About Author

Chris Carlson

Chris earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Oregon State University in 1993, and has worked as a design engineer in the Bio-Medical, Industrial Controls, Motor Drive, and Defense industries. His experience ranges from concept through research, development, design, documentation, manufacturing, application engineering, and support. He joined Altium in 2007 and brought with him his background in power electronics, data acquisition, and controls.

Recent Articles

Project Board Designs: System Designing using Multi-Board Project - AltiumLive 2022 Take an in-depth dive into system design and implementation of multiple PCBs, demonstrating how to achieve board-to-board interfacing while meeting MCAD constraints using Altium Designer. Watch Video

17:51 Creating Layer Numbers and Stacking Stripes in Altium Designer Click to download the PCB Library files. Watch to see exactly how you can create layer numbers and stacking stripes in Altium Designer, in this episode of OnTrack with Altium. In this Episode, Chris Carlson is demonstrating how to create Layer Numbers and Stacking Stripes in Altium Designer and answering questions from several users from another recent episode . We hope this answers your questions and please feel free to connect and let us know Watch Video

Capturing Key PCB Design Elements in the Design Document

Capturing Key Design Details in PCB Documentation One of the most important yet often avoided aspects of documenting a design is the formal design document. Too often we finish the design, generate fabrication, assembly, and validation documents then consider the job done. Properly capturing the system specification, design intent, design process and traceability back to the specification is a time-consuming and arduous yet very necessary task. The design document must capture all aspects of the Read Article

Chris Carlson: How to Get Your Layer Stack Right

Chris Carlson: How to Get Your Layer Stack Right Altium FAE, Chris Carlson, demonstrates two ways to make sure you get your layer stack right at your fabricator the first time...every time! Altium FAE, Chris Carlson, demonstrates two ways to make sure you get your layer stack right at your fabricator the first time...every time! Read Article

Multi-board design projects in Altium Designer

Multi-board design projects in Altium Designer I was working with a customer recently who had two PCBs that were related. In this multi-circuit boards design project he wanted to work from a single schematic package, yet have a subset of the schematics populate two different printed boards. It’s enough of a scenario, and it’s reasonably simple to achieve in Altium Designer^®. Here’s how. At the time of publishing, Altium currently supports only one PCB per PCB Project. In other words, each PCB Read Article

Creating a custom Altium pick and place file

Creating a custom Altium pick and place file I recently worked with a customer who had to generate a nonstandard pick and place file because his assembly house was using antiquated equipment and could not accept a standard Altium pick and place file. I thought it might be helpful to show how to use the Bill of Material generator within Altium Designer^® to create a custom report to meet such needs. I recently worked with a customer who had to generate a nonstandard pick and place file Read Article

How to Get Your Layer Stack Done Right the First Time

Getting Your Layer Stack Done Right the First Time Failure to properly design the layer stack is a common mistake in PCB assembly. This blunder often occurs during the final stages of fabrication, but can easily be prevented by including the appropriate features in the beginning stages of PCB design. Read on to learn about what layer stackup features you’ll want to include in your design. One of the most common mistakes during the PCB fabrication process is improper layer order. If left unchecked Read Article

How to Successfully Design for Testing or DFT

DFT in PCBs: Design for Testing The overall cost to produce a completed printed circuit board can be broken down into several basic categories: the cost of manufacturing the blank PCB layout, the cost of components, the assembly costs, and the cost of testing. That last one, the cost of the PCB test, can comprise as much as 25% to 30% of the total cost of producing the entire product. Best practices for Printed Circuit Board DFT is key. By designing a product to have the Read Article

Eliminate Mistakes in Your Schematics with Electronic Rule Checking

Eliminate Mistakes in Your Schematics with Electronic Rule Checking In times of rising design complexity and shortened timelines, it’s more and more for mistakes to sneak through in the schematic that can translate to the printed circuit board. Read on to find out how to easily identify and eliminate issues in your schematic with the Electronic Rule Checking your PCB in Altium Designer^®. Many designers and companies put all their efforts in having a proper PCB layout and, nowadays, checking in real time the Read Article

Syncing Your Schematics and PCB Layouts Increases Efficiency and On-Time Delivery

Synced Up Designs: Syncing Your Schematics and PCB Layouts Increases Efficiency and On-Time Delivery A while back, I was working at a company that designs and installs systems for automating smart irrigation and environmental monitoring. We had gotten into the habit of making last minute “hacks” (pin swapping, gate swapping, etc.) to our boards to accommodate a specific need from a job (or to compensate for a design flaw or oversight on a particular model after getting it back from the manufacturer). While this improvisatory method worked in the Read Article

Getting Your Layer Stack Right

Getting Your Layer Stack Right An improper layer stack in your PCB design is one of the most common errors leading to fabrication failures and rejects. Every multilayer circuit board needs a precise PCB stack-up and accurate layout before it can be sent for PCB manufacturing. When you have the right set of circuit board design tools, you can turn your stackup into a real PCB layout and prepare the documentation your fabricator needs. The multi-layer PCB troubleshooting tools Read Article