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12 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I JULY 2025 B E YO N D D ES I G N Before starting any project, it is crucial to develop a thorough plan that encompasses all essential requirements. This ensures that the final product not only aligns with the design concept but is also manufacturable, reliable, and meets performance expectations. High-speed PCB design requires us to not only push technological boundaries but also consider various factors related to higher frequencies, faster transition times, and increased bandwidths during the design process. These requirements should be considered during placement and routing; how- ever, establishing clear rules for the software to adhere to and verify is essential. These constraints should be established at the outset to manage various downstream processes. However, if they are overly stringent, the design may become unmanufacturable or unroutable. For- by B arr y O lney, In-C ircuit D esign PT Y LTD / Australia Refining Design Constraints tunately, constraints can be modified on the fly if a specific rule is found to be too restrictive, as long as the designer can justify relaxing the specification while ensuring the product remains manufacturable. In the past, we managed only a handful of crit- ical signals. But the landscape has shifted, and now a substantial number of interconnects have reached critical status. Each design necessitates a specific set of constraints based on the technolo- gies employed. While we can transfer basic design rules for trace width, clearance, and other param- eters from one design to the next, individual con- straints must still be defined. The reuse of con- straints is also restricted by net and group nam- ing conventions. Consistency in naming makes the porting process much smoother. Neglecting signal and power integrity, as well as electromagnetic compatibility, can result in seri- ▼ F i g u re 1 : D eve l o p h i g h - s p e e d d e s i g n c o n st ra i nt s b a s e d o n p re - l ayo u t s i m u l at i o n .