Simulation / Analysis for PCB Design

Simulation and analysis can be performed pre-layout in your schematics, and post-layout in your finished physical design. Altium Designer includes resources to help you succeed in both areas with an integrated SPICE simulator, reflection and crosstalk simulators, and integration with 3rd party field solvers. Browse our library of resources to learn more about using simulation tools and analyzing electrical behavior in your designs.

SPICE Simulation in Altium Designer PCB Simulation Software xSignals in Altium Designer PDN Analyzer for DC Power Integrity

Taking Simulation to a New Dimension

Taking Simulation to a New Dimension Tarun and Keshav Amla from Avishtech join us in this OnTrack episode to discuss about PCB stackup simulation. Read Article

PDN simulation SPICE

Ultimate Guide to PDN Simulation and Analysis in SPICE PDN simulations can be performed in SPICE if you know how to properly model parasitics and inductive effects in power integrity analysis. Read Article

Power plane resonances PCB

When Do PCB Power Plane Resonances Occur? Do you know when a power plane resonance occurs in the PDN on a circuit board? We’ll examine when this occurs and what causes it. Read Article

Capacitive load termination

How to Impedance Match and Terminate Capacitive Loads Impedance matching and capacitive load termination are examined in this article. Read Article

MLCC controlled ESR capacitor

Controlled ESR Capacitors: Should You Use Them for Power Integrity? I can’t think of a single product I’ve built that doesn’t require capacitors. We often talk a lot about effective series inductance (ESL) in capacitors and its effects on power integrity. What about effective series resistance (ESR)? Is there a technique you can use to determine the appropriate level of resistance, and can you use ESR to your advantage? Like many answers to important engineering questions, the answer is “it depends.” One type of Read Article

Gibbs phenomenon

How the Gibbs Phenomenon Produces Measurement Artifacts The Gibbs phenomenon is a measurement artifact that can be mistaken for real signal integrity problems like ground bounce, ringing from reflections, or resonance on short lines. Read Article

H-bridge Full Wave Rectifier

Beginner's Guide to H-bridge Full Wave Rectifier Design Need to start a new power conversion design? You’ll probably need an H-bridge full-wave rectifier to produce a stable DC output. Read Article

PCB simulation

How to Simulate a PCB Design Get started with a PCB simulation and learn how to simulate a PCB design. Make sure you use the best PCB simulation software in Altium Designer's unified environment. Read Article

Gibbs ringing

What Causes Gibbs Ringing in High-speed Channel Simulations? Gibbs ringing is both a measurement artifact and a calculation artifact that arises in band-limited channels. Make sure you understand how this arises due to transform and convolution operations. Read Article

MOSFET Power dissipation calculator

Using SPICE as a MOSFET Power Dissipation Calculator The circuit design and simulation features in Altium Designer can be your MOSFET power dissipation calculator. Read Article

Important Design Standards for Power Supply PCBs

Design and Simulate Your Power Supply PCB With the Best ECAD Software A PCB for a power supply can be as difficult to design as high-speed networking equipment and complex embedded systems. These circuit board designs need to account for a range of behaviors and safety requirements, especially when dealing with high voltages and currents reaching the output of the power supply. In addition to safety standards involved in power supply PCBs, component selection is critical for ensuring the design can provide the Read Article

Impedance balancing power supply

Reduce CM Noise in Your Power Supply with Impedance Balancing You can use impedance balancing to reduce conducted common-mode noise in your power supply. Here’s how it works and some experimental results. Read Article

cloud simulation

Using Altium 365 for Sharing Simulations in the Cloud Altium 365 allows you to share your cloud simulation models and data with your signal integrity team and test engineer. Read Article

Circuit Board layout

New Dimensions of PCB Simulation In this interview, they discuss why they developed this software and what solutions they can now offer design engineers. Read Article

Continuous conduction mode

Continuous Conduction Mode in an SMPS: What is it and Why it Matters Learn more about continuous conduction mode and how to design to this condition in your power supply. The best design and simulation tools can help you verify continuous conduction mode is reached. Read Article

Parameterized Tests Using Pytest for Hardware in the Loop Testing

Parameterized Tests Using Pytest for Hardware in the Loop Testing In Configuring a Hardware in the Loop Project, we reviewed the hardware concept in the loop testing using the Pytest framework. In that article, we examined the high-level concepts needed to create a basic test framework and structure. In this article, we will be reviewing the Pytest framework in-depth, specifically parameterized tests. At the end of this article, the reader will understand the difference between individual tests and Read Article

switching power supply output filter

Switching Power Supply Output Filter: Design and Simulation SPICE packages can help you design a switching power supply output filter bby looking at transient response results and running parameter sweeps. Read Article