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PCB Design

Which Capacitor Types Should You Use?

Which Capacitor Types Should You Use? Capacitors are used in far more applications than just bypassing noise, and there are many more types of capacitors than just ceramic and aluminum electrolytic. 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

The Increasingly Important Role Of Dielectric Loss Tangent In PCB Laminates

The Increasingly Important Role Of Dielectric Loss Tangent In PCB Laminates Learn more about dielectric loss tangent, the role it plays in high-speed designs, and how it varies as a result of the glass to resin ratio and frequency. Read Article

Hardware development cycle PCB design

Prepare to Share: How to Make the Most of Collaborative PCB Design Before you start sharing design data, run through this checklist to make sure collaborative PCB design is a productive experience. Read Article

PCB Data Management and Your Design Process

PCB Data Management and Your Design Process Your organization will need to gather data from multiple sources to create new designs. In addition to schematic symbols and PCB footprints, designers need sourcing data for components to ensure they can eliminate supply chain risk. With a complete set of design and management tools, design teams can get to market on time and remain within budget while ensuring their designs are manufacturable at scale. Altium Designer offers all the tools you Read Article

Altium Designer is Your Complete PCB Toolkit

Altium Designer is Your Complete PCB Toolkit Designing a printed circuit board and its PCB assembly are intricate processes. If want to bring your next great electronic device to life, you’ll need to transform it from a circuit diagram into a schematic. Then you’ll need to turn your schematic into a layout and ensure it complies with DFM guidelines for your application. Different PCB tools in your design software can help with different tasks, but only one software package integrates all Read Article

Lead-Free RoHS Compliance Should Be Something You and Your Design Software Can Track

Lead-Free RoHS Compliance Should Be Something You and Your Design Software Can Track Don’t let your circuit boards fail compliance testing - ensure that they are up-to-date and secure in the best ways you know how. ALTIUM DESIGNER Guaranteeing board compliances and security throughout any design. Different types of materials used in electronic and electrical products present dangers to human health and the environment. As those heavy metals and organic contaminants become part of E-waste, the possibility of chemicals leaching Read Article

Prevent Copper Wear and Short Circuits with Rules-Driven Design

Prevent Copper Wear and Short Circuits with Rules-Driven Design The phrase “PCB design” might seem to emphasize design, but it actually includes all aspects of printed circuit board manufacturing. Without the proper attention to design for manufacturability (DFM), a design might be sent back to a designer for corrections and further review by a CAM engineer. DFM is meant to ensure a board can be produced with high yield and is best implemented in rules-driven design software. When you need to follow important Read Article

Impedance-Controlled Routing and Your PCB Design Rules

How to Calculate Impedance-Controlled Routing In Your PCB And Design Rules See the process for impedance-controlled routing calculations based on PCB stackup selection and PCB materials selection. Read Article

Using Product Lifecycle Management Software for PCB Design

Using Product Lifecycle Management Software for PCB Design Any product, including circuit boards and electronic components, will become obsolete and must be replaced with completely new versions. If a product is ever manufactured and taken to market, the product and its components will inevitably have a finite life cycle. Products are eventually upgraded to new versions and capabilities or components are added, or they become obsolete and are replaced with completely new circuit designs and technology Read Article

Learn How to Design PCBs with the Best PCB Design Tutorials

Learn How to Design PCBs with the Best PCB Design Tutorial Let’s face it: PCB design is complex, and not all design software packages have the tools to help you be successful. Whether you’re creating a simple two-layer board or a complex high-speed digital system, Altium Designer has the design tools and PCB design tutorial you need to get started and succeed. You’ll have access to multiple PCB design tutorials to help you gain a better understanding of advanced features as you venture deeper into PCB Read Article

Perfect Boards Every Time (With Free Templates)

Perfect Boards Every Time (With Free PCB Templates) Gone are the days of obsessing over the formatting of schematics. Draftsman®, embedded within Altium Designer®, could radically change your drawing editor workflow for the better. Read Article

CAN-Bus PCB Layout Guidelines

Designing CAN-Bus Circuitry: CAN-Bus PCB Layout Guidelines There are three main components in a CAN-bus node: Microprocessor CAN-bus controller CAN-bus transceiver The CAN-bus controller implements all the low-level features of the network protocol, ISO 11898–1, while the transceiver communicates with the physical layer. Different transceivers are required for different physical layers, such as high-speed can, low-speed fault-tolerant can, or high-speed can with variable data rate. In a typical Read Article

Robert Feranec and IoT Security

Robert Feranec and IoT Security The AltiumLive Virtual Summit is just around the corner! So in a unique episode of OnTrack, we share clips of Robert Feranec, motherboard designer and founder and CEO of Fedevel Academy, speaking on such topics as IoT device security in an increasingly connected world, the pitfalls of underestimating the complexity of your fellow stakeholder’s job, and the value of attending AltiumLive. This is a short and impactful episode you shouldn’t miss. Read Article

The Best CAD Engineering Computers to Buy in 2020

The Best Desktop Computers for CAD Design and Engineering in 2020 Calling all students and professional engineers! Here are the 10 best computers for CAD design and engineering in 2020 and 2021. Read Article

Best Engineering Laptops for Professionals or Students in 2021

Top 9 Best Laptops for Engineers in 2021: For Students or Professionals Wondering which laptop you need for engineering software? Read more to explore the best laptops for engineering students of professionals in 2021 and beyond. Read Article

Getting Through Agile Prototyping in Agile Hardware Development

Getting Through Agile Prototyping in Agile Hardware Development If you’ve worked in software development, such as in web design or enterprise software design, you know how difficult it can be to get clients to understand the look and feel of a product from a static wireframe. We’ve had the same problem in recent projects, especially when the POC was not a technical person. The client ultimately had to take it on faith that we knew what we were doing and could deliver what we promised. There’s no substitute Read Article