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

Cascaded transfer functions monte carlo

Monte Carlo Analysis With Transfer Functions in Cascaded Circuits Pro circuit designers don’t just work with components in parallel and series when they design circuits. One way to build circuits is with circuit networks, which will have input and output ports. What happens inside each network can be analyzed in the traditional way (SPICE, by hand, etc.), but what is important is that the network maps an input voltage/current pair to an output voltage and current pair. Mathematically, this is quantified with a Read Article

3-port S-parameters

How to Get 3-port S-parameters From a 2-port VNA Measurement S-parameters are fundamental quantities in signal integrity, and an ability to understand them from measurement or analysis is very important. If you have a 3-port network, like a power divider or circulator, it may appear that you must use a 3-port VNA to measure these S-parameters. It is always acceptable to measure between two ports, but you need to know what exactly it is you are measuring. As it turns out, you can use a 2-port VNA Read Article

Monte Carlo Simulation vs. Sensitivity Analysis

Monte Carlo Simulation vs. Sensitivity Analysis: What’s the Difference? SPICE gives you an alternative to Monte Carlo analysis so that you can understand circuit sensitivity to variations in parameters. Read Article

Power Integrity and Simulations with Heidi Barnes

Power Integrity and Simulations with Heidi Barnes What a very insightful discussion with Heidi Barnes of Keysight. In this episode, we will discuss all things simulations and power integrity in detail. We will dive into EM simulations, capacitor placement, Z, Y, and S parameters correlation measurements, and more! Read Article

Monte Carlo in SPICE

The Basics of Monte Carlo in SPICE: Theory and Demo Anytime you place a component in your PCB, it’s almost like you’re gambling. All components have tolerances, and some of these are very precise (resistors for instance), but others components can have very wide tolerances on their nominal values (e.g., wirewound inductors or ferrites). In the event the tolerances on these components become too large, how can you predict how these tolerances will affect your circuits? While you could calculate Read Article

Ebook: PDN Simulation and Analysis Guide In this e-book, we’ll show how to create some fundamental PDN simulation models with SPICE, and how to analyze PDN impedance with industry-standard simulation programs. Download PDF

ferrite bead PDN

Ferrite Beads and Transfer Impedance in a PDN Simulation Ferrites in a PDN and transfer impedance are investigated in this article. We’ll show how ferrites in a PDN create problems for switching circuits. Read Article

PDN Impedance Simulation SPICE

PDN Impedance 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 Matching and Terminating Capacitive Loads Impedance matching and capacitive load termination are examined in this article. 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

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

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

PCB Simulation: How to Simulate a PCB Design Looking for the best PCB simulator? Get started with an electrical circuit design simulation software 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 Signal 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