p-cad 2006 feature highlights.pdf

P-CAD 2006 Feature Highlights Specialized design tools for PCB layout professionals

P-CAD 2006 is a complete PCB design system for capture, layout, simulation, verification and implementation of electronic designs. Whether its developing high-speed board solutions, integrating large BGA devices into your design flows or dealing with complex signal integrity issues and high-density PCB layouts, P-CADs proven power and stability provides the perfect environment for PCB design.

P-CAD 2006 brings a host of advanced features that build upon P-CAD's proven track record and delivers the performance and reliability that board layout specialists have come to expect.

P-CAD specialized design tools for PCB layout professionals.

P-CAD 2006 Feature Highlights

Software, hardware, documentation and related materials:

Copyright 2006 Altium Limited.

All rights reserved. You are permitted to print this document provided that (1) the use of such is for personal use only and will not be copied or posted on any network computer or broadcast in any media, and (2) no modifications of the document is made. Unauthorized duplication, in whole or part, of this document by any means, mechanical or electronic, including translation into another language, except for brief excerpts in published reviews, is prohibited without the express written permission of Altium Limited. Unauthorized duplication of this work may also be prohibited by local statute. Violators may be subject to both criminal and civil penalties, including fines and/or imprisonment. Altium, Altium Designer, Board Insight, Design Explorer, DXP, LiveDesign, NanoBoard, NanoTalk, P-CAD, Situs, TASKING, and Topological Autorouting and their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Altium Limited or its subsidiaries. All other registered or unregistered trademarks referenced herein are the property of their respective owners and no trademark rights to the same are claimed.

Date Version No. Revision

7-Jun-2006 1.0 P-CAD 2006 release

Table of Contents

Table of Contents Table of Contents ...................................................................................................................................i Welcome to P-CAD 2006 .......................................................................................................................1

About this manual ................................................................................................................................1 Further reading.................................................................................................................................2

Whats New in P-CAD 2006...................................................................................................................3 Differential pair interactive routing........................................................................................................3

Defining a differential pair.................................................................................................................3 Routing a differential pair..................................................................................................................4

Routing multiple nets simultaneously...................................................................................................4 Orthogonal dragging of components and routes ..................................................................................6 Improved selection capability ...............................................................................................................7 New Board Outline object with Board Cutouts .....................................................................................7 Increased control over drawing and printing ........................................................................................9 Enhanced copper pour capabilities ....................................................................................................10

Whats New in P-CAD 2004.................................................................................................................11 Advanced interactive routing..............................................................................................................11

Getting started with Advanced Route .............................................................................................12 Start routing at any net object .....................................................................................................13 Place traces interactively ............................................................................................................13 Improved trace visibility while routing .........................................................................................13 Automatic active layer switching .................................................................................................13 Fixed objects respected ..............................................................................................................13 Halo for Hugging mode...............................................................................................................14

Selective unrouting.........................................................................................................................14 Outlined copper pours for faster panning .......................................................................................14 Automatic completion feature when routing....................................................................................14

Board layout improvements ...............................................................................................................14 Definable layer stackup and output report ......................................................................................14 User-defined layer pairs .................................................................................................................15 Automatic increment of designators during paste...........................................................................15 Smart rotation of attributes .............................................................................................................16 Add To Net includes all net objects ................................................................................................16 Place connection enhanced ...........................................................................................................17

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Drill Table precision improved ....................................................................................................... 17 Selection by pattern for components ............................................................................................. 17

New rules for high-speed design....................................................................................................... 17 Simulation and impedance rules.................................................................................................... 18 Differential signaling rule ............................................................................................................... 18 More intelligent Design Rule Checking (DRC)............................................................................... 18

Better detection for unrouted nets .............................................................................................. 18 New attribute assignment for nets.............................................................................................. 18

Improved Design Tools ..................................................................................................................... 19 Fully-integrated Variant support..................................................................................................... 19 DTP files include additional styles and settings ............................................................................. 20

Text styles supported ................................................................................................................. 20 Grids settings included............................................................................................................... 20 Automated default design settings applied................................................................................. 20

Efficient Trace Clean-up ................................................................................................................ 21 Quickly locate unrouted connections.......................................................................................... 21

Load Netlist improved for copper pours ......................................................................................... 22 Design environment enhancements.................................................................................................. 22

Large Diagonal Cross cursor style for 45 traces .......................................................................... 22 Select tool more flexible................................................................................................................. 23 Statistics report updated for SMT components.............................................................................. 23 Replacing styles globally ............................................................................................................... 23 Cross referencing printing supported............................................................................................. 23

Updated Importer and Exporters ....................................................................................................... 24 DXF In translates directly............................................................................................................... 24 Support for IPC-D-356A standard.................................................................................................. 24 ODB++ improved for rotated pads and vias................................................................................... 25 NC Drill provides resolution format options.................................................................................... 25 IDF more versatile with user-defined units..................................................................................... 25 Backward compatibility supported ................................................................................................. 25

Updated third-party interfaces ........................................................................................................... 26 Database Exchange Programming Interface (DBX) improved....................................................... 26 Viewlogic/ePD 2004 SP1............................................................................................................... 26 PADS to P-CAD Translator supports non-English characters...................................................... 26

P-CAD 2006 Bonus Technologies ..................................................................................................... 27 Situs Topological Autorouter ............................................................................................................. 27

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Table of Contents

Design Rule compliance.................................................................................................................28 Sophisticated fanout and escape routing capabilities.....................................................................28 Routing Setup Report .....................................................................................................................29 Multiple routing strategies...............................................................................................................30 User-definable routing strategies....................................................................................................31 Selective autorouting modes ..........................................................................................................31 Understanding queries ...................................................................................................................32

