<div class="entry-content">
    <div class="jetpack-video-wrapper"><span class="embed-youtube" style="text-align:center; display: block;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Lqc1jmbSxnE" class="youtube-player" width="740" height="416.418" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></span>
    </div>
    <div class="blog-content">
Why is the thickness of PCB layers important? Explained.
    </div>
    
    <div class="blog-content-links">
        <div>
            Links:
        </div>
        <ul class="links-list">
            <li class="links-list-item"><a href="https://fedevel.com/courses">FEDEVEL Online courses</a></li>
        </ul>
    </div>  
</div>

How to choose PCB?

<div class="entry-content">
    <div class="jetpack-video-wrapper"><span class="embed-youtube" style="text-align:center; display: block;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OG2Ci_xr0pM" class="youtube-player" width="740" height="416.418" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></span>
    </div>
    <div class="blog-content">
If you would like to watch a full step-by-step tutorial about how to design your own custom keyboard, let me know in comments. Thx for watching.
    </div>


    <div class="blog-content-chapters">
        <div>
            Chapters:
        </div>
        <ul class="chapters-list">
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">00:00</span><span class="chapters-text">Overview</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">00:20</span><span class="chapters-text">Keyboard parts</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">00:54</span><span class="chapters-text">Keyboard PCB design</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">02:35</span><span class="chapters-text">Small version</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">03:53</span><span class="chapters-text">Keyboard case</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">05:11</span><span class="chapters-text">Switches and encoders</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">06:10</span><span class="chapters-text">Keycaps</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">06:56</span><span class="chapters-text">Firmware QMK</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">07:52</span><span class="chapters-text">VIA app to set shortcuts</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">08:28</span><span class="chapters-text">Finished keyboard</span></li>
    </div>
    
    <div class="blog-content-links">
        <div>
            Links:
        </div>
        <ul class="links-list">
            <li class="links-list-item"><a href="https://fedevel.com/courses">FEDEVEL Online courses</a></li>
        </ul>
    </div>  
</div>

I Built This Custom Keyboard from Scratch

<div class="entry-content">
    <div class="jetpack-video-wrapper"><span class="embed-youtube" style="text-align:center; display: block;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/m3Ny3j5nH0U" class="youtube-player" width="740" height="416.418" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></span>
    </div>
    <div class="blog-content">
Close look at BGA soldering, chip soldering, hand soldering and more
    </div>

    <div class="blog-content-chapters">
        <div>
            Chapters:
        </div>
        <ul class="chapters-list">
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">00:00</span><span class="chapters-text">What is this video about</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">00:09</span><span class="chapters-text">Soldering BGA</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">01:18</span><span class="chapters-text">Soldering TSSOP</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">03:05</span><span class="chapters-text">Soldering QFN</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">06:02</span><span class="chapters-text">Hand soldering</span></li>
            <li class="chapters-list-item"><span class="chapters-time">08:35</span><span class="chapters-text">Multilayer PCB under a microscope</span></li>
    </div>

    
    <div class="blog-content-links">
        <div>
            Links:
        </div>
        <ul class="links-list">
            <li class="links-list-item"><a href="https://www.keyence.eu/yt-kib-vhx-0924">Microscope Keyence VHX-7000N</a></li>
            <li class="links-list-item"><a href="https://fedevel.com/courses">FEDEVEL Online courses</a></li>
        </ul>
    </div>  
</div>

Have you ever seen soldering THIS close?

