Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1531384
JANUARY 2025 I DESIGN007 MAGAZINE 45 design engineer hand-off to the PCB layout designer may still exist. However, this modern PCB layout designer is an electrical engineer with training in power integrity, signal integ- rity, manufacturing, and IC packaging. How are you preparing to meet these users' new requirements? e modern hardware engineer will require PCB layout training as well as self-help resources and community support. More man- ufacturing companies will conclude that they will need to train the EE to do PCB layout as part of the hardware design engineer role. PCB soware suppliers will be on the hook for first- rate training materials and self-help content. For example, our user community features a searchable knowledge base and over 1,000 self-help videos. is type of resource will be critical for someone doing PCB layout, not as a full-time activity but as something done only several times a year. What role does AI play in your EDA tools in the future? AI will play a critical role in boosting the pro- ductivity of the hardware engineer with the expanded responsibility for PCB layout. Pio- neering this area, we offer an AI PCB prod- uct: Autonomous Intelligent Place and Route (AIPR). Zuken's approach to AI for PCB lay- out is to provide a place-and-route capability that can be learned from the customer's past PCB designs. is learning process is essen- tially a knowledge transfer of best practices within the customer's company. e hardware engineer benefits from the expertise of past PCB layout designers and applies it to today's design. PCB AI is still early in its development, but it will become a vital player in the world of PCB design. How do you see PCB designers themselves changing in the near future. Will they need an EE degree? Will they have to know more about semiconductors and system-level design? e full-time PCB designer may only exist in the high-complexity PCB market, where spe- cial skills are essential. ose PCB designers will most likely have an EE degree, along with additional training in PCB signal integrity, power integrity, IC packaging, and the latest component technology. What areas or disciplines within PCB design will become more challenging in 2025 and beyond? As product complexity increases, the hard- ware engineer will work more at the PCB sub- system or electronic control unit (ECU) level than at the single PCB design and layout level. e design complexity will keep changing the hardware design landscape—miniaturization, low-power, IOT, new component technology, etc. e subsystem view will require mechani- cal and soware considerations as well as IC packaging. Product design, in general, will be moving towards a model-based design process that supports the PCB subsystem view. e hardware engineer may be routing a PCB one day and building a system-on-chip (SoC) built from chiplets the next. e role of the hardware engineer is undoubtedly growing in the future. Thanks for speaking with us, Bob. ank you, Andy. My pleasure. DESIGN007 Bob Potock