Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1408619
14 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I SEPTEMBER 2021 Davis: at's true. We're making it convenient to communicate within the tools themselves. Here's a little of my background: I ran design teams for years at a contract manufacturer, and I did fab and assembly. My door opened onto the shop floor, and when the "Blue Smurfs" came into my office, it meant that my team screwed up—so I'm extremely familiar with that world. Now, Cadence has a set of tools called DesignTrue and the DesignTrue DFM Portal. We ask fabricators to put in their design rules and say, "is is the rule set that we can build to." en a designer says, "I have a design with an aspect ratio of 15:1, and I have 3.5-mil space and trace. Who can build this?" e designer can simply look up who builds this type of board in the portal and has the option to con- tact them to build the design. Barry Matties: What prevents it from being thrown over the wall, so to speak? Davis: You actually can throw it over the wall, as long as you set your rules up and you know which wall you're throwing it over. You can't just throw it over the wall blindly unless you're designing a simple power supply board that has no technology like impedance control, and you do not care too much about the design. For example, a two-layer design that has 20-mil space and trace with vias the size of Texas. But as soon as you start to put technology in the design, like controlled impedance, micro- vias, blind and buried vias, smaller trace and space, you need to know where the board is going and talk to them. Otherwise, you will have some big surprises when you fire up the design. Matties: Who typically decides on the fabri- cator in the process? Is it the designer or is it some purchasing agents somewhere? Davis: In my experience, it's 50-50. Oen, when you have smaller manufacturers and smaller companies, designers will come in and say, "If you do not have a fab shop picked out, I know a few that I like to work with." When you get to the really big players, they usually give you a list of two or three companies that they work with. e big companies will usually have fac- tory reps who can make sure you are designing the board within manufacturing tolerances. Matties: So, collaboration, obviously, is most important when you're going into a new fab- rication facility. Davis: Yes, especially when it's a new facil- ity that you're not familiar with, or if are you pushing the edge of technology. Matties: What are some other ways that design- ers can streamline their processes? Davis: Designers can streamline their process by understanding how the board is going to be manufactured and understanding the end use Patrick Davis