<div class="entry-content">

    <div class="blog-content">
        I have been designing electronic devices for more than 11 years. During this period I have used several systems and:<br><br>

        <i><b>“If I was thinking to buy a software for Electronic Hardware Design I would choose Altium Designer.”</b>

        – Robert Feranec, <a href="http://www.fedevel.com/" >FEDEVEL</a> Motherboard, Processor and Microcontroller Board Design</i>
    </div>

    <div class="blog-content">
        <h2 class="blog-content-heading">Why ?</h2>
        <ol class="content-list">
            <li class="content-list-item"><span class="content-text"><b>Optimum ratio between Price / Performance</b><br>
                You can design ANY board in Altium Designer. For advanced boards (e.g high speed designs) the PCB layout process may take a little bit longer as it would take when an another advanced tool such Cadence Allegro is used (a few days or weeks more), BUT you will save time on other things – such component management. Also, <a href="http://live.altium.com/#software" >Altium Designer costs $5000</a> what is much less then Cadence Allegro which, as I know, starts somewhere around $25000 plus fees for every year. (Just for information full PADS price is around $15000, a cheaper tool like EAGLE costs around $1500)</span></li>
            <li class="content-list-item"><span class="content-text"><b>Great Component Management</b><br>
                By using Variants in Altium Designer you will save a LOT of time. A board has many times more then just one variant – board with different memory sizes, different range of input voltages, different resistor settings, … Just generating all the manufacturing information for all this variants takes a lot of time (BOMs for purchasing, BOMs for manufacturing, Assembly drawings, Schematics, …) and then … a hardware change needs to be done and re-generate all the information again … and again. In Altium Designer, once everything is set up correctly, it takes only few clicks. Read more about <a href="https://fedevel.com/blog/2011/04/altium-designer-tutorial-using-variants-in-schematic/" >how to use variant manager here</a> or <a href="https://fedevel.com/blog/2011/06/altium-designer-how-to-creat-assembly-drawing-layers/" >learn how to create useful Assembly drawings here</a>.</span></li>
            <li class="content-list-item"><span class="content-text"><b>Excellent Schematic Browser</b><br>
                You always want to be sure the schematic is correct. No one wants to have swapped receive and transmit signals, two outputs / inputs connected opposite of each other, using wrong power rail, forget pull up / down resistors, …. Altium Designer provides an excellent schematic browser what allows you easily check connection for EVERY pin in your schematic. It’s my favourite feature. See <a href="https://fedevel.com/blog/2011/03/best-way-to-check-orcad-schematic-use-altium-designer/" >comparison between Orcad and Altium Designer Schematic browsing here</a>.</span></li>
            <li class="content-list-item"><span class="content-text"><b>3D visualisation and output</b><br>
                The 3D feature of Altium Designer is SO SIMPLE TO USE. Clients love 3D outputs. They can see the product weeks or months before it’s physically on their table. I use the visualisation to check component placement and it’s especially useful when board is being designed for a bigger system. See <a href="https://fedevel.com/blog/altium-designer-3d-model-and-real-pcb-side-by-side/" >3D model and real PCB side by side here</a> or <a href="https://fedevel.com/blog/altium-designer-3d-model-of-your-pcb-its-reallyeasy/" >learn how to create 3D models here</a>.</span></li>
            <li class="content-list-item"><span class="content-text"><b>Support</b><br>
                It’s a very well known software used by wide community. The Altium Designer Help pages are good written and save a lot of time. Usually it takes no longer then 5 minutes to find and use a new feature.</span></li>
        </ol><br>

        Altium Designer is All in One solution and if you are in process of selecting new software for your Hardware Design team, then consider Altium Designer as one of your options.<br><br>

        What do you think about Altium Designer? What do you like and what not? Leave a comment.<br><br>

        <i>Note: This post is not an advert. At the time of writing this article I even didn’t have my own Altium Designer licence, but I do have now.</i>
    </div>


