System Codesign

An increasingly important concept in design is that of product creation. An approach based on product creation looks beyond chip or board design.

Early use of design for manufacturing can capture PCB yield issues related to pads, copper distribution, same net slivers and more

MCAD integration provides the means for designers to test the mechanical compatibility of a PCB design – for cooling performance as well as whether the layout will fit into an enclosure without problems.

New tools and standards encourage communication between the electrical and mechanical domains, says Pawel Chadzynski. Most major electronics companies have separate electrical (ECAD) and mechanical (MCAD) design organizations. Efficient collaboration between these teams throughout the PCB design process can significantly reduce cycle times, lower the risk of re-spins, and improve quality. The first challenge to […]

Floorplanning informed by thermal analysis can significantly improve PCB layouts, writes Robin Bornoff The number of PCB design constraints seems ever increasing. The risk that a design will fail either functional performance or reliability goals grows for each generation. One increasingly popular trade-off addresses a balance between thermal compliance and signal integrity. Components with high […]

In May 2008, the ProSTEP iViP Association released an agreed data schema and communication protocol to enhance collaboration between electrical and mechanical CAD tools (ProSTEP iViP Recommendation ECAD/MCAD, PSI 5). The article sets out the need for the new standards and how they deliver greater design effi ciencies than existing technologies, such as the IDF […]

Selecting the proper ADC can appear a formidable task. A direct approach is to go to the selection guides and parametric search engines. Enter the sampling rate, resolution, power supply voltage, and other properties. Click ‘find’. But can one approach the task with greater understanding — particularly of the main architectures — and get better […]

Introduction Selecting the proper ADC can appear a formidable task, considering the thousands on the market. A direct approach is to go to the selection guides and parametric search engines. Enter the sampling rate, resolution, power supply voltage, and other properties. Click ‘find’. And hope for the best. But it’s usually not enough. How does […]