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PCB Design

PCB Component Failure: How to Workaround a Tragedy

How to Avoid PCB Component Failures and Workaround Them Probably, the single thing that drew me to pursue a technical career was the existence of laws that stipulated if you follow the same procedure then you will get the same results. I have always taken comfort in having that security for my work. However, there is another law that at times supersedes all others. That, of course, is Murphy’s law, which states “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” At times it seems that Murphy’s law applies Read Article

Escape the Pain of a Gerber Files Viewer and Invest in a 3D PCB Editor

Escape the Pain of a Gerber Files Viewer and Invest in a 3D PCB Editor As the design of printed circuit boards grows more challenging with flex, rigid-flex, RF, and other technologies, it is becoming more important than ever to be able to see exactly what it is that you are designing. Then compounded by shorter design cycles and fewer prototype builds the need for full verification of the design before manufacturing has become a necessity. Thankfully PCB design tools have kept pace with different ways to view and Read Article

Pad/via thermal connection in the properties panel Watch Video

Annotate Reference Designators With Custom Global Properties

Annotate Reference Designators With Custom Global Properties Having a system to find many similar items in a short amount of time can be helpful in staying organized. Everybody has a silverware drawer and most are organized with caddys that divide the flatware into forks, knives, and spoons. Reference designators are the unique identifiers on a PCB for each and every component or free pad on the design. Best design practice is to number the reference designators consecutively on the PCB to allow easy Read Article

Generate and Export Gerber File in Altium Designer: the Language of PCB Manufacturing

Generate and Export Gerber File in Altium Designer: the Language of PCB Manufacturing It is always exciting to travel to a new country and explore the culture, sample the food, and meet new people. On these trips, it seems like every day is an adventure that ends with greater understanding, an altered palate, or new friends. However, to make the most of the experience, it is great to learn to speak the language. Otherwise, you may wind up spending most of your time in a state of confusion. This is similar to the confusion that can Read Article

39 Unlimited Mechanical Layers Watch Video

Draftsman Improvements Watch Video

What's New In Altium Designer Webinar July 24

What's New In Altium Designer Webinar July 24 Altium Webinar: July 24th In case you missed our Altium Designer^® live webinar, no worries. You can catch up here with the video recording and presentation slides. If you’re not a fan of videos I’ll try my best to summarize in the webinar notes below. Most of the key takeaways will be the same as the may webinar but do take a look at the questions as they’ll be different. For future webinars, if there’s something you’d like to see add it to the Read Article

49:06 Altium's Vision of the Future, featuring Ted Pawela, COO [OnTrack Podcast] Watch Video

33:52 Rick Hartley and What to Avoid in 4 and 6-Layer Stack-ups [OnTrack Podcast] Watch Video

Digital Library Management for Circuit Boards: More Than a Few Shelves

PCB Creator's Digital Library Management for Circuit Boards: More Than a Few Shelves When you hear the word “components”, it’s natural to think about ICs, LEDs, resistors, and all the other electronic hardware that goes into building a PCB. But in terms of PCB design software, there is a lot of information that goes into any component. Every component has an associated symbol, footprint, pin arrangement, and other properties that are used by your PCB design software. With so many components available on the market and with Read Article

Choosing PCB Design Software Which Priortizes PCB Design

PCB Design Software: Choosing A Unified Platform for PCB Design Priority Having the right tool for complicated and intricate tasks facilitates success. Having the wrong tool invites frustration. Rummaging through my tool chest the other day found me selecting the only tool available. Hours into the job with each step a struggle, I considered my hasty choice. It would have been better to spend a little money and order the superior tool. Spending the money for a superior EDA tool facilitates progressive and intelligent Read Article

Editing Multiple Components Anywhere in Footprint

Editing Multiple Components Anywhere in Footprint Circuit board design has changed a lot over the years, and the way we work with library components has shifted as well. Originally, PCB designers created library components by laying down a sticker or “dolly” on a sheet of mylar on a drafting board. Later on, as designers migrated to CAD tools, the components were built using those same CAD tools. Those first tools didn’t offer much assistance to designers and you had to be really good at Read Article

Introduction To PDN Analyzer Webinar Recap July 17, 2018

Introduction To PDN Analyzer Webinar Recap July 17, 2018 If you joined us for the July 17th, 2018, PDN Analyzer^™ webinar then the following will be a recap, if not here’s what you missed. You can also view the presentation slides and recording here . Key Takeaways Power Delivery Network () Design Issues Low supply voltage at load components A low supply voltage at your loads can cause issues like processors outputting faulty logic. These things happen when there is an unexpected voltage drop Read Article

22:01 Introduction To PDN Analyzer Webinar Power Delivery Network (PDN) Design Issues Low supply voltage at load components A low supply voltage at your loads Watch Video

23:26 The Power of Paste Interconnects with Chris Hunrath from Insulectro [OnTrack Podcast] Watch Video

Layer Stackup in Rigid and Rigid-Flex PCBs

Layer Stackup in Rigid and Rigid-Flex PCBs Building multilayer PCBs is like building with Legos. The all fit together easily, but you still need to follow directions if you want your design to stay together. Nowadays, only the simplest PCBs use a single layer, or a pair of top and bottom layers. Multilayer PCBs are now the norm rather than the exception, and manufacturers can fabricate PCBs with up to 30 layers. Layer stackup strategies in these boards are important for a number of Read Article