PCB Supply Chain

Don't let component shortages and supply chain volatility derail your production schedule. Browse our library of resources to learn more about the PCB supply chain and how to source components for your design.

Build Your Next LED PCB Design in Altium's Unified Environment LED driver boards can be challenging designs when running at high power and high voltage. Power systems for driving devices like LED panels need careful planning and layout for power supply sections, and the LED PCB board design itself needs to be laid out to ensure low-temperature operation. These objectives can be difficult to balance without the best PCB LED circuit design software features and DC analysis tools. When you need to create a high Read Article

Model Train Circuits in the Best Electronics Design Software

Model Train Circuits in the Best Electronic Model Railroad Design Software Model train circuits include multiple elements that hobbyists might find in other common electronics. LEDs, buzzers, alarms, motors, and much more can be found in model train circuits. Designing train circuit boards takes a great schematic editor and component library with real and generic components for use in a circuit board. Use the best circuit board design software to create your model train circuits and start your PCB layout in a single Read Article

Underwater ROV Design and Component Selection Underwater ROVs need to obey the same reliability standards as other high-performance, high uptime products like aerospace and military systems. High reliability is all about component selection and designing boards that are fully manufacturable while keeping a system safe. The DFM features, supply chain tools, and design verification engine in Altium Designer give underwater ROV builders a complete package for electronics design and fabrication Read Article

Take Control of Your PCB Supply Chain with Altium Designer and Altium 365 Circuit board manufacturing should be simple, but today's supply chain challenges can delay or derail any design that gets sent in for PCB fabrication and assembly. Today's major challenges in the PCB supply chain include trouble sourcing parts, logistics challenges when managing multiple suppliers, delays in production and delivery, and high costs when stocks get low. Many design teams still make the mistake of waiting until the end of a design Read Article

How to Prepare Your Project for PCB Cart Manufacturing with Altium Designer The electronics industry is massive and there are plenty of PCB manufacturers to choose from for your next order. When you need to prepare your next board for fabrication and assembly, how can you quickly generate deliverables for manufacturers like PCB Cart? Instead of generating all manufacturing documentation manually, designers need an easy way to create deliverables for fabrication and assembly. If you plan to work with PCB Cart to produce Read Article

Best DC Laboratory Bench Power Supplies of 2021 A guide to workbench power supplies, related requirements, technological tradeoffs, and recommended brands and models. Read Article

Use Supply Chain Tools in Altium Designer When You Need a PCB Cost Calculator

Use Supply Chain Tools in Altium Designer When You Need a PCB Assembly Cost Calculator Anytime you need to prepare a new design and plan a production run, it’s important to work up an estimate for design, PCB fabrication, assembly, shipping, components, and any other portions of a project. There is a lot that goes into any project and it needs to be planned out early in order to prevent cost overruns. Some designers looking for manufacturing services and component prices might be tempted to use an online calculator, but this is Read Article

Altium’s Parameter Table Editor Lets You Control Your Project Settings There’s a lot of data that goes into any PCB design project. The design files and project files all have their own parameters, and these can be customized to provide plenty of useful information for data management. ECAD software users need a simple way to keep their parameter sets organized within their project files, component libraries, and much more. Parameters can appear in all types of objects in your ECAD software, as well as in any type Read Article

Altium Designer Beats Any OEMSTrade Electronics Part Search Finding and sourcing new components for your design should be an easy process. Parts specifications can get very detailed, and there are many component options and part browsers on the market (e.g. Ultra Librarian, SamacSys, DMS, etc.). How can designers narrow down to the components they need and source components from authorized distributors? Using an OEMSTrade electronics part search and other distributor websites only gives you a partial view Read Article

Build a Comprehensive Electronic Symbols Library in Altium Designer

Build an Electronic PCB Schematic Symbols Library in Altium Designer Electronic symbols are the basis for the CAD documents you’ll create before you prepare a circuit board layout. An electronic symbols library contains basic symbols and figures that are used in electrical drawings, and they need to be linked to the PCB footprints that will appear in your PCB layout. When you need to prepare and organize clear PCB layouts and electrical drawings, you need a reliable source of CAD symbols and PCB footprints, and it Read Article

Design and Simulate Any Low Pass Filter Circuit for Your PCB

Low Pass Filter Simulation for Your PCB Design Many engineers will do some basic calculations by hand in order to understand their filter and amplifier circuits. However, for complex circuits that do not obey standard series and parallel rules, or that use nonlinear components like diodes and transistors, more sophisticated methods are needed. As such, designers need an easy-to-use but powerful simulation application to aid filter design and simulation. Some programs make simulations Read Article

Managing Component Obsolescence with a Unified Data Solution

Managing Component Parts Obsolescence with a Unified Data Solution Altium Concord Pro^™ as a standalone product and brand name has been discontinued and the capabilities are now available as part of our Altium enterprise solutions. Learn more here. If components stayed competitive forever, your smartphone would run on vacuum tubes. Obsolescence is an essential part of electronics. It represents an advance in technology, although it is incremental. However, it can also create some pain points for PCB designers Read Article

Altium & Digi-Key - A Partnership That Brings Value to the Designer Here’s why you should use Digi-Key in PCB design to source your components. Altium and Digi-Key are working together for convenient component sourcing. Read Article

Save Money and Keep PCB Costs Down with Consistent Documentation Tools

Save Money and Keep PCB Pricing Down with Consistent Documentation Tools Calculating PCB costs requires professional PCB drawing tools with mechanical and electrical standards incorporated intelligently for aggressive pricing. But how to reduce PCB cost? ALTIUM DESIGNER PCB design tools are capable of tracking costs and keeping production expenditures within the budget. Produce low-cost instructions with elegant drill files Calculating printed circuit board fabrication and assembly costs requires knowledge of the Read Article

PCB Prototype Board Layout Software Designed to Work in Unison When you’re ready for PCB manufacturing, you need to create a set of deliverables from your PCB layout files. All PCB manufacturers and PCB assembly services will use your layout data and a set of other documents to get your board into the manufacturing process. You shouldn’t need separated design and PCB fabrication tools to get your board into production. Instead, you need to use a complete application for design and manufacturing in a single Read Article

Altium Designer’s Free PCB Viewer Download Allows You to Explore Your BRD Files Today, it almost seems that there are as many PCB design file formats as there are PCB manufacturers. Using a custom file format is advantageous when working with the originating company’s program. However, there are many times when you need the capability to view or use non-native files. This can be a challenge when working with most PCB software companies, but not Altium. Altium offers a free online BRD file viewer powered by the Altium 365 Read Article

Component Parameters Describe Features of a Part Component parameters define features of electronic parts necessary to meet form, fit, and function within the design for use across the enterprise. ALTIUM DESIGNER No matter the model, attributes, or values - input component properties with smart PCB design software. Component parameters describe features of a part PCB Component parameters are simply text strings in EDA software that describe characteristics. Characteristics such as name, value Read Article