Don’t Be Held Hostage by Design Cycle Time
As board speeds and densities continue to increase, it’s becoming more difficult for PCB designers to shorten their design cycles and meet time-to-market demands. This month, PCBDesign007 is featuring an article by Freedom CAD’s Scott Miller on how to reduce design cycle time. Below is a snippet, click here to read the full article in the October Edition of The PCB Design Magazine.
Mylar. Black tape. X-acto knives. Drafting tables. Ring lights.
These were the tools of the trade for the pioneers of printed circuit board design. Manually creating the large artwork that would then be photo-reduced to make the filmwork to image double-sided boards was truly an art form. The best designers were both neat and efficient. Somehow they avoided going home at night with their shirts or skirts covered with bits of tape stuck to them.
For those of you experienced designers, it’s incredible to see how far the art of PCB design has come over these 40+ years of evolution. CAD software has replaced Mylar, and computer screens have replaced lighted drafting tables. And now, it’s more science than art. PCB design now requires puzzle-solving skills on many levels to handle ever-increasing density and speed challenges.
