Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1481368
76 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I OCTOBER 2022 into a product, engineers must expend addi- tional time and effort to create or search- to-acquire all the models (simulation, IBIS, ECAD, mechanical, etc.) needed to get their job done. I don't know what all the latest stats say but, honestly, the engineer's journey is riddled with speed bumps and potholes that lead to wasted, unproductive time. e world may have gone digital with tools for component research, ide- ation, design, and analysis, and hand-off to manufacturing may have improved greatly, but as Figure 1 depicts, chasms persist in the elec- tronics value chain. Nevertheless, today, some- how, some way, electronics design innovation still happens. Yet there is so much potential to be realized if there was greater digitaliza- tion along the systems value chain. e time to achieve that has arrived. In 2018, JEDEC ratified the JEP30 stan- dard. The web site states: " This standard establishes the requirements for exchanging part data between part manufacturers and their customers for electrical and electronic products. is standard applies to all forms of electronic parts." JEDEC, one of the most widely respected (open) standards bodies for the microelectronics industry, with sev- eral hundred member companies (mostly part manufacturers), fired the "shot heard round the world." 1 My intent here is not to do a deep dive into JEDEC 2 but it's important to underscore the milestone that set the stage for the current revolutionary phase of digital transforma- tion within the electronics industry. Why? Because the JEP30 Part Model standard effec- tively defines the digital twin for an electronic part. at's a big deal. In short, the part model combines information (related to electrical, physical, thermal, assembly process classifica- tion, and more) about a part into an industry- standard-based digital container defined with an XML schema. e part model schema also comprehends standard interfaces and has the flexibility to access specialized models (for example an IBIS model) that can be added to the part model for an applicable device. e standard also extends electrically to support the notion of reference designs associated with the part model of a specific component. So, number one, the JEP30 Part Model is an indus- try standard, but here's the game changer: e JEDEC JEP30 Part Model will now be con- sumable directly by every tool in the product creation lifecycle. I mentioned the engineer's journey above and the potholes that lead to wasted time on less productive tasks. ese challenges are made even more daunting when overlayed onto the complexity faced by engineers and development organizations given the ever- increasing requirements of each successive generation of electronics product, not to men- tion the complexity of the underlying com- ponents being used. For example, even tra- Figure 1: Today's electronics value chain.