Altium Nexus 2.0.14

The Altium product team is pleased to announce the availability of Altium NEXUS 2.0.10 (build 142). This latest update to Altium NEXUS continues to deliver new features and enhancements to the software's core technologies, while also addressing many issues raised by customers through the AltiumLive Community's BugCrunch system.

Released: 17 December 2018 – Version: 2.0.10 (build 142)

This latest update to Altium NEXUS continues to deliver new features and enhancements to the software's core technologies, while also addressing many issues raised by customers through the AltiumLive Community's BugCrunch system. Along with delivering a range of new and exciting features that develop and mature the existing technologies, it also incorporates a large number of fixes and enhancements across the software as a whole, helping designers continue to create cutting-edge electronics technology.

Feature Summaries

Advanced Layer Stack Management
Defining the layer stack for a multi-layer high-speed PCB is an art in itself, juggling layer order, materials, thicknesses, and via configurations, to achieve the impedances required to fulfill the design requirements.
Appreciating this, the Layer Stack Manager has been completely re-designed to support all aspects of layer stack configuration:
- Define the stackup - configure layer details manually with detailed, user-definable layer property information, or select materials directly from the extendable Materials Library.
- Configure the impedances - define the single-sided and differential impedance requirements for each layer, define and use impedance profiles, use the forward and reverse calculator to explore what-if scenarios as values are adjusted.
- Configure the via types - visually define the via spans allowed in the layer stack, then reference those via spans by name in the design.
- Configure the back drilling requirements - visually define the required back drills, these are automatically in accordance with the applicable Stub Length design rule.
- Comprehensive editing type functionality - configure the column visibility and order, enforce materials library compliance and stack symmetry, explore what-if scenarios with full Undo and Redo, and examine the completed stackup with the built-in visualizer.
Enhanced Interactive Routing Tools
- Routing-friendly Move Component - move a component and its fanouts, connected routes are automatically recreated when the move is complete.
- Glossing Pushed Routes - pushed routes are automatically glossed to ensure no acute angles are created.
- Follow Mode during interactive routing - click an existing contour and the interactive route path follows the shape. Works for single-sided and differential pairs.
Other Routing Improvements:
- Gloss Selected - better able to resolve glossing of multiple routes, including differential pairs.
- Zipping up of differential pairs, reducing un-paired distance.
- Junction smoothing - prevents Z corners.
- Loop removal on-off toggle.
- Via spanning diagram displayed during interactive routing layer changes (Properties panel).
Support for µVias
Already common inside components using flip-chip and chip-scale packaging, microvias (µVias) are becoming more popular in high-density board design.
With their exceptionally small feature sizes, µVias offer higher design density and can help reduce potential signal integrity issues.
µVias are defined in the new, visual, Layer Stack Manager, as either adjacent or Skip µVias. Like traditional vias, µVias are automatically used during interactive routing, based on the layer change and the applicable design rules.
During a layer change the current µVia (or µVia stack) is detailed on the Status bar, press the 6 shortcut to cycle available µVias/vias. Stacked µVias are placed when the layer change is across multiple layers.
Object-Level Pad & Via Thermal Connections
Rules-driven design is ideal for controlling the overall specifications of the design. However, rules become cumbersome when handling localized requirements, such as configuring the polygon thermal connections for specific pads and vias.
This release sees the introduction of pad & via-level thermal relief specification. Use Altium NEXUS's powerful Properties panel to edit the Thermal Relief settings for one or many pads / vias, in a single edit action.
Structural Electronics Design - Printed Electronics
An exciting evolution in the design and development of electronic products is the ability to print the electronic circuit directly onto a substrate, such as a plastic molding that becomes a part of the product.
This release sees the beginning of support for designing printed electronics; including definition of the stack of conductive and non-conductive layers, and interactive or automatic definition of the dielectric patches.
Draftsman Enhancements
Along with performance improvements and user interface refinements, Draftsman offers a range of new features that add to the information and data included in board production documents .
- Board Realistic View – place rendered 3D board views in production documents.
- Board Layers in Fabrication and Assembly views – add mechanical and/or signal layer overlays on board Assembly and Fabrication views.
- Board Region View – place a view that indicates a board design’s different layer stack regions, as represented in the PCB editor’s Board Planning Mode view.
- Center Mark – add configurable Center Mark indicator objects to Circle and Arc objects.
- Format Painter – use the format of an existing Text object to define the format of multiple text objects.
- Transmission Line Structure Table – include routing impedance calculations and data from the PCB Layer Stack into a configurable Draftsman table.
- Move Callout and Dimension target – drag and drop the starting point/node of a Linear Dimension or Callout to a new binding location.
- Solder and Glue joint Symbols – add GOST defined symbols for glued and soldered mechanical joints to drawings.
- Special Strings in Table cells – special/smart string parameters included in Table cells will be processed to display their corresponding Value.