PCB DESIGN GUIDE FOR ENGINEERS: PART 2 — PLANNING

The PCB Design Guide for Engineers is a series that serves as a guide for the novice/student, or electronics engineering
professional. It presents a description of the methods, stages, and practices in producing a PCB from an engineer’s vision.
From conception to delivery of the fully assembled PCB, this document takes you through basic design stages along with
giving you proven industry practices that can be tailored to your organization needs. In addition, useful links are provided for
greater exploration on those topics.

INTRODUCTION

The planning of the development of a one or several PCBs can be a daunting task. There will be a host of other software
tools that will be used in the development of your project. From tools that can be used to track the progress of your
human resources within your team to the software tools used by your internal and external resources to bring your project
to life. None came be more important that the tool used to gather all of the data together intelligently to assemble the
documentation required to bring to life the center of any electronic product, the Printed Circuit Board.

THE TOOLS — USE A CENTRALIZED TOOL

There are a host of tools available the will most certainly allow you to complete your project and achieve your design goals.
The difficulty when working with multiple tool sets is inherently getting these tools to communicate with one another for
cohesive collaboration among all the people working on the project. Altium Designer® provides an all-in-one environment
for developing your concept to simulation and signal integrity analysis. It gives you the ability to intelligently plan your board
stack up architecture and analyzes and models your power distribution network’s (PDN) power integrity issues. Using real
time data from suppliers it streamlines generation of your bill of material. Altium Designer combines a powerful suite of tools
that produces from the simple to complex multi-board project.

SIGNAL INTEGRITY

With Altium Designer, you can analyze the signal integrity (SI) performance of a PCB from either the schematic or the PCB
editors, evaluate net screening results against predefined tests, perform reflection and crosstalk analysis on selected nets,
and display and manipulate the waveforms.

Altium Designer includes pre-layout and post-layout SI analysis capabilities. The Signal Integrity Analyzer uses sophisticated
transmission line calculations and I/O buffer macro-model information as input for simulations. Based on a fast reflection and
crosstalk simulator model, the Signal Integrity Analyzer produces accurate simulations using industry-proven algorithms.

Preliminary impedance and reflection simulations can be run from your source schematics prior to final board layout and
routing. This allows you to address potential signal integrity issues, such as mismatched net impedances, before committing
to board layout.

Full impedance, signal reflection and crosstalk analysis can be run on your final board (or a partially routed board) to check
the real-world performance of your design. Signal integrity screening is built into the Altium Designer design rules system,
allowing you to check for signal integrity violations as part of the normal board design rule checking (DRC) process. If signal
integrity issues are found, Altium Designer shows you the effects of various termination options, allowing you to find the best
solution before modifying your design.

You can learn more about signal integrity using Altium Designer here:

http://techdocs.altium.com/display/ASIAE/Performing+Signal+Integrity+Analyses

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PCB DESIGN GUIDE FOR ENGINEERS: PART 2 — PLANNING

PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD ARCHITECTURE

With Altium Designer, you have a robust set of tools that allows you to quickly and accurately produce the documentation
that board fabricators require. It all begins with defining the characteristics of your PCB.

Board Planning

Altium Designer gives you the latest in board planning technology with three design modes. Beginning with Board Planning
Mode, A two-dimensional design environment lets you define board regions and bending lines. A second 2D layout mode
enhances the conventional two-dimensional design environment with customizable layer modes. A third environment
provides a three-dimensional workspace providing vivid, realistic views of your PCB.

Here is further material relating to board planning:

Board Planning Mode

http://techdocs.altium.com/display/ADRR/PCB_Cmd-SetPCBViewModeEditOutline_
PLPCB~SetPCBViewModeEditOutline((Board+Planning+Mode))_AD

Defining Board Regions and Bending Lines

http://techdocs.altium.com/display/ADOH/Defining+Board+Regions+and+Bending+Lines

Board Shape

http://techdocs.altium.com/display/ADRR/PCB_Obj-BoardShape((Board+Shape))_AD

Configuring and Working in 2D or 3D Layout Mode

https://techdocs.altium.com/display/ADOH/Configuring+and+Working+in+2D+or+3D+Layout+Mode

PCB 3D Projection Modes

http://techdocs.altium.com/display/ADOH/PCB+3D+Projection+Modes

Layer Stack Manager

The Layer Stack Manager helps you develop and model the physical and electrical characteristics of your PCB. From
simple double sided PCBs, complex multilayers, to flex circuits and flex-rigid-flex designs. It also allows for variations and
combinations of different materials and lets you define drill pair layers and specify bind and buried vias. You can enter your
material characteristics and customize impedance formulas, allowing you to communicate a concise definition of your PCB
through the various documentation media, generated by Altium Designer.

For more details on the Layer Stack Manager:

http://techdocs.altium.com/display/ADRR/PCB_Dlg-LayerStackConfigurationForm((Layer+Stack+Manager))_AD

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PCB DESIGN GUIDE FOR ENGINEERS: PART 2 — PLANNING

POWER DISTRIBUTION NETWORK (PDN)

PDN Analyzer is a DC power integrity (PI-DC) simulation tool that analyzes a board design’s DC performance based on its
electrical and physical properties. DC analysis of a power delivery network (PDN), or the results of its DC power integrity
(PI-DC), ensures that adequate copper has been provided in the path from the voltage sources to the loads, and the return
paths. The result is an efficient design that maintains the integrity of the design’s DC power layout.

