Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1483624
72 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I NOVEMBER 2022 we acquired HyperLynx because our belief was that designers should be doing signal integrity checks during the design creation cycle, not at the end; we were right. We then spun out of Innoveda, took the CAM350 product with us, and added DFM analysis capabilities along with support for intelligent formats (ODB++, IPC-2581) to support in-cycle DFM analysis. We were right again. Also, as we worked with customers, it became clear to us that another mission-critical part of the process not being addressed was the designers' need to create detailed documenta- tion for their PCB designs. At the time, they all used their CAD tools, but they were not created to do documentation. PCB documen- tation is not a "nice to do" thing; it is a neces- sary thing to do as part of a good new-product design process. Working with customers, and again taking advantage of the shi to neutral intelligent design formats, we developed Blue- Print to address the needs for creating quality, adaptable PCB documentation. Shaughnessy: Most designers love doing lay- out, but they hate post-processing and docu- mentation creation. Clark: ey hated doing it, especially docu- mentation, in large part due to the nature of the existing tools. ey were simply too diffi- cult to use in the design cycle. We focused on providing tools of high functionality combined with ease of use. For PCB documentation, we developed a tool to automate it, to leverage the intelligence of the design to allow users to create, in a very automated way, comprehen- sive PCB documentation to their particular requirements. Believe me when I say that PCB doc requirements vary greatly company to company and oen even division to division. Our BluePrint tool is fully customizable. Shaughnessy: What is your focus as we head into 2023? Clark: ere are new trends coming, and our most recent focus is on rigid-flex. Working with companies like Microso, we realized that there are really no tools to address a host of new challenges: multiple stackup regions, the potential problems from bending a circuit, inter-layer dependencies, and other such tech- nological obstacles. Working with our customers helps us to define and develop new capabilities that sup- port new technologies like rigid-flex designs. It is a great example of a disruptive technology. It requires a whole rethink of how we document, present, bring the data in, interface with man- ufacturing, and what's required for doing true design-for-manufacturing analysis. Mark Gallant: We've had customers approach us with their design challenges in the rigid- flex design world. ey needed a way to ana- lyze their designs and weren't finding a lot of solutions—even basic trace fracture analysis like detecting vias in a bend area. ey didn't have and could not find tools that provided such capability. Also, in rigid-flex, the inter- layer—the interstitial of layers—needs analy- sis capabilities too. For example, any rigid-flex design requires a metallization layer to shield Joe Clark