Fabrication-aware simulations to aid PCB design success.

As engineers design printed circuit boards (PCBs) to operate at higher data rates, the system’s signal integrity becomes increasingly sensitive to the variation in the fabrication process. A practical design is a software-defined design that includes realistic fabrication variation.

Typically, the PCB material properties in electronic design automation (EDA) software have default values. These ideal values for the material properties and PCB cross-sectional geometry are often called the as-designed values. On the other hand, after fabrication, the as-fabricated properties are the measurable numbers and dimensions from a physical board.

Higher layer count boards with mechanically drilled blind or buried vias may be built separately, then laminated together.

Sequential lamination is a fundamental manufacturing technique in an era of modern PCB fabrication and is a concept that must be especially understood when manufacturing high-density interconnect (HDI) PCBs with blind and buried vias.