Learn more about the PDN analyzer from these sources:

PDN Analyzer

http://techdocs.altium.com/display/ADOH/PDN+Analyzer

PDN Analyzer Example Guide

http://techdocs.altium.com/display/ADOH/PDN+Analyzer+Example+Guide

PDN Analyzer Overview video

http://play.vidyard.com/ESegB38lstOBP1XcpcRevQ

BILL OF MATERIALS (BOM) ANALYSIS

Electronic projects can range from the simplest of boards to large scale projects across a global enterprise, Altium provides
several options that can be tailored to your organization’s specific needs and work seamlessly with your other tools to
provide you the information you need for the proper planning of your project.

ActiveBOM

Facilitating real-time cost estimation and tracking for a board design, Altium Designer brings a system that effectively and
efficiently aides the designer in managing costs and availability of items used in that design. This system is known simply as
ActiveBOM.

ActiveBOM offers a live presentation of the design from the outset, providing early and ongoing cost estimation. It allows
you to define target pricing at the individual item level. You can then track how actual costing fares against these estimates,
and so give a timely flag if any cost blowouts are on the near horizon. In addition, you can quickly assess item availability,
complete with notification if there is a risk in the supply of a chosen part.

Download your free trial of Altium Designer http://www.altium.com/altium-designer-free-trial and explore the features of our
various bill of materials (BOM) analysis tools through our tutorials. In addition, here are more references for ActiveBOM:

ActiveBOM

http://techdocs.altium.com/display/ADOH/ActiveBOM

Generating a Custom Bill of Materials

http://techdocs.altium.com/display/ADOH/Generating+a+Custom+Bill+of+Materials

www.altium.com
PCB DESIGN GUIDE FOR ENGINEERS: PART 2 — PLANNING

ALTIUM VAULT

Altium Vault helps you to achieve your design goals by connecting all facets of the electronics design process together.
Everyone involved in your design project can work without risking the integrity of your design data and without hindering
their ability to remain innovative and productive.

By managing your components in the Vault, everyone involved in your design process has controlled access to all the relevant
component data they need to ensure the best decisions are always being made. The Vault provides real-time supply chain
data, component approvals, and life-cycle status information to the whole team. Designers, managers, procurement officers,
manufacturing partners and others involved in the design process are able to minimize errors, increase efficiency, reduce
costs, and get products to market faster.

Learn more about Altium Vault:

Request a Demo of Altium Vault

http://www.altium.com/altium-vault/demo?utm_source=ownedmedia&utm_medium=navigationbutton&utm_
campaign=vaultdemandge

Getting Started with Altium Vaults

www.altium.com/resources/getting-started-with-altium-vaults.pdf

The Altium Content Vault

http://techdocs.altium.com/display/DMAN/The+Altium+Content+Vault

Altium Design Content

https://designcontent.live.altium.com/

CIIVA

Producing an error-free BOM starts with staying on top of parts availability and pricing information from your most trusted
suppliers.

SmartParts

Ciiva SmartParts Analysis allows you to instantly analyze all of your parts so you’ll never face another rejected BOM again.

 Ciiva SmartParts Search gives you all the information you need to find the right part for your designs including
historical lifecycle data, verified alternative components, downloadable CAD models, and your own customized
search history.

 Ciiva SmartParts Analysis allows you to produce a perfect BOM by instantly analyzing parts for current availability
and pricing, with verified alternative part selections for any end of life components on your BOM.

 Ciiva SmartParts Management is seamlessly integrated into your PCB design environment to automatically store
and manage all of your design and library data for you, so you can focus on what matters most.

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PCB DESIGN GUIDE FOR ENGINEERS: PART 2 — PLANNING

Ciiva BOM Manager

From design conception to completion, you depend on your BOM to manage, track, and review every component used in
your designs. The Ciiva BOM Manager enables you to automate your BOM management process in one centralized location.

 Stay in complete control of every change made to your BOMs with built-in version control. See exactly who made
changes to your BOM and when, and understand exactly where your components are being used in every Bill of
Materials.

 Easily swap out obsolete components with verified alternatives without ever leaving your BOM management tool.
Get instant pricing and availability on every component and keep your production process running smoothly.

 Keep your entire production team on the same page with secure and centralized access to the same set of BOM
data. Changes made by one person are instantly synchronized so you’re always working with the latest data.

Try it Free - Create Your Free Ciiva Account

https://ciiva.com/smart-parts/overview#popup-create-ciiva-account

CONCLUSION

Planning a PCB design project can be a complex and difficult task without the proper tools. The Altium Designer tool set
allows for great flexibility in preparing and compiling your data with a shared and collaborative environment that will assure
you the greatest success in completing your task in meeting your scheduling needs and achieving your goals.

Download your free trial of Altium Designer at http://www.altium.com/altium-designer-free-trial and explore the features of
our signal integrity analysis tools through our tutorials.

www.altium.com