Fully-featured CAM editor ..................................................................................................................33 Comprehensive data verification features ......................................................................................33 Advanced panelization ...................................................................................................................34 Bi-directional ODB++ import/export ................................................................................................35 Strong import/export capabilities ....................................................................................................35 NC drill and rout .............................................................................................................................35

Mixed-signal circuit simulation ...........................................................................................................36 Analyses types ...............................................................................................................................36 PSpice support models, functions and global variables.............................................................37 Support for global parameters and equations.................................................................................37 X-axis equation support..................................................................................................................37

Learning more about the Bonus Technologies...................................................................................38 Libraries created in accordance with ISO9001:2000 Standard ..........................................................38

P-CAD 2006 Shortcuts ........................................................................................................................39 General PCB shortcuts ......................................................................................................................39 Advanced and interactive routing shortcuts .......................................................................................41

Index .....................................................................................................................................................43

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Welcome to P-CAD 2006

Welcome to P-CAD 2006 Welcome to Altiums P-CAD 2006 release, a complete PCB design system for capture, layout, simulation, verification and implementation of electronic designs. As part of Altium's commitment to bringing you the best and latest technology, we are pleased to offer this exciting new release for board layout specialists.

Whether you are migrating to P-CAD for the first time or upgrading from a prior release, the new features of P-CAD 2006 will keep you up-to-date with a range of enhancements and productivity improvements designed to help professional PCB designers develop real-world electronic products. P-CAD 2006 includes powerful new features such as differential pair and multi-route capabilities that are fully integrated within the industry-proven, rules driven PCB design environment and let you multiply your productivity by routing collections of traces in one operation. Other productivity enhancements include orthogonal trace dragging and updated Bonus Technologies that further strengthen P-CAD's performance and give you the power to tackle the most demanding designs.

P-CADs intuitive schematic editor retains its familiar environment, which has been designed especially for layout specialists, allowing you to create detailed multi-sheet schematics. This combines with extensive error checking and proven mixed-signal circuit simulation capabilities to ensure your circuit will work the way you expect.

Whether its developing high-speed board solutions, integrating large BGA devices into your design flows or dealing with complex signal integrity issues and high density PCB layouts, P-CAD 2006 continues the tradition of proven power and stability and keeps you in control from design capture through to output generation.

P-CAD specialized design tools for PCB layout professionals.

About this manual The first section of this manual gives a focused summary of the exciting new features in P-CAD 2006, and is designed to help you come up-to-speed and get the most out of the new features.

The next section gives a summary of the new features added in the P-CAD 2004 release, for those who are upgrading from an earlier version or perhaps have never had time to fully explore the features in the release, or added in the service packs.

P-CAD Bonus Technologies, including the Situs Autorouter, the fully-featured CAM editor and the mixed-signal circuit simulator, have also been updated. Read the Bonus Technology section to better understand how these features can help you deliver your designs correct, complete and on time.

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Further reading As you read this manual you will notice highlight boxes that include references to other P-CAD documentation, in both PDF format and online help format. The PDF documentation is available via the Windows Start menu, as shown in . Online help information is available from within the software, accessed via the Help menu, or by pressing F1 when the mouse is over a menu entry or a dialog.

Figure 1

Figure 1. A full set of manuals is included with the software, available via the Windows Start menu.

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Whats New in P-CAD 2006

Whats New in P-CAD 2006 P-CAD 2006 expands your design power with strengthened high-speed and multiple-net routing capabilities, designed to improve your design efficiency at the board level.

Differential pair interactive routing A differential signaling system is one where a signal is transmitted down a pair of tightly coupled carriers, one of these carrying the signal, the other carrying an equal but opposite image of the signal. Differential signaling was developed to cater for situations where the logic reference ground of the signal source could not be well connected to the logic reference ground of the load.

Differential signaling is inherently immune to common-mode electrical noise, the most prevalent interference artifact in an electronic product. Another major advantage of differential signaling is that it minimizes electromagnetic interference (EMI) generated from the signal pair.

Differential pair routing is a design technique employed to create a balanced transmission system able to carry differential (equal and opposite) signals across a printed circuit board. Typically this differential routing will interface to an external differential transmission system, such as a connector and cable.

Differential signaling is being increasingly used in mainstream board design particularly where programmable devices are used, such as FPGAs. FPGA vendors are including extensive LVDS (Low Voltage Differential Signaling) capabilities in even their lower-cost device ranges, delivering reductions in reflection noise, electromagnetic interference and power consumption. P-CAD 2006 provides support for differential signaling, and lets you take full advantage offered by the LVDS capabilities of todays electronic components.

In P-CAD 2006 you can define differential signal pairs as part of your board design. P-CAD 2006 PCB editor also includes interactive routing support for differential signals, allowing you to simultaneously route both nets of a pair, under full design rule compliance.

Defining a differential pair Differential pairs are defined in both the schematic and PCB editors through Options Net Classes. In this dialog, you define a net class as a differential pair by selecting the net class and enabling the Differential Pair checkbox.

For more information on setting up rules and design verification refer to Chapter 8, Design Verification in the PCB Design User's Guide.

Differential pairs, by their definition, dictate that there must be two nets assigned as a differential pair to create a balanced transmission system able to carry differential signals across the printed circuit board. This means that if you have not assigned exactly two nets to your differential pair net class the Options Net Classes dialog will not allow you to exit until you do so.

Special attributes are automatically added to the differential pairs once they are created. DiffPairGap attribute defines the desired gap (clearance) between the two nets in the differential pair. A specific DiffPairGap can be set for individual layers in the PCB if a different value is desired on specific layers. Another added attribute, IsDifferentialPair, is used to identify the net class as differential pair.

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Routing a differential pair

Figure 2 Routing a differential pair in compliance with the specified DiffPairGap.

Differential pairs are routed as a pair that is you route the two nets simultaneously. To start routing a differential pair, select Diff Pair Tool from either Route Differential Pair or the Route toolbar to make it active. Select either a start pad, connection line, via or line of one net of the differential pair to start routing. The other net of the differential pair will automatically be selected and the routes of the pair will come together.

