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PCB Routing

PCB power plane routing

Should You Route Signals in Your PCB Power Plane? Before you cut up your PCB power plane with signals, pay attention to things like impedance control power plane current capacity to ensure reliability. Read Article

Step Up Into Altium Designer from PCAD

Step Up Into Altium Designer from PCAD The original goal of PCAD, to give PCB designers the best tools possible, lives on today in Altium. Altium Designer is made for designers like you and will import your legacy PCAD designs so you can continue your work. ALTIUM DESIGNER CAD software that will continue through the years. Back in 1982, an innovative new PCB design software CAD tool called P-CAD was introduced to the world. This PCAD PCB design tool quickly outgrew its competition and Read Article

Antipad diameter IPC APEX 2021

Antipad Diameter, Crosstalk, and IBM’s Results from IPC APEX EXPO 2021 Interlayer crosstalk begins with antipad diameters, and IBM’s results help us see how antipad diameter on back-drilled PTHs affect signal integrity. Read Article

Serial Communications Protocols Part Six - I2C

Serial Communications Protocols Part Six - I2C In this next installment in our series on serial communications protocols, we’re looking at the popular I 2C protocol. This follows on from the preceding articles where we are looking at some of the different types of Serial Communication Protocols available. These provide a practical solution to the transfer of data between devices over reasonably short distances. Typical applications include the capture of large amounts of data from data Read Article

Serial Communications Protocols Part 5 - SPI Standard

Serial Communications Protocols Part 5 - SPI Standard In this next article in our series that is looking at different types of Serial Communication Protocols, we will be looking at the popular SPI protocols. This is one of many popular protocols in common usage that we will be looking at. We will provide a useful summary of each type’s advantages and disadvantages at the end of this series. SPI stands for Serial Peripheral Interface. It is a serial communication bus commonly used for short-distance Read Article

Designing 5G Devices

Designing 5G PCB Devices The next stage in the evolution of mobile telephony is here with the roll-out of 5G. The designer looking to incorporate functionality to handle 5G signals into their circuits will face some challenging issues. So, what’s so special about 5G? The main change in the jump from 4G to 5G is the frequency band at which signals are transmitted. For 4G, this band covered 0.7 GHz up to 2.5 GHz. For 5G, this new band is an order of magnitude larger, with Read Article

RF PCB Layout and Routing

The Digital Engineer's Guide to RF PCB Design Guidelines: Layout and Routing Read our guide to learn some of the best RF PCB design guidelines for layout and routing. We’ll also look at how simulation tools can help you evaluate your RF PCB layout. Read Article

Serial Communications Protocols - RS-485

Serial Communications Protocols - Part Four: RS-485 and Baud Rates In Part 4 of a series of articles about some of the popular Serial Communication Protocols, we explore the popular RS-485 protocol standard. Read Article

PCB trace length

All About Your PCB Trace Length: How Long is Too Long? Learn more about PCB trace length and how transmission line losses mount in your designs. Read Article

Identify RFI Problems in an Intuitive Interface

Design by Finding RF Interference Analysis with Altium Radio frequency interference analysis is one important task in high frequency and high-speed PCB design. Interference at radio frequencies can arise due to many simple design errors, but these problems can be easy to spot with the right PCB design tools. When you need to identify areas of a design that can create RFI problems, an automated rules-driven toolset can help. If you’re unclear on what RFI is or how you can spot areas in a design that Read Article

The RF PCB Design Process

How to Design and Route Your RF Filter PCB Layout RF PCBs and mixed-signal systems are challenging for many designers. Careful attention must be paid to the PCB stackup design, process for designing transmission lines, placement of components, and floorplanning the PCB layout to ensure predictable return path. Many RF PCB layout designs will include printed elements, like an RF filter, antenna, isolation structures, and unique waveguide geometries. RF systems can make copious use of RF filters Read Article

Design Your Copper-Clad Board With the Best PCB Layout Software

How to Make Copper-Clad Boards With the Best PCB Layout Software Some designers prefer to build their own prototypes in their home or company lab as it gives them a firsthand view of potential quality problems in their boards. While designers can go this route if they’re comfortable using etchants and cleaning solutions needed to remove copper from PCB laminates, they’ll need design tools to create their etching stencils. An at-home designer will need to procure PCB copper boards to use for etching and create Read Article

Designing Coplanar Waveguide with Ground in Your PCB

How to Design Coplanar Waveguide with Ground in Your PCB RF designs that run at high frequency need high isolation from digital components, power subsystems, and external sources of noise that can degrade signal quality. One option in many RF designs is coplanar waveguide with ground as this can be used with controlled impedance routing on external layers. When you need to use coplanar waveguide with ground routing in your RF PCB designs, use the industry’s best set of routing features. Only Altium Read Article

Taking a Modular PCB Design Approach in Altium Designer PCB design is rarely discussed in terms of designing functional blocks or as connecting modules with different functionality. Simple designs can usually be designed without considering how your PCB layout affects the operation and interaction between multiple functional blocks in your board. With more complex designs, you’ll need to consider more than just the high-level overview of your board when you are designing a complex system. Modular PCB Read Article

Connectors Benefit from Compatible ECAD/MCAD Tools

Modeling and Placing PCB Connectors Within Altium Designer ALTIUM DESIGNER The most powerful, modern, and easy-to-use PCB design tool for professional use. I/O use connectors for PCB system integration In this guide to PCB connectors, we’ll take a look at connectors within electrical systems, how they benefit from ECAD/MCAD tools, and optimal design specifics like appropriate cable connectors or gold fingers gold plating. Connectors abound on printed circuit assemblies given integrated electrical Read Article

How to Keep Your 3D PCB Models Current with Data Management Tools

How to Keep Your 3D PCB Models Current with Data Management Tools Any component includes a significant amount of design data. This includes electrical design data management software, electrical models, 3D PCB model components, and PCB supplier information. Your PCB design software should be allowed to take this data and integrate it with your MCAD tools. This allows you to create 3D body models from your PCB footprints and integrate them into a data library. Ensuring that this data stays up to date takes a Read Article

ESD Grounding Requirements in Your Next PCB

ESD Grounding Requirements in Your Next PCB Any PCB that will be deployed in an environment surrounded by high voltage equipment or power sources is at risk of electrostatic discharge (ESD). Static electricity can also discharge directly into a board and ruin sensitive electronic components if a board is handled without a wrist strap. This induces a transient voltage in the PCB, which can cause damage to sensitive components. In extreme cases, such as lightning strikes or major power Read Article