• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Electrical Engineering News and Products

Electronics Engineering Resources, Articles, Forums, Tear Down Videos and Technical Electronics How-To's

  • Products / Components
    • Analog ICs
    • Connectors
    • Microcontrollers
    • Power Electronics
    • Sensors
    • Test and Measurement
    • Wire / Cable
  • Applications
    • Automotive/Transportation
    • Industrial
    • IoT
    • Medical
    • Telecommunications
    • Wearables
    • Wireless
  • Resources
    • DesignFast
    • Digital Issues
    • Engineering Week
    • Oscilloscope Product Finder
    • Podcasts
    • Webinars / Digital Events
    • White Papers
    • Women in Engineering
  • Videos
    • Teschler’s Teardown Videos
    • EE Videos and Interviews
  • Learning Center
    • EE Classrooms
    • Design Guides
      • WiFi & the IOT Design Guide
      • Microcontrollers Design Guide
      • State of the Art Inductors Design Guide
    • FAQs
    • Ebooks / Tech Tips
  • EE Forums
    • EDABoard.com
    • Electro-Tech-Online.com
  • 5G

PCB Design: changing the focus

August 14, 2017 By Aimee Kalnoskas 9 Comments

by Craig Armenti

Those of us who have been in the PCB design business for more than a decade either have direct knowledge of, or have heard the stories about, how the profession has evolved since the late 70’s and early 80’s. The shift from drafting tables, Mylar, and hand taping, to light tables, digitizers and CRT’s, to autorouters and then auto-interactive routing, have all been part of the changing landscape. The large minimally lit “fishbowls” with raised floors have been replaced with individual cubicles, and the CRT’s have been replaced with dual LED monitors.

Throughout all of these changes the focus has always been the PCB itself and that focus has been 2D in nature. What stackup should be used, what is the minimum trace width and spacing, will all of the parts fit on the board, are all familiar design concerns. For the past 20 years the ECAD tools we use eight hours (or more) a day have been built around helping us address these PCB focused challenges. Even as products became more complex and often required several interconnected PCB’s, each designer was still focused on his or her individual PCB. After all, until recently the only way to simultaneously work on more than one PCB at a time was to open multiple PCB layout sessions.

Lately, however, there has been a growing discussion around changing the focus from the individual PCB(s) to the “product”, and from designing in 2D to designing in 3D. The rationale behind this shift is that, especially in the consumer space, the industrial design has become paramount and the PCB has become secondary. In other words, ECAD/MCAD co-design or “product-level” design is no longer optional, it is mandatory. The ECAD tools are accommodating this shift by starting to allow multiple PCB’s to be displayed, and in some cases simultaneously edited, in one PCB layout session. This, along with their support for import of the mechanical enclosure information, is providing the PCB designer with the ability to work within a product-level view. By working in the context of the product within the ECAD space, design teams should be able to improve efficiency and thereby reduce design iterations and improve time-to-market.

So what do you think of this change in focus? At one place I worked there were posters of dinosaurs throughout the building with quotes like “Those who don’t evolve disappear”. Is this change from PCB-level to product-level and from 2D to 3D something that you and your organization view as essential to remaining competitive? Has your team already started to embrace this evolution in design methodology? I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Craig Armenti is a PCB marketing engineer for the Board Systems Division of Mentor Graphics, a Siemens company. Craig recently began a blog on EEWorldonline’s EDABoard.com online engineering community.

Filed Under: Featured, Industry Experts, PCB Design Tagged With: mentorgraphics, siemens

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Pcbindex says

    May 18, 2018 at 10:41 pm

    The application of ultraviolet laser processing in the PCB industry

    Log in to Reply
  2. Pcbindex says

    February 17, 2019 at 10:02 pm

    In the layout of PCB, decoupling circuits of the power should be designed near the relevant circuits instead of the power part, or it will not only affect bypass, but also pulsating current will flow through the power circuits or ground circuits, leading to crosstalk.