Generally the starting location for each net in the differential pair is close together. If it is not, you can use Advanced Route to route each net individually to bring them together for use with the Diff Pair Tool.

Differential pair routing has built-in intelligence. For example, if the DiffPairGap is not a multiple of the current grid, one of the routes in the pair will most likely be off-grid to maintain the desired DiffPairGap value. Moveable obstacles can be pushed with the Diff Pair Tool, and fixed obstacles are avoided by hugging around them.

The same commands that are used in Advanced Route are also applicable during Diff Pair route. Standard P-CAD shortcuts remain, such as pressing the L key to switch to the next routing layer.

Routing multiple nets simultaneously A large portion of the board design effort is spent on routing multiple net connections, that is, sets of nets that start and end in similar locations. As board real estate shrinks and component and pin densities increase, the routing challenges become tougher. You need to be able to squeeze the most from every square millimeter of routing space. P-CAD 2006 offers more versatile routing modes to allow you to tackle any board routing challenge.

The new Multi-Route tool in P-CAD 2006 allows you to simultaneously route two or more nets at a time. The trace widths and the clearance between them will be in accordance to the applicable design rules.

After choosing Multi-Route from the Route menu or toolbar, the nets to route are chosen by selecting any net objects (pads, vias, connection lines, etc) using the mouse. As you select the objects they are

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highlighted. Once all the required net objects are highlighted, press Enter (or right-click popup menu, Start Route) and the chosen nets to route will converge together for routing, as shown in . Figure 3

Figure 3. Multiple nets gathering together automatically as you route, and hugging obstacles.

As you move the cursor to route the set of nets, the sophisticated multi-route algorithm will automatically seek out the best path between the starting point and the current cursor location, avoiding existing obstacles and flowing around them where possible.

There are a number of options that influence the multi-route behavior, which can be configured in the Options Configure dialog. These include Glossing, which instructs the software as to how much effort you want applied to the neatness of the routing.

The new Multi-Route tool replaces the Bus-Route tool.

Figure 4. Configure the routing behavior in the Options Configure dialog.

For more information on the multi-route options press F1 when the dialog is open to access the Advanced Route topic in the online help.

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Orthogonal dragging of components and routes A common task during the board design process is adjusting existing routing and component positioning to make more room. You might want to slide a number of traces to free up another routing channel, or perhaps you need to move a component and its routing to cater for an extra component. This process has been greatly enhanced in P-CAD 2006 with the introduction of orthogonal dragging no more odd-angled traces when you move an existing trace, or ratsnests appearing when you move a routed component.

Orthogonal dragging has been added to the PCB editor, making it much easier to move routing, or a routed component. Previously, moving such an object would cause connecting traces to stretch like rubber bands between the moving object and the attached non-moving objects, giving an undesirable result. With orthogonal dragging, traces will maintain 90 or 45 angles to connected segments. Orthogonal dragging supports multiple segments, ideal when you need to slightly reposition a component and want to maintain the connected routing.

Figure 5. Here we see a group of traces before and after orthogonal dragging, with the route angles preserved.

Configure for the orthogonal mode that you desire in Options Configure Manual Route. You can also cycle through the modes while dragging an object by pressing the O and the T keys (the O key cycles through the modes, and the T key reverses the vertical/horizontal45/90 segments). Note that the 90/90 Arc-Line and Tangent Arc mode arnot used during moving and draggin

For more information on the orthogonal mode options press F1 when the dialog is open to access the Manual Route topic in the online h

and e

g. elp.

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Improved selection capability Improved selection capability PCB selection of sub-objects is done easily with the new set of Component Sub-Object Selection options found under Options Selection Mask:

For more information on Selection refer to Chapter 3, PCB Basics in the PCB Design User's Guide and the Selecting Objects topic in the online help.

Exclude Sub-Objects this prevents the selection of component pads, attributes, lines, etc, selecting only the parent component(s).

Include Sub-Objects allows selection of component sub-objects as well as the component(s)

Sub-Objects Only only allow selection of sub-objects, components cannot be selected.

With these three options, used in conjunction with the Items list from Options Selection Mask dialog, you can now select a wide variety of objects to sub-select that was previously not possible to do, such as selecting only the reference designators of all the components in a design. Its worth noting that component sub-object selection controls are available for both block and single selection.

Figure 6. Improved selection of sub-objects being used to select component reference designators.

New Board Outline object with Board Cutouts A board outline defines the physical boundary or outline of the board in the PCB editor while board cutouts are used to define physical holes in the board. P-CAD 2006 PCB has been improved by the addition of a board object that is a closed poly-line and can include arcs. Instead of placing a collection of separate lines and arcs to create a board outline with the chance of not lining up the endpoints correctly, a Board Outline object can be placed that properly maintains the outline connectivity. There are two new commands to support this: Place Place Board Outline and Place Place Board Cutout. These commands work exactly the same way for placing either object: select the command and click in the workspace at the first vertex for the outline/cutout. There is no need to hold down the mouse button to drag. Simply click, release and move to the next vertex.

Figure 7. New Board Outline and Board Cutout buttons on the Placement Toolbar.

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Right-clicking while in either command mode will display a menu with the following commands: Complete select this to complete a board

outline. The Complete option will be enabled only when the resulting outline is considered valid as complex or degenerate polygons are not allowed.

For more information on the Board Outline and Board Cutouts, refer to Working with Board Outlines/Cutouts topic in the online help.

Cancel halts placement and removes the partially-placed outline.

Unwind removes the last segment (line or arc) that was placed.

Add Arc specifies the next segment to be an arc. When selecting this command, a dialog will appear prompting you for the angle of the new arc. Valid angles are considered 1 through 359.

