Altium Designer Tutorial 4 - PCB Layout

In the previous tutorial, we have finished the circuit schematic. In this tutorial, I will continue to make the PCB layout. First, select menu Design → Update PCB Document to create PCB document from the schematic that has been made.

This dialog will be show, then click Execute Changes button.

You can move the component and place them on the right position. This is example of the component location.

You can define the board shape and size by drawing line on Mechanical 1 layer. Select that lines (four pink lines that shape rectangle) by using Shift key to select multiple lines. Then select menu Design → Board Shape → Define from selected objects. Now, the board shape has been redefined.

The next step is to make a polygon for ground plane. To do this, you can select from menu Place → Polygon Pour then the dialog will be show:

Select the properties layer where you want to place that polygon, in this example is bottom layer. Select the net connection for this polygon which is GND. Click OK button and the draw the polygon:

Right click on the polygon, select menu Polygon Actions → Rebuild Selected to build the polygon shape that has been defined.

To configure the design rule, you can select from menu Design → Rules.

 

In that dialog there are many parameter for setting rules for the PCB. 

To begin route the connection, you can manually route by using Interactive Routing tool from menu Place. To set the PCB trace properties such as width, you can access them by press Tab key.

To place a via, you can access from menu Place → Via. To set the via properties such as diameter and hole size you can access them by press Tab key.

This is the final PCB layout for the Power Supply 3.3V. The PCB is double layer (just for example).

To check the design rules, you can select menu Tools → Design Rule Check and the click Run Design Rule Check button. The result will be show on the Design Rule Verification Report and if there is any warnings or rule violations.