    Log in to Reply
  3. Pcbindex says

    February 19, 2019 at 9:20 pm

    As for direction of power inside the circuits, power supply should be from the final stage to the first stage and filter capacitor should be at the final stage.

    Log in to Reply
  4. Pcbindex says

    February 20, 2019 at 8:50 pm

    The 14 most important features of a high-reliable circuit board:

    Log in to Reply
  5. Pcbindex says

    February 20, 2019 at 8:53 pm

    solderless repair or disconnection or wire adding repair

    Log in to Reply
  6. Pcbindex says

    February 21, 2019 at 8:32 pm

    UV laser is particularly suitable for hard board, flexible -hard board, flexible board and the cutting or marking of auxiliary materials. What are the advantages of this kind of laser technique?

    Log in to Reply
  7. Pcbindex says

    February 28, 2019 at 10:28 pm

    In the layout of PCB, decoupling circuits of the power should be designed near the relevant circuits instead of the power part, or it will not only affect bypass, but also pulsating current will flow through the power circuits or ground circuits, leading to crosstalk

    Log in to Reply
  8. Pcbindex says

    March 1, 2019 at 10:52 pm

    To improve the testing parameter

    Log in to Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

EE Training Center Classrooms

EE Classrooms

Featured Resources

  • EE World Online Learning Center
  • CUI Devices – CUI Insights Blog
  • EE Classroom: Power Delivery
  • EE Classroom: Building Automation
  • EE Classroom: Aerospace & Defense
  • EE Classroom: Grid Infrastructure
Search Millions of Parts from Thousands of Suppliers.

Search Now!
design fast globle

R&D World Podcasts

R&D 100 Episode 8
See More >

Current Digital Issue

June 2022 Special Edition: Test & Measurement Handbook

A frequency you can count on There are few constants in life, but what few there are might include death, taxes, and a U.S. grid frequency that doesn’t vary by more than ±0.5 Hz. However, the certainty of the grid frequency is coming into question, thanks to the rising percentage of renewable energy sources that…

Digital Edition Back Issues

Sponsored Content

New Enterprise Solutions for 112 Gbps PAM4 Applications in Development from I-PEX

Positioning in 5G NR – A look at the technology and related test aspects

Radar, NFC, UV Sensors, and Weather Kits are Some of the New RAKwireless Products for IoT

5G Connectors: Enabling the global 5G vision

Control EMI with I-PEX ZenShield™ Connectors

Speed-up time-to-tapeout with the Aprisa digital place-and-route system and Solido Characterization Suite

More Sponsored Content >>

RSS Current EDABoard.com discussions

  • Constraining a combo path (Synopsys DC)
  • tetramax fault list
  • Tessent MBIST for memories with dedicated test clock
  • SDR with external LO input
  • Question about set_timing_derate

RSS Current Electro-Tech-Online.com Discussions

  • Question about ultrasonic mist maker
  • RF modules which can handle high number of bytes per second
  • Disabled son needs advice please
  • DIY bluetooth speaker
  • Pet Microchip scan

Oscilloscopes Product Finder

Footer

EE World Online

EE WORLD ONLINE NETWORK

  • 5G Technology World
  • Analog IC Tips
  • Battery Power Tips
  • Connector Tips
  • DesignFast
  • EDABoard Forums
  • Electro-Tech-Online Forums
  • Engineer's Garage
  • Microcontroller Tips
  • Power Electronic Tips
  • Sensor Tips
  • Test and Measurement Tips
  • Wire & Cable Tips

EE WORLD ONLINE

  • Subscribe to our newsletter
  • Lee's teardown videos
  • Advertise with us
  • Contact us
  • About Us
Follow us on TwitterAdd us on FacebookConnect with us on LinkedIn Follow us on YouTube Add us on Instagram

Copyright © 2022 · WTWH Media LLC and its licensors. All rights reserved.
The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media.

Privacy Policy