Tutorial – Searching for and Acquiring the Components in Altium Designer

Accessing the Components

The real-world component that gets mounted on the board is represented as a schematic symbol during design capture, and as a PCB footprint for board design.

Components for your PCB design project can be created in and placed from your company’s Workspace library. These components are placed through the Components panel that uses Altium Designer’s advanced component search engine.

A new Workspace library component is created using the Component Editor where you can define all component data (domain models, parameters, part choices, etc.) manually, or use data saved from the Manufacturer Part Search panel. This panel gives you instant and up-to-date access to a powerful component search and aggregation system, detailing millions of components from thousands of manufacturers, each with real-time supply chain information. Many of the components are design-ready, complete with a symbol and a footprint model; these parts will include the  icon in the panel.

Searching for New Parts

Your go-to location to find new components is the Manufacturer Part Search panel. To open the Manufacturer Part Search panel, click the  button at the bottom right of the application window and select Manufacturer Part Search from the menu. Panels that are currently visible are marked with a check in the menu.

The first time the Manufacturer Part Search panel is opened, it will display a list of component categories as shown below.

The Manufacturer Part Search panel, before performing a search.

Utilizing Altium Designer’s advanced component search engine, the Manufacturer Part Search panel can be used in a straightforward search mode by entering a query in the main Search field, or in its advanced faceted mode by progressively refining the search criteria using the Categories and Filters choices – or by using both capabilities together.

• To perform a straightforward search, type a search description into the Search field at the top of the panel and press Enter.For example: LED green clear 0603 SMD
  Use the Search field to perform a text-based search. Click the small x next to the search string to clear it, click the search string to reload it into the Search field
  for editing, click a component description in the results list for details on that component and to access the list of Supplier Part Numbers (SPNs), as shown above.
• To perform a faceted search, use the Categories and Filters to explore potential parts by toggling criteria on and off.For example:
  1. First select a Category, such as LEDs,
  2. then Filter the LEDs category by the Color, Packaging, Mount, Has Model, and so on.

  
  Or use a combination of the Categories, Filters, and the Search field to perform a faceted search.

Exploring the Search Results

The search results region of the panel displays a list of manufacturer parts that wholly or partly match the search criteria. Click on a part to select it and display a link giving access to up-to-date supply chain information about that part.

Understanding the Supplier Tile

There is a large amount of information presented in each SPN tile. Hover the cursor over an icon or detail to display a tooltip with more information.

The SPN tile includes detailed information about the part and its availability.

Saving from the Manufacturer Part Search Panel to the Workspace

If a component that you have found in the Manufacturer Part Search panel has Altium design models, it will display the  icon. If a component has models, the schematic symbol and footprint models will be listed in the Component Details pane of the panel (click the  button in the panel to display this pane, or click the  button at the bottom of the panel if the panel is in its compact mode). Any component can be saved to your connected Workspace.

Use the faceted search features in the Manufacturer Part Search panel to only display components with models.

To save a component from the panel to your connected Workspace:

1. Select the Save to My Workspace command:
   • Click the  button in the Component Details pane.
   • Select Save to My Workspace from the menu of the  button in the Component Details pane.

     

   • Right-click on the component entry and select Save to My Workspace from the context menu.
2. The Create new component dialog will open. Select a component type from those that are currently defined in your connected Workspace and click OK.
3. The Single Component Editor and the Use Component Data dialog will open. Select component data (parameters, models, datasheets) you would like to add to the new component and click OK.
4. Apply changes to the new component definition as required.
5. Save the new component to the connected Workspace using the File » Save to Server command from the main menus.
6. In the Edit Revision for Item dialog that opens, type in a meaningful comment to the component revision release into the Release Notes field and click OK.

The saved component will then be available for placement from your connected Workspace to the design through the Components panel.

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Saving the Multivibrator Parts

Now, it is time to use the Manufacturer Part Search panel to find the components needed for the Multivibrator circuit as listed in the following table.