Reverse Arc similar to the Unwind command, this command allows you to reverse the angle of an arc while placing it.

Create Circle allows you to place a circle for the board outline. This command is only available before placing any portion of the outline. From the right-click menu, select Create Circle, now click where you wish to place the center point of the board outline. Start moving the cursor until a circle of the desired radius is formed. You can complete the outline by using the right-mouse menu to choose Complete or you can cancel out of it by selecting Cancel.

Figure 8. Board Outline and Board Cutouts allow you to more accurately define the board shape and cutouts, and include arcs if required.

Both the Board Outline and Board Cutouts can be resized or redefined after placement. If you select an outline/cutout and the cursor is over an edge, the right-mouse menu will display some additional commands (in addition to Properties, Copy, Cut, Delete, Highlight, Unhighlight, Fix and Unfix). Add Vertex splits the line segment into two. Delete Edge removes an edge from the outline. The command will fail if removing the edge will

cause the outline to become degenerate or complex. Change Edge to Arc and Change Edge to Line will be available depending on the edge type

the cursor is over. They allow you to change an edge from one to the other. Delete Vertex when the selection is done over a vertex

the right-mouse menu will display this command. You should note that Delete Vertex will correctly fail if the removal of the vertex causes the outline to become degenerate or complex.

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Increased control over drawing and printing P-CAD 2006 brings increased control over the order of drawing and printing objects in the PCB editor. Launch the command Options Display Drawing Order where you can configure the Custom Draw Order option to specify the order of layers and the order of objects within each layer of the current design. The Default Draw Order option will otherwise display the traditional drawing order of previous versions of P-CAD PCB. Additionally you have increased control over printing as well. Launch File Print and note that this dialog has been expanded with tabs to accommodate new drawing order options. Using the new Print Job Drawing Order Tab, you can use the Custom Draw Order option to explicitly specify the order of layers and the order of objects within each design layer for printing. The Default Draw Order option provides legacy printing draw order behavior. Each defined print job has its own independent draw order, allowing you to specify the default order or to customize the order of each print job individually.

Figure 9. Control the drawing order in the Options Display dialog.

For more information on the Drawing Order options press F1 when the dialog is open to access the Drawing Order topic in the online help.

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Enhanced copper pour capabilities A standard design technique on todays dense, high-speed boards is to use all spare board space as reference planes, filling them with regions of solid copper. These regions of copper are created by placing copper pours, and it is not uncommon for a complex multilayer board to have 30 or more pours on it.

P-CAD 2006 includes a completely new copper pour algorithm, able to cater for the most complex pour shape and conditions. The new pour algorithm is invoked automatically when you select the Copper Pour command. The old pour algorithm has been retained, to ensure that older designs can be maintained without impact on their pours. If you need the older pour algorithm it can be enabled in the Manufacturing Tab of the Options Configure dialog. This setting is stored with the design, ensuring that you will always get the correct pour for that design.

Figure 10. Support for the older copper pour algorithm is available, if required.

For more information on Copper Pour legacy options press F1 when the dialog is open to access the Manufacturing topic in the online help.

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Whats New in P-CAD 2004 The P-CAD 2004 release expanded on P-CAD's proven board design capabilities with new intelligent interactive routing tools, along with a host of other enhancements, many based on requests from designers using it everyday.

Advanced interactive routing Routing connections is one of the most important stages of the PCB design process. P-CAD 2004 introduced Advanced Route a powerful new interactive routing tool that helps you efficiently and accurately route your board.

Routing is a balancing act, placing new routes amongst existing component pads and design objects can be tricky. Advanced Route intelligently deals with potential conflicts created between your new route and existing objects as you route. It plows around board cut-outs, board edges and keep-outs, allowing you to look ahead as you work. Contouring around vias and pushing of traces is also smartly handled for improved productivity.

Figure 11. Pushing of traces while interactive routing is easily demonstrated using Advanced Route.

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Getting started with Advanced Route Once youve got your design laid out and ready to route, you can launch Advanced Route by selecting Route Advanced, or by selecting the Advanced Route button from the toolbar ( ). Figure 12

Figure 12. Selecting the Advanced Route button will launch Advanced Route interactive route tool in the PCB editor.

Advanced Route is fully-interactive and has many powerful capabilities. For example, Plow modes allow you to see the effect of plowing how routed traces will be pushed before committing the next trace segment for the current route. You can even control the level of effort for plowing in Advanced Route. Gloss Effort the immediate clean-up of routed traces can be applied interactively. When glossing, Advanced Route will always try to minimize the amount of committed copper used (and therefore the total net length). So, for example, if you place meandering trace segments from a point A to a point B, Advanced Route will replace the redundant routing with a single trace segment between the two points where possible. With strong glossing effort enabled, the time required for clean-up of traces at a later stage will be greatly reduced. Hug Obstacles mode enables Advanced Route to hug around fixed objects (component pads, board outline, fixed traces, and so on) when plowing is turned off. Fixed objects that are part of a different net to the one currently being routed are avoided and in such cases Advanced Route will attempt to contour around these objects.

The Route Options menu ( ) can be accessed at any time by right-clicking, it includes numerous options for controlling Advanced Route. For example, a Width control sub-menu provides tremendous flexibility in applying line widths to subsequently-placed trace segments of routes, and lets you cycle through all constrained line width rules found for the current design. You can even define additional widths as you go.

Figure 13

Figure 13. Many options for Advanced Route can be set through the right-click menu.

Improvements to the design environment provide better support while interactive routing. The prompt bar now shows the pin-pair being routed, the routed length between the pin-pair, and the un-routed length estimate (using Manhattan distance) left to complete your route. Enhanced graphics support allows for all objects to be redrawn dynamically as you are routing. And short-cut keys are available for nearly every command, allowing you greater productivity.

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Advanced Route intelligently handles many aspects of the mechanics of routing so you can focus on your design.

