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Schematic Capture

Schematic Capture and Schematic Entry

Browse our library of resources to learn more about PCB design, Schematic Capture, and Schematic Entry. We cover topics ranging from wiring symbols and electronic diagram to best practices for your next PCB design project.

What is Schematic Capture? How to Create a PCB Schematic Convert a Schematic to a PCB Layout Schematic Capture in Altium Designer
Build Your Next LED PCB Design in Altium's Unified Environment 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 itself needs to be laid out to ensure low-temperature operation. These objectives can be difficult to balance without the best set of PCB layout features and DC analysis tools. When you need to create a high-power LED PCB design Read Article
Transition from Hobby PCB Maker to Professional Designer with Altium Transition from Hobby PCB Maker to Professional Designer with Altium Most new designers start off with freeware when they need to create their first PCB designs, but free PCB design software lacks many features required to create real circuit boards. Hobby PCB designers and makers need a range of tools to create high-quality circuit boards and eventually create real devices. Instead of using free PCB layout software and other programs to help get designs into production, hobby PCB makers need professional design Read Article
Design Your Small Circuit Board in Altium Designer Design Your Small Circuit Board in Altium Designer Large circuit boards, small circuit boards, and anything in between might seem like they need separate sets of PCB layout features. In reality, your PCB design software shouldn’t delineate your PCB design based on size. Whether you need to design a large or small circuit board, a design application with high-quality CAD tools will help you get the job done quickly and prepare your board for production. Small circuit board designs are much easier Read Article
photodiode circuit Designing and Simulating a Photodiode Circuit for Your PCB Your design tools should give you an easy way to create circuit diagrams, simulate electrical behavior, and start a new PCB layout. A photodiode circuit is important in many applications, ranging from simple ON/OFF light detection to receiving digital data in an optical fiber. These semiconductor devices are similar to a regular diode, but they can be difficult to simulate without the right component models and circuit design tools. With Altium 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 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 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 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 to browse through on the market. 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 of the supply chain. Thanks to its Read Article
Design and Simulate Any Low Pass Filter Circuit for Your PCB Design and Simulate Any Low Pass Filter Circuit for Your PCB 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
Build a Comprehensive Electronic Symbols Library in Altium Designer Build a Comprehensive Electronic 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
Quickly Replicate Circuits with a Connection Room in Your PCB Layout Quickly Replicate Circuits with a Connection Room in Your PCB Layout Modern PCB designs can get very complex, and designers need tools to help them stay organized. Schematic sheets are a great start, but simply organizing different circuit blocks into different schematics is not enough to ensure your designs are organized. Altium Designer unifies your schematic design and PCB layout tasks into a single program, and it includes a PCB connection rooms feature to keep your circuit blocks synchronized. Here’s how you Read Article
Rotation-proof pin header Can You Design a Rotation-Proof Connector Pinout? There are times where your connector pinout needs to be adaptable and reversible. What’s the easiest way to do this? Use a rotation-proof connector in your PCB. Read Article
ESD Protection Circuit Design Beginner’s Guide to ESD Protection Circuit Design for PCBs Circuit protection from transient voltages and currents can be applied with ESD protection circuit designs. Learn more about these circuits in our guide for new engineers. Read Article
DNP in BOM and PCB assembly Best Practices for Using DNI/DNP Entries in Your PCB BOM You can use the DNI/DNP designation on components in your PCB BOM to create design variants as long as you’ve created your layout correctly. Read Article
best circuit design software Use the Best Circuit Design Software With SPICE and Schematic Capture Use the best circuit design software to create your next electronic design and start your PCB layout. Read Article
MOSFETs in series Should You Use Power MOSFETs in Series? In this article, we look in greater depth at how to properly use combinations of MOSFETs in series compared to their use in parallel. Read Article
PCB schematic netlist The Anatomy of Your Schematic Netlist, Ports, and Net Names Your schematic netlist will create the link between components as you build your schematic sheets. See how your schematic sheets enable usage of net names and ports to help you stay organized. Read Article
What is schematic capture What is Schematic Capture? All designs start with creating schematic sheets for your circuits. Learn more about what is schematic capture in our guide for new engineers. Read Article