The new Altium Designer, 20 with its improved efficiency, delivers designs 40% faster than its previous versions. PCB manufacturing requires precious time and effort, the majority of which is invested in the design process.
Simultaneous creation and simulation are perquisites for an optimal design program. Here are 8 new features that enable Altium Designer 20 for PCB manufacturing and to deliver high-speed designs like never before.
- Flexible angle routing
Routing different elements in a circuit board become unmanageable as a design becomes more complicated. Previously, the software required extra signal layers to navigate through these components in the ball grid array (BGA).
With the help of new and improved algorithms and tangential arcs, Altium Designer 20 allows the creator to avoid such obstacles.
- Return Path Checking
Electromagnetic fields caused by high-speed signals result in data errors, leading to a flawed design. However, it’s easily avoidable with low impedance return paths.
Altium Designer 20 automatically monitors the integrity of these paths without you having to check for it manually every now and then.
- Sliding
Altium Designer 20 introduces advanced push and shove mechanic with its new gloss engine. It reduces the time taken to edit traces on individual arcs, saving you time and effort better spent elsewhere in the PCB assembly pipeline.
- Dynamic Data Model in PCB Manufacturing
Compiling large schematic diagrams requires time and resources. Computers can take a lot of time to process the data every time you compile your work.
Altium Designer manages to resolve this issue by running continuous compilations in the background, thus, eliminating the need for a full design compilation every time you make a set of changes.
- Schematic rendering
Thanks to schematic rendering, features such as copy-paste, zooming and panning have smoothed out thanks to the implementation of DirectX into Altium Designer. Operating the software appears to be more intuitive, which significantly enhances the overall workflow.
- Creepage Voltage
Creepage is a common problem in high voltage circuits. The leakage can jeopardise your entire design, sending days, and even weeks’ worth of work down the scrap board.
Altium Designer has implemented new features to avoid Creepage and maintain the overall integrity of your design.
- Synchronised Flight Time
Improperly timed traces can lead to variable flight times which ultimately cause data error in your circuit drawing. High-speed digital circuits rely on accurate data arrival intervals. Altium Designer 20 manages to provide synchronised flight times by calculating the propagation duration on traces.
- Informative Properties Panel
The properties panel help you monitor the functions and objects you introduce in the drawing, in real-time. Having all this information in a single place makes it easier to work in a PCB assembly with a high degree of efficiency and accuracy.
PCB manufacturing is a complicated process requiring time and patience. Altium Designer 20 sports over 200 enhancements (as proclaimed by its designers). It makes the job a lot easier for a designer, enabling them to efficiently design boards demanding more significant levels of complexity with relative ease.
ChinaPCBOne Technology LTD. is author of this article on Printed Circuit Board. Find more information about PCB manufacturing.