Start routing at any net object Routing is an intense and detailed process, one that requires focus and concentration. To simplify the mechanics of routing in P-CAD 2004 you can now start routing from any net object, regardless of its grid location or the presence of a connection line (visible or otherwise). You no longer need to start on a center of point to route, you can begin or end over a trace and it will automatically snap to the trace's center of line, regardless of the current snap grid. Notice that there are blue lines when a net is being routed.

Place traces interactively Trace placement requires less effort and is more intuitive. A simple left-click initiates new rubber-banded routed segments. While placing elbows, use the O key to cycle through the different orthogonal modes to change the orientation of an elbow. Orientation of the rubber-banded traces can be flipped using the F key while holding down the Ctrl key restricts the rubber-banded trace to either horizontal, vertical, or 45, depending upon the current orthogonal mode.

Improved trace visibility while routing With todays dense boards its important to be able to see your routes clearly. Rubber-banded routed segments are shown in the highlighted color rather than ghosted. Rubber-banding by default now extends from an existing trace in a consistently forward direction.

Automatic active layer switching It can be tiresome to remember when you need to switch layers during routing. Now when the closest existing trace is on a layer other than the current one, the active layer is automatically switched for you. For example, if the active layer is Bottom and a route starts from a Top layer, then the active layer will automatically be switched to the Top layer when you start routing. Even traces that start from arcs and polygons are supported.

Figure 14. Advanced routing with Plow Interactive on and the Plow Effort set on High.

Fixed objects respected You dont need to worry about Advanced Route ignoring fixed objects in your design. Advanced Route will hug around fixed objects including component pads, board outline and fixed traces. Even when Plow is turned off, fixed objects are respected and contoured around. Some design objects such as arcs, odd-angle lines, and polygons cannot be pushed and are treated as fixed obstacles.

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Halo for Hugging mode A new Violation Halo indicator while in Hugging mode will let you know when the path to the cursor location cannot be found. This handy feature also eliminates the annoying flickering of rubber-banded routes.

Selective unrouting A complementary set of commands for editing routed connections in your design brings yet more flexibility when routing. Edit Unroute commands are used for unrouting physical connections for all nets, specific nets, between pads, or selected physical connections. Unroute commands remove any appropriate physical connections (traces, arcs and vias) and replaces them with the complete ratsnest of logical connections, respecting of course any fixed objects in your design.

Outlined copper pours for faster panning

If the copper pour fill is not drawn, the outline of the copper pour can sometimes look like traces. You can alleviate this display confusion by assigning a unique color to polygons on these layers, providinga visual distinction between copppour outlines and real tracks on a

er

layer.

Designs that contain a lot of copper pours can redraw very slowly, especially during resource-intensive activities such as Advanced Route. A new option in Options Display Misc allows you to control if the fill of a copper pour is drawn or not. The default setting is on, uncheck Draw Copper Pour Fill to dramatically improve scrolling and moving around in designs that have many copper pours.

For your convenience, a shortcut setting has been added and can be set in Options Preferences. With the Shortcuts radio button selected, scroll down to see the shortcut command Draw Copper Pour Fill Toggle. By default this command does not have a hotkey assigned, but you can easily select one here.

Automatic completion feature when routing Connections for pads and vias are now automatically added whenever possible. When routing or moving a trace where the endpoint does not fall on the center of point of the destination pad or via, a trace segment is automatically added to complete the connection for you. This is particularly useful when routing to an off-grid pad, a common occurrence in todays mixed technology designs.

Board layout improvements The best results in board layout are achieved through manual effort simply because you, the board layout specialist, has far better judgment at arranging circuitry than can be achieved by automation. P-CAD 2004 offers greater control and flexibility over the mechanics of board layout.

Definable layer stackup and output report

For more information on setting up and managing layers refer to Chapter 17, Options Commands in the PCB Design User's Guide.

Defining and managing your board layers couldnt be easier with new Layer Stackup. Select Options Layers Stackup to launch this new feature. All of the physical layers of your board and their properties are viewed here including plating (non-real layers for specifying plating or coating thickness), copper and substrate layers. All units (mil, mm, oz) are supported for Thickness properties, and older designs default to copper for layers without any extra data displayed. Output Layer Stackup reports

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are easily generated from this dialog, and should your manufacturing requirements change, the layer properties can be quickly updated here also. The DocTool Layer Stackup diagram has also been updated to reflect the data in the Stackup Tab.

User-defined layer pairs

Figure 15. Predefined layers by default are matched to their appropriate layer partner.

Figure 15

Most manufacturers support blind and buried vias between what are termed as layer pairs. Using this technology, a multi-layer board is fabricated as a set of thin double-sided boards that are pressed together. This allows blind and buried vias to connect between the surfaces of these thin double-sided boards, which then become the layer pair.

P-CAD 2004 supports layer pairs that you can define by launching Options Layers Pairs. Layers from your design are listed in layer order under the first column titled Layers, while the right column Opposite Layer lists their partner pairs ( ). To combine two layers, select the two layers in question and click on the Combine button. To remove a layer pairing, select any one layer and click on the Separate button. The Board layer cannot be paired since it is unique in itself and contains some design objects that reside only on it. So if you have the Board layer selected, the Combine button disables. Additionally, only layers of the same type (i.e., signal to signal) can be paired.

User-defined layer pairs bring more intelligence to the flipping of pads and vias in your design to assist you during placement. Where a layer pairing has been specified, pad and via definitions as well as their hole ranges will flip to the opposite layer when the pad or via is flipped.

Automatic increment of designators during paste Certain complex or legacy design files can necessitate the need for manual editing every designers worry since this is a time-consuming process. P-CAD 2004 is more flexible and has added features to maximize your productivity even during laborious tasks.

