June 2016 • The PCB Design Magazine 87
5
Cadence Paper: Automating
Inter-Layer In-Design Checks
in Rigid-Flex PCBs
Flexible PCBs (flex/rigid-flex)
make it possible to create a va-
riety of products that require
small, lightweight form factors
such as wearable, mobile, mili-
tary, and medical devices. This
paper discusses some of the key
challenges to address and also introduces a new
PCB design approach that enhances productivity.
6
The Partnership: Design
Engineers and PCB Designers
Randy Faucette is founder, presi-
dent and director of engineer-
ing at Better Boards Inc. in Cary,
North Carolina. Founded in 2003,
Better Boards provides electrical
engineering, PCB design, signal
and power integrity analysis, and
a variety of other services. I asked Randy to talk
about some of the occasional tension between
PCB designers and design engineers, and what he
thinks can be done to help open the lines of com-
munication.
7
Zuken Introduces Perfect
Springback Routing in
CADSTAR 17
Zuken has rolled out rout-
ing enhancements in the
latest version of its CAD-
STAR desktop PCB design
software. Other productiv-
ity enhancements include improved routing pat-
terns for differential pairs, and etch factor support.
Jeroen Leinders, CADSTAR worldwide sales man-
ager, said, "CADSTAR 17 challenges the view that
PCB Desktop software has to be complicated."
8
Read the DesignCon
Award-Winning Paper by
Mentor Graphics and
Wild River Technology
This paper, "BER- and COM-
Way of Channel-Compli-
ance Evaluation: What Are
the Sources of Differenc-
es?" won the DesignCon
2016 Best Paper Award. It was written by Vladimir
Dmitriev-Zdorov, Chuck Ferry, and Christian Filip
of Mentor Graphics, and Alfred P. Neves of Wild
River Technology.
9
Beyond Design: DDR3/4
Fly-by vs. T-topology Routing
JEDEC introduced fly-by topology in
the DDR3 specification for the differ-
ential clock, address, command and
control signals. Fly-by topology sup-
ports higher-frequency operation,
reduces the quantity and length of
stubs and consequently improves signal integrity
and timing on heavily loaded signals. Fly-by to-
pology also reduces SSN by deliberately causing
flight-time skew, between the address group and
the point-to-point topology signals, of the data
groups. Barry Olney explains.
J
SiSoft: Optimizing the
State of the Art
In the 20 years since its founding,
SiSoft has been at the forefront
of signal integrity analysis tool
development. Now, the compa-
ny is leading the way with a new
technology called OptimEye and
tools for creating accurate IBIS-
AMI models. At DesignCon, I
caught up with Todd Westerhoff, VP of semicon-
ductor relations, and asked him to give us an up-
date on the company's newest technologies.
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