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Electronics > General > Altium > Altium Tricks And Standards

Altium Tricks And Standards

It pays to have some standards when working with Altium, otherwise things can get ugly.

Keep schematic snap when designing symbols to DXP defaults - This is because most libraries use this setting, and if you dont, using other peoples symbols dont
connect properly. Although you can still connect to them if you set the component snap right, Altium will produce Component off grid warning when compiling. An
overload of these can mask any true mistake where a component is not connected to the intended net.
Use 5mill spacing or multiple of for pins - This is related to the default snap that everyone uses also.
Create a different folder for each project - With all the files Altium creates for a project, directories can get really, really messy.
PCB Designator Height = 0.7mm, Width = 0.2mm

Stopping Rooms From Being Added To The PCB

Also, rooms can get annoying when you dont need them. To disable rooms, click Project -> Project Options -> ECO Generation. Select Add Rooms and then choose Ignore
Differences from the drop-down menu on the right. Delete any existing rooms, and Altium will no longer automatically add them when you update the PCB.

A
screenshot showing how to stop Altium from adding rooms to the PCB.

My vias disappear when I route to them! This is caused by Alitiums Automatically Remove Loops function removing vias when you have more than one connected to the same
trace. To stop this from happening, begin routing, and then press TAB. The routing options windows will pop up. Navigate to the Interactive Routing Options section and
deselect Automatically Remove Loops.

If you are using Mercurial source control software for you Altium project, here is a recommended Mercurial Ignore File to prevent the un-necessary files from being put under

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version control.

The Board Shape

Altium allows close integration between the mechanical and electrical design with the ability to define the board shape from DXF/DWG files or step models.

Layer Standards
These conform to the default layers that Altiums IPC Footprint Wizard automatically uses for certain parts of a component. Some of the layers are paired, so that Altium
automatically switches the objects on these layers when the component is changed from top layer to bottom layer and vise versa.

Mechanical 1 Board Outline (along with the Keep-Out Layer, but that can be used for other things also)
Mechanical 2 PCB Info (manfacturing info, added as text)
Mechanical 11 Top Layer Dimensions <paired with M12>
Mechanical 12 Bottom Layer Dimensions <paired with M11>
Mechanical 13 Top Layer Component Body Information (3D models and mechanical outlines) <paired with M14>
Mechanical 14 Bottom Layer Component Body Information (3D models and mechanical outlines) <paired with M13>
Mechanical 15 Top Layer Courtyard and Assembly Information <paired with M16>
Mechanical 16 Bottom Layer Courtyard and Assembly Information <paired with M15>

The pairing of the mechanical layers is done as shown below.

Layer Colours
I find that when using many Altium layers, the default colour scheme can get very confusing. To make things simple to understand, I like using a hot and cold colour scheme. All
layers related to the top side (Top Layer, Top Overlay, Top Paste, Top Solder, Top Dimensions, Top Component Outlines/3D Bodies, and Top Courtyard are all chosen to be
hot colours, while conversely all the bottom side layers are chosen to be cold colours.

PCB Symbol Naming Convention

A good idea is to follow Altiums PCB symbol naming convention, which can be downloaded from the Altium website here,

Component Parameter Standards

Its good to get set some standards on the parameters you add to each component. This can help when it comes to making a BOM (bill of materials), as a BOM matches up
parameters from all of the components, making it easy to go and purchase the required parts or find out the total cost. Following are the standard component parameters that I
add to any new component that I make. I also add additional ones related specifically to the type of component (for example reverse breakdown voltage if its a diode, tolerance
if its a resistor, e.t.c) which are not included here.

Generic Parameters

Manufacturer
Manufacturer Part Number
Supplier 1
Supplier 1 Part Number
Supplier 1 Price (US$, 1) Pricing is specified for typical proto-typing and production quantities (1 and 1000)
Supplier 1 Price (US$, 1000)
Supplier 2 (used for a backup if supplier 1 does not have any stock, left blank for all small, non-critical components)
Supplier 2 Part Number
Supplier 2 Price (US$, 1)
Supplier 2 Price (US$, 1000)
Value A generic field for the important parameter of the component; resistance if resistor, capacitance if capacitor e.t.c)

Component Description Standards

The component description is commonly used to convey all the important parameters of the component that are not generic (see above). For example, the description of a
capacitor might indicate that its a capacitor, the type of capacitor, the package size, the temperature coefficient, tolerance, voltage and capacitance in a short hand notation. It is
useful to use the component description for this purpose to make the BOM easy to understand and use. Because each type of component has its own unique set of parameters,
If all these values where included in their own separate parameter fields, the BOM would become large, full of empty fields (e.g. a resistor typically does not have a temperature
coefficient) and unnecessarily messy.

I use the following notation for the description field. The parameters are listed in short-hand from most generic to least generic (this allows for good grouping when sorting

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alphanumerically). The symbol reference is set the manufacturers part number, as this has to be a unique field.

Capacitor Description

CAP <type> <package size> <capacitance> <voltage> <temperature coefficient>

<tolerance>

e.g. CAP CER 0603 10nF 35V X7R 5%

Resistor Description

RES <package size> <tolerance> <rated power> <resistance>

e.g. RES 0402 1% 1/16W 2.7k

Quickly Adding Vias To Nets

To quickly associate a via to a net, when placing the via, make sure to place it over a track or
pad with the same net. The via automatically inherets the connected net.

Using Transparent Layers

Use Transparent Layers is a menu option hidden away in Altium that makes the layers go
semi-transparent. It is really useful when dealing/routing with multi-layer objects (such as vias).
I found I use Transparent mode more often than not now since I discovered it. To enable it, go
into the View Configurations Menu, click the View Options tab, and then make sure the Use
Transparent Layers box is ticked as shown below. Searching through an Altium schematic library.

Turning
on the transparent layer option in Altium. Very useful when routing complex multi-layer boards!

Here is an example showing layers when set to Transparent mode.

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PCB view in Altium when using transparent layers.

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PT 7 months ago

Do you create a library for, say, various values of capacitors like this:
e.g.
Description: CAP CER 0603 X7R 5% 35V 1nF
Description: CAP CER 0603 X7R 5% 35V 10nF
Description: CAP CER 0603 X7R 5% 35V 100nF

What do you set the "Symbol Reference" to?

I found that if I set the symbol reference to say "CAP" for each one, then Altium gets confused and it doesn't work. So do you have to set the Symbol
Reference to the same value as the Description?
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gbmhunt er PT 7 months ago

Hi,

I typically use the manufacturer's part number for the symbol reference. This field has to be unique, so you can't really use the cap description (you
could have two caps with identical parameters).

I have updated the page above to indicate this and added an image to show what the library looks like in Altium. Also, it's worthy to note that after
writing this I discovered that it's better to put the capacitance after the package size in the description so that when sorting alphabetically it makes
more sense.

e.g. CAP CER 0603 10uF 6.3V X7R 10%

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