For more information on copy and paste commands and behavior refer to Chapter 13, Edit Commands in the PCB Design User's Guide. Increment Refdes, a new option in the Edit Paste Circuit dialog, allows

you to increment a component reference designator by a specified value when a Paste is done using Edit Paste Circuit. This avoids having to go back later to manually edit the ASCII or Engineering Change Order (ECO) file, saving you time.

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After you have copied the circuit that you wish to paste, select Edit Paste Circuit in either the PCB or the Schematic editor. A new checkbox lets you create a new reference designator by incrementing the value. You only need to ensure that you use a positive integer greater or equal to 1. This new setting will be saved with your .INI file for future design updates you may make.

Smart rotation of attributes You always have to make the most of space in todays complex board layout designs. Often this means the rotating and flipping of components as you try to find the ideal fit for everything. You now have an option to choose the Right Reading of text for component attributes such as Reference Designator (Refdes), Type and Value during the rotation or flipping of components.

Figure 16. Refdes C1 is rotated with Right Reading for easier reading of attributes.

Figure 16

This new feature is enabled through Pattern Tab of the Component Properties dialog for any component. When you select the Right Reading option, component attributes will be read right to left, and bottom to top when rotating or flipping. For example, in , the reference designator C1 is a 180 (or 360) position with the component in the first picture. After Right Reading is enabled, C1 rotates automatically 90 (or 270) with the component in the second picture.

This option is saved with your design and will also be applied to the following output: Print; Gerber; ODB++ and DXF.

Add To Net includes all net objects Add To Net and Remove From Net have been expanded in P-CAD 2004 to include all net objects pads, vias, lines, arcs, copper pours, planes and polygons. Select the object you wish to add to a net and right-click to launch the Add To Net dialog. A connection will automatically be placed, connecting the object to the desired net. The connection takes the shortest route from the object to the net. Edit Nets Remove Nodes has also been updated to include support for these objects. In the case of removal, multiple nodes can be removed at the same time. Any selected objects that are on a non-signal layer are not included.

Figure 17. Adding multiple free net objects, even of differing type, can be added to the same net with Add To Net feature from right-click menu.

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Place connection enhanced Placing connections during layout is more flexible in P-CAD 2004. A connection can now be placed from and to any pad or via defined on any signal layer. For collocated pads and vias, an option pops-up so that you can pick the pad or via that you would like to use.

Drill Table precision improved

Figure 18. Hole diameters for design documentation show more precision.

Documentation tools in P-CAD 2004 have been improved for greater precision. Launch Doctool Place Table to place a Drill Table. A new option allows you to specify the decimal precision that you would like to use for hole diameters in your displayed Drill Tables.

For more information on detailing and documenting your design refer to Chapter 20, DocTool Commands in the PCB Design User's Guide.

Selection by pattern for components Block and Single Selection have been enhanced to give you more control during selection in P-CAD 2004. A new filter mask option added to the Pattern Tab of the Component Selection Mask dialog allows you to search components by pattern when using the Block or Single Selection feature in the design workspace.

New rules for high-speed design PCB board layout design is no longer a matter of simply placing tracks to create connections. Todays designs can be a minefield of conflicting requirements as high-speed logic combined with smaller and more complex packaging technology place many demands on your design rules. Such designs mean that you need to apply specific requirements to individual nets, components and regions of the board, as well as considering such issues as net impedance, signal reflections and path lengths.

Figure 19. Rules for high-speed design are found in the Net Attribute Category of Options Design Rules.

P-CAD 2004 brings new design rules to help you stay in step with the ever-changing demands of electronic design.

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Simulation and impedance rules New design rules MinWidth and MaxWidth allow you to better support unrouted nets for simulation and impedance results. For example, if Net A is unrouted and the user performs a Signal Integrity analysis, P-CAD creates simulated tracks for that net. If you wanted to determine what width these simulated tracks should have, then MinWidth and MaxWidth rule can be used.


Differential signaling rule Successful differential signaling requires, amongst many things, the benefit of routing two signals side-by-side to help achieve good quality routing of matched lengths (and where required to separate in order to route around obstacles).

In concert with MinWidth and MaxWidth design rules, P-CAD 2004 also features MatchedLength, letting you define how much overall routing lengths can differ for the two nets in a differential pair. The value assigned to this rule specifies its value as a scalar distance. MatchedLength is supported by DRC and SPECCTRA autorouters.

More intelligent Design Rule Checking (DRC)

Better detection for unrouted nets DRC no longer utilizes point-to-point connectivity for unrouted nets to determine if a net is routed. It now considers the physical location of net objects with respect to one another instead a more reliable way of finding unrouted nets in your design.

New attribute assignment for nets For more information on setting up rules, their categories and hierarchy refer to Chapter 19, Utils Commands in the PCB Design User's Guide.

The BoardEdgeClearance attribute can now be assigned as a net or net class rule. This will be checked by DRC, giving you more control over your design when defining rules. Such assignments, however, are ignored by the Advanced Routing tool.

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Improved Design Tools

Fully-integrated Variant support Product requirements may warrant the need to produce a variety of smaller printed circuit boards that all differ slightly from an underlying base design. For example, standard and deluxe versions of a commercial electronic product may differ in the functionality they offer, with a standard version incorporating a subset of the components used in the deluxe version. At the design level, one or more variations of a board design can be defined using the Variants feature. This functionality, once available only as a separate application, is now seamlessly integrated into P-CAD 2004 offering you more power and control when defining and creating assembly variants than was previously possible.

In some cases, the components used on the variant board may need to be changed in some way. For example, product requirements might dictate that logic functionality should be faster in an enhanced-speed version. Basic logic components may need to be swapped for higher speed varieties, and the values of such components may need to be revised in order for the board variant to achieve specific operating constraints. In P-CAD 2004, when you change the attribute value for included components in the currently selected variant, you will see a "-modified" string next to the component names from the Included Component list. This helps you visually identify modified components in your variants easier.

