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sukru , 04-10-2021, 02:12 PM

I want to arrange my 4 layer stack up as GND - SIGNAL - POWER - GND but in Altium layer stack manager tab ı cant change the top layer as a plane . when I press the Type section , only option is Signal. What should I do to arrange first layer as a Plane?

WhoKnewKnows , 04-10-2021, 02:23 PM

Think of which layer you were planning to place components. That layer can't be a plane layer AFAIK.

If you set the bottom as a plane then only the top remains for components.

sukru , 04-10-2021, 02:40 PM

thank you for quick responce @WhoKnewKnows . I saw the stack up example of 4 layer in one of the rick Hartley conferance and I added it here. he mention the top layer as a Ground , what is the meaning of it ? Can it be ground pour instead of plane on top layer.

WhoKnewKnows , 04-10-2021, 02:50 PM

Any of the outer layers that you want to place components on need to be signal layers. You can have a ground plane effect with a board-wide polygon pour that's connected to ground.

robertferanec , 04-12-2021, 04:27 AM

@sukru as @WhoKnewKnows explained, I believe Top and Bottom layers can't be set as a plane, because Altium plane is a special layer which I believe can't handle components (e.g. can't work with footprints and pads). Also doing fanout and drawing tracks on a plane layer - hmm .. I believe that would not be so easy to do. Just try "draw tracks" on a plane layer and you will see what I mean - plane layer is a negative layer it means, everything what you draw will not be copper - and draw tracks this way would be super difficult.

As already suggested, simply, use the Top layer as a signal layer and then on the TOP layer draw a GND polygon over the whole board.