Getting Started

Just getting started with PCB Design and Altium? These resources help you get acquainted with all you need to know!

PCB Design Output Files

Overview of PCB Design Output Files Make sure you know which PCB design output files your fabricator and assembler need to ensure they can build your PCBA. Read Article

Altium Designer Getting Started User Guide

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

PCB design basics

PCB Design Basics for New Designers New designers should follow this guide to help them get started with a new project. Read Article

Meeting Standards: IPC 6012 Class 3 Annular Ring

Meeting Standards: IPC 6012 Class 3 Annular Ring Take a look at the above image of a PCB layout, specifically the vias and drill holes poking through the silkscreen. It's quite clear that some of these vias are off-center, meaning the drill hit that created these vias was not dead-center in the receiving land. This leaves behind an annular ring, something which might be considered a defect in certain IPC product classes. Under the IPC standards for rigid boards, we have several possible Read Article

what is signal integrity

What is Signal Integrity? Learn about the basics of signal integrity and how you can ensure your PCB layout complies with best practices for signal integrity. Read Article

PCB component creation

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

Flexible Circuits: Getting Started

Flexible Circuits: Getting Started Expert Tara Dunn tackles in detail the key benefits driving designers to use flexible materials. Read now to learn more. Read Article

Pandemic PCB Prototyping: Building Electronics From Your Living Room

Pandemic PCB Prototyping: Building Electronics From Your Living Room It feels like everyone is writing an article these days about how they’re managing (or not managing) with stay-at-home orders due to COVID-19 restrictions. At the time of writing, California (where I am based) has the highest number of cases over any other state in the United States. To combat the pandemic, most non-essential businesses have been closed or open in a limited fashion. This means that folks who are able to work from home (e.g Read Article

Design data management system

The Search for the All-in-One Design Data Management System In this article we discuss the pain points of using a single design data management system over linking many together. Read Article

A Guide to Challenging Projects

A Guide to Challenging Projects Starting a project? Here's an expert advise from Mark Harris to get you through challenging design projects. Read this blog and see if this method will work for you. Read Article

What is PCB design?

What is a Printed Circuit Board (PCB)? What is PCB design? A printed circuit board (PCB) is an electronic assembly that uses copper conductors to create electrical connections between components. Printed circuit boards provide mechanical support for electronic components so that a device can be mounted in an enclosure. A printed circuit board must be designed with a specific set of steps that aligns with the manufacturing process, integrated circuit packaging, and the structure of the Read Article

Automated Mirroring Between Concord Pro and Your Git Server

Automated Mirroring Between Concord Pro and Your Git Server You can create a Git server mirror of your Altium Concord Pro server. This gives you a simple way to create a backup for projects from an on-premises Concord Pro instance. Read Article

Temperature Sensor Project: Intro

Temperature Sensor Project: Intro In this project we will build a range of PCBs which will cover all the temperature sensor types and circuits to implement them. Read Article

Modeling Capacitor Impedance Vs. Frequency Using an Excel Spreadsheet

Modeling Capacitor Impedance Vs. Frequency Using an Excel Spreadsheet As noted in an earlier article, based on class notes from our two-day design course, getting the power subsystem design correct is the most challenging aspect of today’s high-speed PCB design process. A major aspect of this process is modeling the power supply to ensure that it will function properly in the end product. A critical part of this modeling effort focuses on being able to model capacitor impedance vs frequency. This is simple enough Read Article

1:0:12 From '0' to Gerber in 36.5 minutes with Altium Designer 20 In this on-demand webinar we shows you how easy and fast it is with Altium Designer 20 to create a Watch Video

PCB assembly (PCBA) and supply chain management

Take the Risk Out of Prototype PCB Assembly (PCBA) Take the risk out of your PCB assembly (PCBA) with supply chain management. There is a special feeling one gets when polishing off a Rev A design and ordering the first set of PCBs from a board house. While designers everywhere would likely not trade that feeling for anything, taking some of the uneasiness off the table would probably be a welcome change. Here are review steps that should prove more effective at settling nerves than an after-work Read Article

Hardward-in-the-Loop Testing: An Introduction

Hardware-in-the-Loop Testing: An Introduction If you do a search for “Hardware-in-the-Loop” testing, you will frequently find examples of complex, real-time systems. This article from National Instruments, for example, gives a nice explanation and background on what hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) is, and provides an example of testing electronic control units within an automobile. In this article, we will be focusing on a smaller, more bite-sized version of HIL testing concepts. What is Hardware Read Article