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PCB Routing

Routing in your PCB makes copper connections between components, and best routing practices will help ensure signal integrity, low crosstalk, and low EMI. Browse our library of resources to learn more about routing in your PCB and how the best PCB layout software helps you obey routing rules and signaling standards.

Routing Guidelines for PCB Layouts Efficient PCB Routing Routing PCB Traces in Altium Designer High-Speed Routing Guidelines

How to Create a Test Point Schematic Symbol and Footprint in Altium Designer Bare board testing is like a moment of truth, where your fabricator and your design team determines whether a board passes inspection. Some basic test fixtures and testing points should be indicated in your schematic and your PCB layout, especially when they are critical for evaluating board functionality. So what is the best way to do this? You might rely on your manufacturer to assign test points, but for critical circuit blocks, you should Read Article

Transmission Line Impedance: The Six Important Values When looking through the various transmission line impedance values, characteristic impedance and differential impedance generally stand out as the two important values as these are typically specified in signaling standards. However, there are really six transmission line impedance values that are important in PCB design. Sometimes there are seven, depending on which textbooks or technical articles you read. Characteristic impedance equations Read Article

Bypass and Decoupling Capacitor Placement Guidelines Power integrity problems are normally viewed from the perspective of the power supply, but looking at the output from ICs is just as important. Decoupling and bypass capacitors are intended to compensate power fluctuations seen on the PDN, which ensures your signal levels are consistent and a constant voltage is seen at the power/ground pins on an IC. We’ve compiled some important bypass and decoupling capacitor placement guidelines to help you Read Article

Differential Crosstalk and Spacing Between Differential Pairs Differential crosstalk causing problems in your signals? Here’s how differential signals produce crosstalk and how you can ensure differential signal integrity. Read Article

Switchback Routing vs. Serpentine Routing for Maximum Density Choosing between switchback routing or serpentine routing means considering signal integrity and crosstalk in your board. Read Article

PCB Trace Inductance and Width: How Wide is Too Wide? Here’s how you can size your traces correctly and ensure they have sufficiently low PCB trace inductance. Read Article

USB Charger Project in Altium Designer: Part 2 In a previous blog post, I showed the process for building a schematic for a custom USB charger board using Altium Designer. This board requires a small number of components and some particular attention to the power supply design/decoupling networks, but aside from this it’s quite easy to build out the connections you need for the USB A connectors. Here, I’ll show the strategy for translating this schematic into a compact board with a small form Read Article

USB Charger Project in Altium Designer: Part 1 When I’m in my office, I keep my pluggable USB charger around, otherwise the battery on my phone is likely to run out. If you want to build your own USB charger, you can create your own USB charger board with the powerful schematic design and layout tools in Altium Designer. Here, I’ll present the overall design process for a portable USB charger. The charger requires 12 V of power and charges two external devices through two USB ports. We’ll Read Article

PCB Design for Radio-Over-Fiber Technology It’s possible that radio-over-fiber technology is one of the least discussed aspects of fiber telecom networks. However, it stands to be one of the many portions of telecom infrastructure for bringing broadband wireless access to remote areas. This approach is likely to play a major role for future 5G infrastructure in rural areas where a standard wireless backhaul is not possible or cost-prohibitive. Just like any other electronic system, radio Read Article

Download the Best Circuit Maker Software by Altium To Create the Best Designs, Download the Best Circuit Maker Software from Altium ALTIUM DESIGNERThe most powerful, modern and easy-to-use PCB design tool for professional use.To save yourself from the trouble of working with a mixture of design tools in multiple systems you need Altium Designer, the circuit maker software that contains all the tools you need in one system. Now you can sign up for Altium Designer.Creating a printed circuit board Read Article

For Clear Communication, Use the Best RF PCB Design Software More and more RF PCB designs are being used every day, and if you aren’t already working with them you may find yourself doing so very soon. To make sure you have the greatest advantage, use the best RF PCB design software you can get; Altium Designer. ALTIUM DESIGNERWorking through RF PCB design commandments like frequency, components, noise, and layer management with ease. The communication gap is shrinking all over the world as more and more Read Article

Design to Your PCB Board Thickness Requirements To quickly set up and work with the different PCB board thickness requirements that are before you every day, you need the best PCB Design tools available; you need Altium Designer. ALTIUM DESIGNERThe most powerful, modern and easy-to-use PCB design tool for professional printed circuit board fabrication use.Incorporating the design with the fabrication process was never worth the effort as old and rigid PCB layout design tools offered little in Read Article

37:20 Efficient PCB Routing Using Gloss and Retrace Tools The primary goal of your traces is to carry signals throughout your board without losses. To do this properly, you Watch Video

Online PCB Design Review with Altium Concord Pro You can design a PCB any way you like, but if it doesn’t pass a PCB design review, then it will never become a real board. A PCB design review is about more than just running DRCs, it’s about designing to satisfy your manufacturer’s capabilities and processes. Manufacturers have had to become much more skilled at designing new boards, and the best manufacturers will collaborate with you during a PCB design review. With the right effort and Read Article

Import and Export DXF Files with Altium Designer Considering switching to a new design software? Tired of working in a command line interface just to complete simple design tasks? Instead of using an antiquated workflow, Altium Designer makes using your CAD, data management, analysis, and deliverable generation tools easy. Altium Designer also gives you access to file formats from your other design and CAD programs. You’ll be able to use DXF, SCH, ODB++, and other file formats with your old Read Article

31:31 Transmission Line Impedance Calculation With Altium Designer 20 Today’s PCBs contain many transmission lines. Combine this with increased clock frequencies and data rates and the result is a critical challenge to high-speed design. Neglecting these dynamics can undermine product development by compromising performance, power consumption, EMC/EMI compliance, and more - leading to delayed design cycles and opening gaps that can be exploited by your competition. Hone your high-speed design skills by joining us as we discuss the typical transmission lines encountered in today’s designs, the PCB variables that affect impedance, as well as how to create, calculate, and design transmission lines in Altium Designer. Learn how to maximize the built in SIMBEOR® engine by Simberian to craft impedance profiles and manage transmission lines in your designs. This Live Webinar recording covers the following: Current trends in electronics development PCB transmission line model and impedance calculations Transmission line with specified impedance in Altium Designer Don’t pass up on this opportunity to experience the industry’s best in class design experience! Watch Video

PCB Design Tools Enhanced with an Advanced Free Gerber File Editor To successfully manufacture today’s challenging PCB designs, you need to be able to create the latest Gerber X2 file formats in your design tool’s free Gerber file editor. ALTIUM DESIGNERGetting manufacturing output files out is a breeze with the right CAD software.For over 30 years the printed circuit board design and manufacturing industries have relied on Gerber files to transfer PCB image information from design to manufacturing. This data is Read Article