gerber RS-274X has several practical limitations that can lead to a number of problems during your fabrication process. What are the alternatives to this file format? Read on to find out. Meta Description: Although Gerber RS-274X is used in about 90% of all PCB designs it has several practical limitations. Gerber RS-274X is the de facto standard for PCB design software, but that Read Article

Altium Designer 2016 Roadshow Recap - Technologies, Predictions, and Passions

Altium Designer 2016 Roadshow Recap - Technologies, Predictions, and Passions From Berlin to the Bay Area and beyond, we journeyed across the globe to share our vision for future of electronics design with our customers at this year’s Altium Designer^® Roadshow Series. What does the future hold for Altium? Read on to find out. From Berlin to the Bay Area and beyond, we journeyed across the globe to share our vision for future of electronics design at this year’s Altium Roadshow Series. This event has always been something Read Article

Supporting Seamless Design Communication with 3D PDFs

Supporting Seamless Design Communication with 3D PDFs With the increasing complexity of modern PCB designs, effectively communicating design intent is a growing challenge that threatens both speed-to-market and overall production costs. In the race to bring quality products to market before your competition, information has to be shared quickly and efficiently while clearly conveying critical aspects of the design. But how can you go about doing that? Leveraging Native 3D^™ PDF Exporting One way of Read Article

Top 6 DFM Problems and DFM issues in PCB Design

The Top 6 DFM Issues in PCBs That Affect Every Design As a PCB Designer, you have to manage a variety of different requirements and expectations. There are electrical, functional, and mechanical aspects to consider. In addition, the PCB layout has to be produced in a timely manner, with the best possible quality, at the lowest possible cost. And through all of these requirements, you also need to factor in DFM (Design for Manufacturability). It’s a big part of the PCB design process and one which Read Article

Layer Stack Done Right the First Time

Getting Your Layer Stack Done Right the First Time Failure to properly design the layer stack is a common mistake in PCB assembly. This blunder often occurs during the final stages of fabrication, but can easily be prevented by including the appropriate features in the beginning stages of PCB design. Read on to learn about what layer stackup features you’ll want to include in your design. One of the most common mistakes during the PCB fabrication process is improper layer order. If left unchecked Read Article

The Biggest PCB Manufacturing Trends We’ve Seen This Year

The Biggest PCB Manufacturing Trends We’ve Seen This Year The field of new technology in PCB manufacturing is constantly evolving. Technology is improving, new innovations are being made, and better manufacturing methods are being developed. Methods that were commonplace yesterday may today be obsolete. How can you keep up? Well, here are some of the PCB manufacturing trends we’ve seen in 2016 so far. The field of PCB Manufacturing is constantly evolving. Technology is improving, new assembly Read Article

Bugging Out - How to Minimize Your Embedded Design Debug Phase

Bugging Out - How to Minimize Your Embedded Design Debug Phase Even if not all engineers will admit it, debugging an embedded system prototype is a lot of fun, so long as it’s going the way we planned. And while we cross our fingers hoping our board passes the first article inspection, it’s inevitable that some bugs will find their way into a design of any complexity. The debug phase in an embedded design can be one of the most challenging tasks for an engineer, as we juggle identifying issues with a project Read Article

How to Successfully Design for Testing or DFT

DFT in PCBs: Design for Testing The overall cost to produce a completed printed circuit board can be broken down into several basic categories: the cost of manufacturing the blank PCB layout, the cost of components, the assembly costs, and the cost of testing. That last one, the cost of the PCB test, can comprise as much as 25% to 30% of the total cost of producing the entire product. Best practices for Printed Circuit Board DFT is key. By designing a product to have the Read Article

How to Pack More Complexity into a Smaller Footprint Using HDI

How to Pack More Complexity into a Smaller Footprint Using HDI The demand for smaller mechanical housing continues, leading to more complexity in the electrical design process to generate a PCB to keep up with the shrinking form factors. To achieve the size and density necessary, engineers turn to HDI. Using HDI, however, means dealing with different routing workflows, and denser, while using the same area or less. What challenges will you face when using HDI techniques in your own design process? HDI Read Article

How to Improve Your PCB Documentation Process

How to Improve Your PCB Documentation Process Nearly every facet of electronics design has advanced with more effective and automated technology except for the documentation process - until now. Read on to learn how to eliminate the stress of manual PCB manufacturing design documentation with new technologies in Altium Designer^®. The evolution of the PCB design has progressed considerably since the days of light tables, tape, and Mylar. The 80s introduced the first PCB design software Read Article

pcb layout guidelines

Top 5 PCB Design Rules You Need to Know We've compiled some of the essential PCB layout guidelines every designer should know to ensure your board will work as intended. Written by a leading industry expert. Read Article

How to Simplify Your Output Generation Workflow

How to Simplify Your Output Generation Workflow Handing your design off to manufacturing can be a project in itself. Learn how to simplify your output generation workflow in Altium Designer^® to create error-free and accurate PCB documentation for manufacturing. You’ve completed an exhausting PCB design. The project is done, right? Not at all; it simply is an intermediate point before the product enters fabrication and assembly into the final product. Handing the design to manufacturing can be Read Article

How to Utilize Queries to Save Time and Resources

How to Utilize Queries to Save Time and Resources Navigating your PCB boards and verifying their compliance to your project’s design rules is becoming ever more complex in today’s dense and elaborate designs. How can you maximize your time and leverage your design rules to their true potential? Read on to find out. Using Queries to Save on Time and Resources It’s becoming increasingly more complicated to navigate your boards and verify their compliance to your project rules in today’s Read Article

Expedite PCB Production with a Live Drill Table

Expedite PCB Production with a Live Drill Table Having visibility over the number, size and symbols that represent each hole in a PCB design can reassure that no hiccups will delay production and increase costs down the road. Now you can expedite the production of your PCBs with access to the live drill table in Altium Designer^®. Read on to learn more. One of the most important elements involved with manufacturing printed boards is the PCB drill table, also called the drill legend. This table Read Article

Communicate Design Intent with the Right Output Job File

Communicate Design Intent with the Right Output Job File Learn how to save hours of manual labor by automating your output job file creation process using the Project Releaser in Altium Designer^®. In my previous blog post, I talked about the manual processes still being used to create professional PCB design documents like fab and assembly drawings, and how a tool like Altium Draftsman^® can help automate that process. Unfortunately, creating your drawings is only part of the battle you face when Read Article

Creating Unusual Shapes in Altium Designer - The Donut

Creating Unusual Shapes in Altium Designer - The Donut Read Article