Printed Circuit Design & Fab Online Magazine - Design News

Design News

Details: Written by Staff; Category: Design News; Published: 18 June 2008

MUNICH, GERMANY AND WESTFORD, MA - Zuken has partnered with Dassault Systèmes to launch Board Interchanger used for concurrent mechanical and PCB design. The software allows MCAD engineers access to Zuken's CR-5000 Board Designer within Dassault Systèmes' CATIA V5 software.

The company claims that the integration allows the MCAD engineer to set mechanical space requirements before the layout, helping to resolve 3D design issues earlier in the design process.

The company states that Board Interchanger uses the geometric data from CR-5000 Board Designer within CATIA V5 to allow 3D PCB models to be created. These models can then be used for mechanical design reviews of a completed electronic product. Board Interchanger also allows 3D collision checking between housing, components and other PCBs. There is also potential for reduction in board size through the product's concurrent mechanical and electronic design capabilities.

Details: Written by Staff; Category: Design News; Published: 17 June 2008

SAN JOSE, CA -- Cadence Design has submitted an offer to buy out Mentor Graphics, valuing its rival at $1.45 billion.

Details: Written by Staff; Category: Design News; Published: 13 June 2008

DES PLAINES, IL - PCB Matrix Corp. has released the PADS Layout Constraint Rules Editor. The software is used with PADS V5, V2004, V2005 and V2007, and optimizes the use of constraint set-up and rules within PADS Layout.

The company states that the constraint rules editor interface allows users to view, change and update rules, with easy transfer of updates between the PADS Layout tool and constraint rules editor.

The company reports that using PADS software, you can specify separate rules for clearance and trace width for individual pin pairs, nets, groups of nets, classes, components and even the entire design, with the flexibility to control the length of critical nets or specify matched lengths for groups of nets.

Evaluation copies can be obtained by registering at pcblibraries.com/register.

STOKE ON TRENT, UK - PCB design bureau Black Stick Ltd. has a free software tool called the C4Calculator. The tool calculates current capacity for a given PCB track width and thickness. Black Stick’s C4Calculator (Current Carrying Capacity Calculator) utility determines the optimum current based on a given interconnect width and thickness. In addition, C4Calculator will also calculate the gap needed between conductors for a given voltage peak. All the calculations within the tool are taken from formulae or tables specified in the IPC-2222A standard. C4Calculator also allows users to perform calculations beyond the scope of the IPC standard.

FLINTSHIRE and BERKSHIRE, UK - PCB Design Service provider companies Routability and Total Board Solutions (TBS) have partnered to develop a training course based on Mentor Graphic's Expedition PCB software specifically for PCB design contractors.

"We have coped with demand to this point," commented Ben Dowding of Routability, "but we have already been asked by other service providers, on more than one occasion, if we could supply contractors to them. As the demand for Expedition grows, so the opportunities for contractors will increase."

Sue Critcher of TBS adds, "Getting to grips with the basics of any EDA software… requires training and experience. We approached Mentor Graphics about our concerns and …based on the latest EE2007.1 Expedition PCB flow, we have developed a three-day training course for contractors"

For information on the training course, visit routability.co.uk.