Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1441485
JANUARY 2022 I DESIGN007 MAGAZINE 19 ent rule sets; from the design side, everybody must agree on new and updated mission pro- files. e ones we have now we're saying, "Oh yeah, it has to last 10 years, let just extend it to 20 or 30." at's not right, because that's assuming a 10% duty cycle. Matties: Who wrote that conversation to rede- fine the vision cycles? Companioni: at's probably somewhere between component manufacturers and the AEC. Matties: It's probably not an easy task. Companioni: No, because I come from a com- ponent place and at the time, we fought back against the raising of specs and standards. It impacted us directly because we had to then redesign, rebuild, requalify everything. It's going to be a big fight probably somewhere between the designers, the component manu- facturers, and even the board houses, AT&S, and more. Shaughnessy: It sounds like the DFM is going to change somewhat for the designer, just from the heavy copper aspect. Buja: It is. Even with our own EDA tools for DFM, we must constantly review the rule decks and try to keep up, especially on the manufacturing side. Nobody will see much of that here in the U.S. because the manufac- turing has been driven to Asia. But hopefully, knock on wood, some of that will have to come back to the United States or else it's going to have to live on a cargo ship for seven months. Matties: How likely is it that we're going to see an AI design tool soon? It seems like we're get- ting closer now. Buja: It's not a secret that we have been in the AI development role for a while. At PCB West they had meetings about this, and we fared well; one of our AI masters is probably the furthest ahead of the competition. We're making leaps and bounds but that whole AI process must grow beyond what the human thinks. Shaughnessy: It's from the ground up, right? I mean, you can't drop AI on top of code that dates back over 20 years. You've got to start fresh. Buja: Oh, yes, exactly. We must start fresh. Matties: We see a generational gap in designers. ere are those who have been in it for 30–40 years and are about to retire, while others are just entering, but in that middle ground there seems to be a chunk missing. Because the new ones don't have those decades of experience to draw from, that tribal knowledge will dis- appear, and it seems inevitable that the only solution is that AI will play an active role in the design process. Maybe we'll have designers there for inputs and to review the outputs, but the tools will do all the heavy liing. Warrier: We've been "this close" to AI for as long as I can remember. Matties: So why not take the final leap? Some say that the tool vendors don't want AI, but that doesn't necessarily register with me in the logic department. Even with our own EDA tools for DFM, we must constantly review the rule decks and try to keep up, especially on the manufacturing side.