Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1472851
JULY 2022 I DESIGN007 MAGAZINE 9 So, for this issue, we asked our expert con- tributors to share their thoughts on field solv- ers, and what new users need to know to get up to speed. Todd Westerhoff and Bill Hargin discuss the evolution of field solvers and offer some handy tips and techniques for new users. Zach Peterson focuses on the divide between typical field solvers and layout soware, and the need for the two to converge into one envi- ronment. Columnist Martyn Gaudion details a bit of "field solver finesse" for the modeling of transmission lines. Brad Griffin and Nolan Johnson explore Cadence's Clarity field solver functions, and columnist Barry Olney digs deep into cutting-edge techniques for the 2D field solver. Heidi Barnes takes a look at "the practical side" of field solvers and offers tips for avoiding GIGO. We also bring you columns from Stephen Chavez, Tim Haag, and brand-new Electro- lube columnist Saskia Hogan. We have an article by Cody Stetzel on flex guidelines, and another installment in Anaya Vardya's continu- ing DFM101 series. It's summertime, but it doesn't look like this industry is taking much of a vacation! See you next month. DESIGN007 Andy Shaughnessy is managing editor of Design007 Magazine. He has been covering PCB design for 20 years. To read past columns, click here. even tougher to make sure that you're using the correct data so that you get the results that you need. Signal integrity experts we spoke with said that even experienced engineers could wind up with "garbage in, garbage out" (GIGO) if they aren't careful. ere are hundreds of ways to go wrong with a field solver. As we see in this issue, some cases of GIGO derive from plugging in the wrong data, such as using IPC spec sheet info about board thickness instead of the "as pressed" number from your fabricator. Other designs have gone awry when field solver users didn't account for Dk changing with tempera- ture. We heard a chorus of engineers saying, "Don't trust datasheets." is particular le-shi is happening for a reason: ere just aren't enough full-time sig- nal integrity experts with advanced degrees and decades of experience in the industry. And if you can find them, they (rightly) charge a lot of money for their services. ere are far more PCB designers than there are SI experts, so le-shiing computational horsepower into the hands of the PCB designer is a great way to mitigate this shortage of SI gurus. But for a non-degreed PCB designer, using a field solver might feel like drinking from a firehose. Design tool companies would love to develop a field solver with "PhD" (Push here, dummy) functionality. But we're not there yet. You still must know something about Maxwell's equa- tions, or you're going to have problems.