PCB Board Thickness Requirements and Standards

Incorporating the design with the fabrication process was never worth the effort as old and rigid PCB layout design tools offered little in the way of help in this area. Those days are long gone, and the multitude of design technologies available to the PCB designer of today offer advanced functionality in layout tools. From a standard two-layer board to a multi-layer HDI with microvias or a rigid-flex design, you need Printed Circuit Board design tools that are up to the task of all of these different technologies. We’ve invested over 30 years of research and development into creating a powerful rules-driven platform that can be expertly set up for your different board types, layers, and thicknesses. Altium Designer is the PCB design tool with leading edge routing, 3D placement checking, and multi-board assembly features. These are all designed to work together with Altium’s powerful hierarchical schematic editor, BOM parts editor with cloud connections to your part vendors, and automated drawing creation capabilities. Altium Designer is the full-feature set of design tools that you need for your PCB designs today.

Standards for PCB Assembly Thickness Design Requirements

In order to design all of the leading-edge design technologies that are out there, you first need to start with the most powerful design platform available. Altium Designer, with its 64-bit multi-threading system’s architecture, is the platform that you need. Altium Designer is also governed by a fully comprehensive set of design rules under your control that will guide your design from schematic capture all the way through board layout. Once in layout, you will then enjoy the full capabilities of Altium Designer to set up and control your printed circuit board manufacturing design technology. You will be able to configure and fully define the layer stack, which may include copper foil, dielectric, surface finish and mask layers. Each layer can also specify the material to be used, the thickness, the dielectric constant, and more. Altium Designer will then calculate the total thickness of the board from the thickness of each specified layer. No matter what technology you need to design, Altium Designer is the best choice for your success.

Design to Your PCB Copper Foil Thickness Requirements

Today’s design technologies include many different combinations of layer stackup requirements that Altium Designer is equipped to help you with.

• Altium Designer has been created from the ground up with a 64-bit multi-threading architecture to provide you with the maximum amount of design power.

  Learn More about the powerful tools platform that you have with Altium Designer.

• You can design with confidence knowing that the rules that you have set up in Altium Designer will guide you through your entire design.

  Learn More about rules driven design in Altium Designer.

• You specify your design’s materials, thickness, dielectric constant and more, and Altium Designer will calculate the thickness of your board.

  Learn More about working with PCB layer stackups in Altium Designer.

The layer stack manager in Altium Designer

The Next Step After Standard Circuit Board Thickness Requirements

Once you’ve got your design technology set up it’s time to really put the power of Altium Designer to work for you, and you won’t be disappointed. Altium Designer features capabilities such as Active Route, the user-guided auto routing tool that will give you precise manual-routed looking results at the speed of an auto-router. Altium Designer will also pull in your design team’s mechanical CAD data giving you the ability to fully check your component placement for mechanical obstructions using its native 3D engine. And for those of you who are working with multiple system designs, Altium has you covered as well. Altium Designer will allow you to work with multiple printed circuit board designs in a single session. This will give you the ability to verify board to board connectivity and check form and fit in full 3D. With Altium Designer in your corner, you will be able to handle any design challenge that comes your way.

Routing and PCB Stack-Up Verification

Altium Designer’s advanced routing and verification technologies will help you to complete the layout of your rigid-flex PCB manufacturing.

• Altium Designer gives you the ability to create precise manual looking routing results at the speed of an auto-router.

  Learn More about high-quality routing with Altium Designer’s Active Route.

• Don’t wait for someone else to verify your placement, import the mechanical CAD data into Altium Designer and conduct your own 3D placement to mechanical checking.

  Learn More about 3D placement checking with MCAD integration in Altium Designer.

• With Altium Designer’s ability to work with multiple designs in a single session, there’s no need for multiple prototypes to check fit and connectivity of system boards.

  Learn More about working on multiple designs in the same Altium Designer session.

Auto-generated manufacturing drawings in Altium Designer’s Draftsman

Design Tools for PCB Board Thickness

Powerful layout capabilities are only part of the total picture of your complete PCB layout design system. You still have many other aspects of the design, such as schematic capture and manufacturing drawings that require the best tools as well. Starting with schematic capture, Altium Designer provides you with the tools that you need whether you are drawing a single sheet schematic or a multi-sheet hierarchical design with varying dialectic constants or copper foil thickness. Altium Designer also gives you another portal into your design data with Active BOM. This will allow you to work directly with the components in your design as well as giving you an online connection with your part vendors for real-time component information. Finally, when the design is ready to be completed, Altium gives you the ability to easily create your manufacturing drawings with Draftsman, the auto-generated drawing tool in Altium Designer. From start to finish, Altium Designer is the tool you need for success with your PCB designs.

Control Your Design from Start to Finish with the Most Powerful Design Tools

There’s more to designing printed circuit boards than just layout, and Altium Designer is prepared with its complete suite of PCB layout design tools.

• Altium Designer’s schematic capture application gives you the ability to create the circuitry you need for your layout.

  Learn More about Altium Designer’s powerful schematic capture application.

• From your preferred part vendor to your design, Altium Designer’s Active BOM will give you complete access to the components you need for your design.

  Learn More about working with components with Altium Designer’s Active BOM.

• Finishing the layout does not mean the design is finished, but with Altium Designer’s Draftsman you can auto-generate your manufacturing drawings with ease.

  Learn More about Draftsman, Altium Designer’s automated drawing utility.

There are a lot of different design technologies now that will demand your best. Don’t let your efforts get derailed by software that isn’t up to the challenge, take a look at what Altium Designer can do for you instead.