Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - (Page 28) DESIGN TOOLS Post Route Signal Integrity DESIGN RULE CHECKING Design rule checkers can eliminate human error, lower costs and speed time-to-market for highly constrained PCBs. by GUY DE BURGH and GENE GARAT The signal integrity performance of a high-speed digital design is critical to the successful outcome of product development. Avoiding problems is an important challenge, and the earlier the problems are discovered in the product design cycle, the lower the cost and faster the time-to-market. Design guidelines for signal integrity are not sufficient to guarantee intended performance; historically, simulation was required. Signal integrity modeling, characterization and simulation have been part of the mainstream design flow for a number of years, producing a 3D geometry database used for PCB manufacture. But how do you know that your final design is correct and that all the rules have been followed? The answer is with a post route design rule checker. A post-layout review to ensure that signal integrity guidelines have been followed is both a prudent and productive step. Visual post-route inspection can be tedious, very time consuming, and is prone to human error. Fortunately, there are software tools today that quickly review the geometry of the board layout without simulation. In addition, a design rule checker can find layout problems that other PCB analysis tools may not be able to, for example, ensuring a viable signal return path. In order for a design rule checker to be of useful to an engineer, it is important to understand how it will be used in a typical PCB design. To better understand the process, let us Geometry Field Solver S Parameters Passivity Correction RLGC Extraction Y Correct [S]? N Redo Simulation or Measurement Design Rules Transient Waveforms TDR Measurement Geometry SI Rule Checker FAIL PASS Redo Geometry VNA Measurement FIGURE 2. Design rule flow. SPICE Equivalent Circuits Vector Fitting FIGURE 1. HS signal integrity design flow. 28 FIGURE 3. Si design rule screen capture. FEBRUARY 2008 PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 Contents Our Line Market Watch Around the World Happenings ROI Tip Jar Interconnect Strategies IC/PCB Co-Design Modeling Design Tools Optical Interconnect Trade Shows Laminate Materials Off the Shelf Marketplace Ad Index BGA Bulletin Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 (Page Cover1) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 (Page Cover2) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 (Page 1) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - Contents (Page 2) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - Contents (Page 3) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - Our Line (Page 4) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - Our Line (Page 5) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - Market Watch (Page 6) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - Market Watch (Page 7) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - Around the World (Page 8) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - Around the World (Page 9) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - Around the World (Page 10) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - Around the World (Page 11) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - Happenings (Page 12) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - Happenings (Page 13) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - ROI (Page 14) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - ROI (Page 15) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - Tip Jar (Page 16) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - Tip Jar (Page 16A) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - Tip Jar (Page 16B) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - Interconnect Strategies (Page 17) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - Interconnect Strategies (Page 18) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - Interconnect Strategies (Page 19) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - IC/PCB Co-Design (Page 20) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - IC/PCB Co-Design (Page 21) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - IC/PCB Co-Design (Page 22) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - IC/PCB Co-Design (Page 23) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - Modeling (Page 24) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - Modeling (Page 25) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - Modeling (Page 26) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - Modeling (Page 27) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - Design Tools (Page 28) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - Design Tools (Page 29) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - Design Tools (Page 30) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - Design Tools (Page 31) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - Optical Interconnect (Page 32) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - Optical Interconnect (Page 33) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - Optical Interconnect (Page 34) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - Optical Interconnect (Page 35) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - Optical Interconnect (Page 36) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - Optical Interconnect (Page 37) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - Trade Shows (Page 38) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - Trade Shows (Page 39) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - Laminate Materials (Page 40) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - Laminate Materials (Page 41) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - Laminate Materials (Page 42) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - Off the Shelf (Page 43) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - Marketplace (Page 44) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - Marketplace (Page 45) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - Marketplace (Page 46) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - Ad Index (Page 47) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - BGA Bulletin (Page 48) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - BGA Bulletin (Page Cover3) Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2008 - BGA Bulletin (Page Cover4)
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