Figure 20. Variants are now integrated and easily accessed through Tools Variants.

For more information on Variants press F1 when the dialog is open to access the Defining Board Variants topic in the online help.

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DTP files include additional styles and settings Design Technology Parameter (*.DTP) files are templates used for selectively capturing design data that can then be transferred easily between designs. In P-CAD 2004, DTP files have been expanded to include more design styles and settings.

Text styles supported Text styles are supported in .DTP files in P-CAD 2004. The Design Technology Parameters dialog is accessed through File Design Technology Parameters. Once youve loaded your .DTP file, select New Section to create a section that will store the text styles. After this is done youre ready to update text styles from your design to the .DTP file by selecting Update from Design. Managing your stroke font properties, and copying and transferring of text styles are made fully bi-directional through .DTP files.

Figure 21. Text styles and grid settings are easily managed between designs by using Design Technology Parameter (.DTP) files.

For more information on setting up and working with DTP Files refer to Chapter 12, File Commands in the PCB Design User's Guide.

Grids settings included You are also able to copy grid settings to and from designs. Much in the same manner that a new file section is created for text styles, you can add one for Grid Settings. The Grid Setting section by default displays the same information normally seen in Options Grids although you can add different grids and properties. When copying, you should be aware that the grids will be merged and the other properties will be overwritten for both Copy To Design and Update From Design.

Automated default design settings applied Default design settings can be configured automatically for .DTP files through Options Auto Configure. Enabling this feature applies default design settings that you can specify whenever a new design file is created or opened so that you dont have to think about your design settings once they are configured. Once the source DTP file is chosen, Always update configuration based on settings from selected Design Technology Parameters File will turn this feature on.

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Use the Auto Configuration Sections list to choose which settings to auto-update. For a PCB design, pdate any of the following:

rid Settings.

d in the .INI

r designs. Now optimized for efficiency, it helps you tackle more up

hs. ed

cts to the center of pad, those segments will be

ts the entering trace to the center of pad.

r locates unrouted connections in a design.

er

this tool looks for where the existing track has an end-point that lies inside a r via's

You can use this command in conjunction with Utils Trace Cleanup to fix most connectivity problems when loading older designs.

you can choose to u

Apertures Layer Stacks Global Rules Layer Sets Design Rules Text Styles Pad Styles Via Styles GAll settings for auto configuration are savefile.

Efficient Trace Clean-up Utils Trace Clean-up has long been a post-route utility feature of P-CAD designed to remove routing mistakes that always seem to be made and ensure that connectivity is good, especially in olde

Figure 22. You can now automate many default design settings through .DTP files

of the unwanted segments that were previously difficult to address. Enhancements for Trace Clean-in P-CAD 2004 include the following:

Trace Clean-up will now remove junctions at tees where there are mismatched line widt

Where a trace segment is added to connect to the center of a pad or via, the segment will be addwith a width no greater than the minimum width of the pad or via, for the routing layer.

Trace segments that reside completely inside a pad or via are removed. If you have a trace that enters a pad and several segments and conneremoved. A single segment is then added that connec

Quickly locate unrouted connections Older and legacy designs often require special effort to ensure that there are no connectivity issues. A new command Tools Complete Route To Pad CenteWhere a trace is inside a pad or via, but does not reach to the center of that pad or via this feature will add one or two line segments to finish the connection.

Newly-added segments will have a width equal to the smaller of either the existing track or the shortside of the pad or via. Since the added segments are completely inside the area of the pad or via, the width is not an issue, except to ensure the added segments do not cause any clearance violations.

Limited to partial routes, pads or via's geometry and is on the layer as the trace. End-points that are outside the pads oarea are left unfinished.

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Load Netlist improved for copper pours

For more information on Netlist Loading press F1 when the dialog is open to access the Load Netlist topic in the online help.

Loading a netlist can be greatly affected by copper pours in your design. Unpour Copper Pours is a new option found in Utils Load Netlist and Utils Reconnect Nets. It allows you to decide whether to un-pour copper pours in your design or not, during a netlist load, saving you valuable time.

Its worth mentioning that while this new option is a timesaver, sometimes leaving copper pours intact can be a bit tricky because the filled copper pour back-off from neighboring objects may no longer be valid after loading a new netlist or reconnecting the nets. Why this happens often because of rule changes, or even when a net object (for example a component pad) is moved to a different net that has different rules applied to it. Youll need to check your design by doing a Utils Compare Netlist and inspect any differences carefully before using this new option to make sure it is okay before proceeding. Otherwise, it is recommended that you keep this option in its default state (selected).

Design environment enhancements Even the basic working tools and design environment of P-CAD 2004 have been updated for your greater productivity with new options for improved placement, style management, and printing.

Figure 23. The Large Diagonal Cross cursor style is useful for manually editing traces and components placed at 45. Use the X key to cycle through any cursor style you require.

Large Diagonal Cross cursor style for 45 traces Placing objects at a 45 is easier. In Options Display Misc, a new option for a Large Diagonal Cross cursor style can be found. When this option is checked and when the cursor is moved into the workspace, it will display in a similar manner as the Large Cross but with the lines rotated at 45, helping you to better align and place objects as you are working with them.

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Select tool more flexible Select Tool is more flexible now and includes support for the Esc key. When objects are selected in your design but there is no active operation (such as drag or paste), the objects will become deselected when the Esc key is pressed. If objects are selected, but there is aactive operation, then the active operation will be cancelled (this is the same behavior as a right-click), and any objects that were selected remain selected.

For more information on using the Select Tool, placing and editing objects refer to Chapter 3, PCB Basics in the PCB Design User's Guide.

n

Statistics report updated for SMT components More design data information is available in your report output in P-CAD 2004. The Statistics report has been updated to output the number of surface mount pads on the top and bottom of the board, separately. It also now specifies the number of thru-hole pads, as well as the total number of pads (thru-hole plus SMT).

