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

Plated Through-Hole Vias in mmWave PCBs

Plated Through-Hole Vias in mmWave PCBs Should you plate your through-hole vias in mmWave PCBs? Recently, I received a question from a designer at a startup wondering about proper use of plated through-hole vias in mmWave PCBs. It got me thinking that I neglected to mention this point in a previous blog post, although space in these posts can be limited. This is a fair question, both when dealing with microwave/mmWave frequencies, and when working with high speed digital signals. At Read Article

SMPS Circuit Design: Which Switching Frequency to Use?

SMPS Circuit Design: Which Switching Frequency to Use? Power supply on a network switch Power electronics and switched-mode power supply (SMPS) designers should know that working with higher switching frequencies can lead to higher switching losses in your system. However, the push to miniaturize power supplies, and the components that go into them, compels designers to work with higher switching frequencies in their SMPS circuit designs. This then creates problems where switching losses and noise Read Article

Frequency Modulation Simulation in Altium Designer

Frequency Modulation Simulation in Altium Designer When working with analog signals, you need to ensure your device is operating linearly in order to prevent problems like harmonic distortion during operation. Nonlinear interactions in analog devices lead to distortion that corrupts a clean analog signal. It may not be obvious when an analog circuit clips just from looking at your schematic or datasheets. Instead of tracing through your signal chain manually, you can use simulation tools to get Read Article

How Absorbing Conformal Coatings Affect Your PDN and Radiated EMI

How Absorbing Conformal Coatings Affect Your PDN and Radiated EMI Signal integrity analysis and measurements go hand-in-hand I remember the first time I—back in my days of working with sensors—pumped nitrogen dioxide into a humid environmental chamber while evaluating a DUT. Over time, the surface of my copper leads slowly corroded as they sat unprotected in such a noxious environment. As my electronics experiment was living a double life as a chemistry experiment, I questioned whether to use a conformal Read Article

Power Integrity Measurements for Your Prototype Board

Power Integrity Measurements for Your Prototype Board We often write about signal integrity and power integrity around here, but there is one area where we sometimes fall short: test and measurement. Both aspects of building a new device are critical for ensuring your board will work as intended and meets stringent performance requirements. With advanced systems, the level of testing and measurements required to qualify a prototype for full-scale production spans far beyond using a multimeter. Power Read Article

Signal Distortion in Your PCB: Sources and Solutions

Signal Distortion in Your PCB: Sources and Solutions Length matching for high-speed signals is all about synchronization... Signal distortion often gets a passing mention in many discussions on signal integrity and circuit analysis. As more networking products start running at higher speeds and use complicated modulation schemes, you’ll find that signal distortion becomes a serious problem that contributes to bit error rates. Distortion sources are cited as one of the primary bottlenecks preventing Read Article

Electronics System-Level Design in Altium Designer

Electronics System-Level Circuit Engineering Design in Altium Designer Electronics system level design lets you focus on functionality and abstraction The day-to-day life of a PCB layout engineer is all about translating schematics into a real, manufacturable PCB. Before this can happen, designs begin at an abstract level that focuses on designing functionality. As the overall design process progresses, design requirements are made more granular, reaching the signal processing level and, eventually, the component Read Article

How to Create an Amplifier Simulation in Altium Designer

How to Create an Amplifier Simulation in Altium Designer Length matching for high-speed signals is all about synchronization... We’d all love to get to the test and measurement stage quicker. It means you’ve finally gotten through the design phase and you’re ready to test prototypes. It might also mean you’ve narrowed down to the components you need for your system and your evaluating proposed functionality for your system. Tests and measurements with your circuits are very important, but they won’t Read Article

DC Analysis of Linear and Nonlinear Circuits in Schematic Design

DC Analysis of Linear and Nonlinear Circuits in Schematic Design These circuits can always use DC analysis If you’re working with a new design that involves some custom circuitry, it always helps to understand how the circuit behaves in DC. There is some merit to this, particularly if you are designing a custom power conditioning system, amplifier, equalizer, or other circuit. These circuits and many more require a range of analyses to evaluate their functionality, but the most fundamental of these is a DC Read Article

PDN Impedance Analysis and Modeling: From Schematic to Layout

PDN Impedance Analysis and Modeling: From Schematic to Layout Do you know the factors that determine the impedance of your PDN? Here’s what you need to know about PDN impedance analysis and modeling. Read Article

Agile Development and Testing: The Role of Simulations

Agile Development and Testing: The Role of Simulations Simulations can help you avoid repeated prototyping and testing Design, build, test; whether you are a hardware designer or a software engineer, you’ll go through multiple iterations when developing complex systems. The build and test portions are the moment of truth—when you find out whether your hard work will pay off. An important part of design, build, and test iterations concerns narrowly defining test cases and functionality requirements Read Article

Tools for Transient Signal Analysis in Circuit Design

Tools for Transient Signal Analysis in Circuit Design You can perform transient signal analysis with any of these circuits with the right simulator. I still remember my first differential equations class. One of the first topics that was discussed was damped oscillator circuits and transient signal response, which arises in many different physical systems. A transient response in an interconnect and on power rails in your PCB is a source of bit errors, timing jitter, and other signal integrity Read Article

Continuous Deployment: An Implementation Using Altium Designer

Continuous Deployment: An Implementation Using Altium Designer In Continuous Integration and Deployment in ECAD we discussed the concept of Continuous Deployment within a build system. In this article, we will take a deeper look at how to set up continuous delivery and deployment systems so your team and vendors can enjoy a continuous stream of updated ECAD packages for review. Continuous Deployment/Delivery: Revisited In Continuous Integration: An Implementation Using Altium Designer we went through the Read Article

What is the Return Current Path in a PCB?

What is the Electrical Return Path in a PCB? Do you know how to determine the electrical return current path in this PCB layout? One of the fundamental aspects of any circuit diagram is the return current path or electrical return path. In a circuit diagram and a schematic diagram, the path that electric current follows to return to the low potential side of a power source should be obvious, but it may not be so obvious in a PCB. To quote the great Eric Bogatin at his PCB West 2019 Read Article

RF Signal Chain Design for FMCW Chirped Radar Systems

RF Signal Chain Design for FMCW Chirped Radar Systems If you could hear the output from your chirped radar system, it might sound like a brahminy starling In automotive and UAV radar applications, radar signals are amplified throughout the signal chain. Amplification is critical for ensuring the reflected signal can be accurately detected and for maximizing the range and resolution of your radar system. Although there are some ICs that integrate an entire signal chain into a single package, these Read Article

RF Amplifier Impedance Matching at Microwave and mmWave Frequencies

RF Amplifier Impedance Matching at Microwave and mmWave Frequencies According to MarketWatch, the overall market for RF amplifiers is expected to surpass $27 billion by 2023. So where are all of these RF amplifiers expected to be used? You can thank 5G and the expansion of cellular networks in general for a healthy portion of the expected growth. For the PCB designers out there, RF amplifier impedance matching becomes an important design point, especially with high power amplifiers. Large-signal RF Amplifier Read Article

Automotive Telematics System Design

Automotive Telematics Systems Design In 2015, the cost of the electronics in a new car surpassed the cost of raw steel for the first time in history. We shouldn’t be surprised; the increasing number of electronic systems placed in cars over time made this change in cost structure inevitable. As cars become more autonomous, more connected, and include more creature comforts, this trend is only going to continue. After the OnStar system was popularized by General Motors in the 1990s Read Article