    <div class="blog-content-links">
        <div>
            Links:
        </div>
        <ul class="links-list">
            <li class="links-list-item"><a href="http://www.fedevel.com/" >FEDEVEL</a></li>
            <li class="links-list-item"><a href="http://live.altium.com/#software" >Altium Designer</a></li>
            <li class="links-list-item"><a href="https://fedevel.com/blog/2011/04/altium-designer-tutorial-using-variants-in-schematic/" >How to use variant manager</a></li>
            <li class="links-list-item"><a href="https://fedevel.com/blog/2011/06/altium-designer-how-to-creat-assembly-drawing-layers/" >Learn how to create useful Assembly drawings</a></li>
            <li class="links-list-item"><a href="https://fedevel.com/blog/2011/03/best-way-to-check-orcad-schematic-use-altium-designer/" >Comparison between Orcad and Altium Designer Schematic browsing</a></li>
            <li class="links-list-item"><a href="https://fedevel.com/blog/altium-designer-3d-model-and-real-pcb-side-by-side/" >3D model and real PCB side by side</a></li>
            <li class="links-list-item"><a href="https://fedevel.com/blog/altium-designer-3d-model-of-your-pcb-its-reallyeasy/" >Learn how to create 3D models</a></li>
            <li class="links-list-item"><a href="http://wiki.altium.com/display/ADOH/Documentation+and+Help" >Altium Designer Help pages</a></li>
        </ul>
    </div> 
</div>

5x Why choose Altium Designer for Electronic Hardware Design

<div class="entry-content">
   

    <div class="blog-content">
        <h2 class="blog-content-heading">The most common schematic errors / mistakes</h2>
        <ul class="content-list">
            <li class="content-list-item"><span class="content-text">Connection between <i>Receive <-> Transmit, Negative <-> Positive</i> is wrong (e.g. Transmit signal is connected to Transmit, but should be connected to Receive; Negative signal is connected to Positive, but should be connected to Negative)</span></li>
            <li class="content-list-item"><span class="content-text">Missing <i>Pull Up / Down</i> resistor</span></li>
            <li class="content-list-item"><span class="content-text">Missing junction (especially in cases when it needs to be added manually)</span></li>
            <li class="content-list-item"><span class="content-text">Swapped signals or net names (e.g on connector’s or IC’s pins)</span></li>
            <li class="content-list-item"><span class="content-text">NetName typographical error (don’t type Netnames, but use Copy and Paste instead. This eliminates mistakes such RESET -> RSET)</span></li>
            <li class="content-list-item"><span class="content-text">Circuit doesn’t work as expected (if you don’t use reference circuit, but design your own, be sure you check it many many times)</span></li>
            <li class="content-list-item"><span class="content-text">Wrong voltage rail connected to power pin or pull up (e.g +5V and should be +3.3V)</span></li>
            <li class="content-list-item"><span class="content-text">Timing issue (wrong <i>power / reset / initialization</i> sequencing, …)</span></li>
            <li class="content-list-item"><span class="content-text">After some additional changes you have done in schematic, you forget to change one of the net names</span></li>
        </ul>
    </div>
    

    <div class="blog-content">
        <h2 class="blog-content-heading">How to prevent Schematic mistakes and errors</h2>
        <i>Note: It’s important you follow these steps after you finish whole schematic. Every additional change after the checking can bring new errors or mistakes.</i><br><br>

        Print your schematic.<br>


        <ol class="content-list">
            <li class="content-list-item"><span class="content-text">Check schematic symbols. You can start with components with most pins. Open datasheet, go through every pin and compare datasheet pin <i>name/number</i> with pin <i>name/number</i> in your schematic. Make a small dot beside every checked pin.</span></li>

            <li class="content-list-item"><span class="content-text">Check connection name. After the pin <i>name/number</i> checking we can now check net names. Go through every pin in your printed version of schematic and compare if the pin name is <i>same/similar</i> to the net name. Make a small dot beside every checked pin (use different colour or opposite site of the pin name as you used in point 1).</span></li>

            <li class="content-list-item"><span class="content-text">Go through every reference circuit you used in your design and compare with your printed schematic. Is it same? Are the changes you made in the reference circuit correct? (e.g. new calculated voltage divider, …) Use a red pen and circle parts what are different.</span></li>

            <li class="content-list-item"><span class="content-text">For next step I would recommend Altium Designer as I found following method extremely useful and efficient. Altium Designer has a feature called <i>Interactive Navigation</i>. The navigation has four small windows:

                <ul class="content-list">
                    <li class="content-list-item"><span class="content-text">a window with list of all schematic pages in your design,</span></li>
                    <li class="content-list-item"><span class="content-text">a window with list of all components in the selected page,</span></li>
                    <li class="content-list-item"><span class="content-text">a window with list of all nets used in the selected page,</span></li>
                    <li class="content-list-item"><span class="content-text">a window with list of all pins which are connected to the selected net.</span></li>
                </ul><br>
        
                <i>Picture: Altium Designer – Interactive Navigation (screenshot)</i>
                <div class="blog-content-img-wrapper">
                    <img src="https://assets.fedevel.com/blog/2019/10/1ef6d-altium-designer-interactive-navigation.jpg" alt="Altium Designer Interactive Navigation" />
                </div><br>
                During the procedure of schematic checking use Altium Designer <i>Interactive Navigation</i> and go through every page in the design, every net in the page and every pin in the net. Then look how and were each of the pins are connected. This way, all the nets are double-checked and also the connections can be seen from different points of view (e.g. one time we look on the net from output’s view and later we look on the same net from input’s view). Compare with reference circuits and datasheets (have a look what the pin’s feature is and how it should be connected). See demonstration of <a href="http://youtu.be/JS_VWGzVRbY?t=4m18s" >Altium Designer Interactive Navigation in this video (starting at 4min 18sec)</a>.</span></li>

            <li class="content-list-item"><span class="content-text">Imagine you have just connected your board to power. What will happen?<br>
                The current starts flows .. where … and then? What power supply starts as first .. second … when reset is generated, what happen when you press power button …. Imagine your board is running … what’s happening?</span></li>
        </ol>
    </div>

    <div class="blog-content">
        <h2 class="blog-content-heading">Tips for Schematic symbol and PCB footprint Library checking</h2>
        <i><b>Most common library errors are made when component doesn’t fit into the footprint (footprint dimensions are not correct) or when pin numbering of footprint is wrong e.g:</b>

        <ul class="content-list">
            <li class="content-list-item"><span class="content-text">some connectors are numbered from top to bottom, others are numbered from left to right;</span></li>
            <li class="content-list-item"><span class="content-text">position of diode or transistor pins is wrong or pins are swapped (e.g Anode / Cathode / Gate / Source / …)</span></li>
        </ul></i><br>

        When a new component has been created in library:
            <ul class="content-list">
                <li class="content-list-item"><span class="content-text">always compare pin names and pin numbers between component datasheet and the new schematic symbol</span></li>
                <li class="content-list-item"><span class="content-text">always check if pin numbers in footprint are in correct order</span></li>
                <li class="content-list-item"><span class="content-text">always measure dimensions of the new footprint (Reports->Measure Distance) and compare with datasheet</span></li>
            </ul>
    </div>
    <div class="blog-content-links">
        <div>
            Links:
        </div>
        <ul class="links-list">
            <li class="links-list-item"><a href="http://youtu.be/JS_VWGzVRbY?t=4m18s" >Altium Designer Interactive Navigation video</a></li>
        </ul>
    </div> 
</div>

5 Tips for better Schematic checking

<div class="entry-content">
    <div class="jetpack-video-wrapper"><span class="embed-youtube" style="text-align:center; display: block;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/v1EzSt3TfZA" class="youtube-player" width="740" height="416.418" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></span>
    </div>
    <div class="blog-content">
        This video explains one of possible PCB layout techniques used for DDR2 / DDR3 length matching in Altium Designer.
    </div> 
    <div class="blog-content-links">
        <div>
            Links:
        </div>
        <ul class="links-list">
            <li class="links-list-item"><a href="http://www.fedevel.com/welldoneblog/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/DDR2-DDR3-Length-Calculator-Spreadsheet.xls">Excel spreadsheet used in the video</a></li>
        </ul>
    </div>  
</div>


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