A PCB (printed circuit board) is an integral part of almost every electric connection. PCBs make fabrication and automation become very easy. Because of the competition in the development of software designs in the market today, the need to keep with the times and opt for advanced PCB solutions like circuit board standoffs is necessary for every interconnection. Advanced PCB design solutions that cannot stand the test of time, especially at the high speeds of today’s electronics, will cause many problems.
PCB boards are becoming increasingly complex as technology grows. To keep up with the growth, PCBs need more advanced tools and designs to make them more viable. The same old software and tools will not do. Therefore, designers have developed new tools and software to develop PCB that will not only be useful in the short term, but will also give out long term returns. The areas of the PCB that need advanced solutions are the high density interconnects thermal management and the high-speed PCB design.
Specific software is needed to optimize designs at both the PCB design and the product levels. Some of design solutions used today to make this possible are:
CR-8000
CR-8000 contains many enhancements and features that greatly enhance PCB design productivity by covering all the functional designs. These include, board planning, analysis of parametric and mechanical fits. Other features of a CR-8000 are:
- Supports the EMC by checking all the return paths on all electric nets running across different or a number of boards. This makes reporting on a net-by-net basis easy to carry out
- Expands MCAD design by importing figures that are created by CAD
- Exports multi board design in pdf format of 3D to an expanded 3D model
- Helps users to generate bumps while checking the differences in length between both the negative and positive routes
DS-CR
Used for data management and electronic engineering and offers reliable information for the development of all the products and any change in activities. Its other functions are:
- Consolidate and manage all information and all the parts of a PCB in a controlled and easier to review proves
- Make sure all the tasks, workflow changes and processes of approval are well managed
- Through module management, DS-CR supports a good configuration of design and reuse.
Design Gateway
- Design gateway gives PCBs a complete circuit engineering system by allowing engineers to use tested and proven circuits from other older projects. It also enables the following things
- Makes sure all the rules and constraints are accessed and stored from one location
- Embeds simulation by analyzing and checking all electric rules. This allows for early detection of any design errors before they propagate.
- Allows for reuse of design from an existing library or from good circuits that are in already existing designs
- Improves both purchasing power and reuse of components by reducing time spent on research and browsing for approved vendors and components
- Exchanges circuit information at any level in the process of design.
Circuit Adviser
This allows engineers to carry out advanced checks during creations of any circuit. A circuit adviser specifies rules, conditions, creates check results and cross checks the results with the PCB design before giving a summary report.