Figure 24. The Replace Styles dialog allows you to easily change styles for design objects en masse.

Replacing styles globally Suppose that you would like to change a specific style of many component pads in your design en masse and replace it with a new style. In Options Pad Style, a new Replace command has been added to allow the easy replacement of one or more existing pad, via or text styles, with an alternative pad, via or text style.

Cross referencing printing supported Off-sheet references are now supported when printing cross referencing in your schematics. This option, which is normally set through File Print Print Options Miscellaneous, does not need to be toggled for the references to be printed.

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Updated Importer and Exporters Updates have significantly improved manufacturing Importers and Exporters in P-CAD 2004. You can now do direct translations, have a wider choice of output standards, have more support for non-standard design objects, and greater flexibility getting your design to manufacture.

For detailed information on a specific Import or Export command press F1 when the cursor is over the relevant Import or Export menu entry.

DXF In translates directly You once had to 'explode' blocks in AutoCAD prior to loading the file into P-CAD so that your DXF files could be decomposed into the appropriate P-CAD design objects. This extra step is no longer necessary as these files can now be translated directly in P-CAD 2004.

There are a couple of translation conditions handled during this process that you should be aware of. When a scaling value on the DXF side other than 1 is applied, blocks will be scaled, but only on the X scale value, as non-uniform scaling is not supported. Closed poly-lines are translated as polygons. In the case where poly-lines would translate into a complex (self-intersecting) polygon, the poly-lines are converted into lines.

Support for IPC-D-356A standard You need more ways to verify your design, and you need your designs supported in standards that are universally accepted at most fabrication houses. IPC-D-356A, a standard data format that provides net connectivity and hole locations, is now supported in P-CAD 2004.

IPC netlist files carry blind and buried via information as well as differentiating between through-hole vias and free pads. It can be used along with image and drill data information to help facilitate the recovery of original net names used in a PCB design. This makes your PCB easier to understand and manage an important reason why P-CAD 2004 has been updated to stay current with this standard.

Figure 25. Export options for IPC-D-356A Netlist can be set from this dialog.

You can launch this command from File Export IPC-D-356A Netlist. After launching this, the Export IPC-D-356A Netlist dialog will appear. You can then configure your export options.

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ODB++ improved for rotated pads and vias You need design automation tools that help you actively manage the transition to board fabrication and assembly, and ensure that your design can be successfully manufactured. P-CAD supports the emerging ODB++ manufacturing file format. ODB++ is the most intelligent CAD/CAM format available today, capturing all CAD/EDA database, assembly and PCB fabrication knowledge in one single, unified database.

In P-CAD 2004, more effort has gone into ensuring that you can efficiently work with multiple manufacturers. Hence ODB++ output of rotated pads and vias is enhanced as well as the Matrix file output path to ensure the trouble-free loading for fabrication and assembly files.

NC Drill provides resolution format options Some NC Drill machines require default resolutions that were not previously supported by P-CAD, and limiting your options. This is now changed for greater versatility moving your design to manufacture. P-CAD 2004's NC Drill Export mechanism is improved to allow you to select from several resolution format options for output of holes locations.

Figure 26. Export options for IDF now include IDF units.

IDF more versatile with user-defined units You can now export your IDF files in units other than what P-CAD normally supports. P-CAD 2004s IDF Exporter has been expanded to support customer-specified units; both .BRD and .PRO files will now be generated using the same units that the user specifies from the File Export IDF dialog.

Backward compatibility supported Design files can be exported in an ASCII format that is compatible with P-CAD 2002. Choose the File Export P-CAD 2002 ASCII command to export the current PCB design file in P-CAD 2002 ASCII format. Any design data that is specific to versions newer than P-CAD 2002 will not be exported.

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Updated third-party interfaces

Database Exchange Programming Interface (DBX) improved New functionality has been added to the DBX interface to keep on par with the new features and enhancements that have been added to P-CAD 2004. These include the ability to add either layers or sheets to a design, and the retrieval of layer stackup data.

For a guide on working with the P-CAD DBX Application Programming Interface, refer to the P-CAD DBX Programmers Interface User Guide and Reference.

Viewlogic/ePD 2004 SP1 P-CAD Ties has been upgraded to provide an interface and data exchange between P-CAD 2004 SP3 and ePD 2004 SP1.

PADS to P-CAD Translator supports non-English characters P-CAD 2004 Importer interface has been updated to allow a wider variety of design data when importing. Subsequently, the PADS to P-CAD Translator will now handle non-English characters (such as ) during translation. These characters will be replaced with an underscore '_', and will continue loading. A record of the replacement will be logged in the log file.

Additionally, version PADS Layout v2005 is supported.

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P-CAD 2006 Bonus Technologies

P-CAD 2006 Bonus Technologies As an engineer or PCB layout professional you appreciate the importance of having the right tool on hand, ready when you need it. While the design you are developing today can be routed manually, the one you are starting next week could be helped by a powerful autorouter, such as the Situs Topological Autorouter. Or perhaps your board assembly house has offered faster and cheaper delivery if you can supply the three boards in your product as a single assembly panel a straight forward task if you have access to a fully-featured CAM editor.

While P-CAD 2006 continues to deliver a powerful and proven PCB design environment, capable of meeting todays demanding PCB design requirements, Altium recognizes that at some stage you will need access to complimentary design tools. These are delivered in P-CAD 2006 as Bonus Technologies, which are enabled through Altium Designer 6, and are included to ensure that you are fully equipped to tackle all of your design challenges.

The P-CAD 2006 Bonus Technologies include: Situs Topological Autorouter Situs uses topological mapping to provide greater flexibility in

route path determination and unrestricted routing direction, as it routes in compliance with specified design rules and via requirements. The router also includes powerful component-oriented fanout and escape routing algorithms, supporting all current packaging technologies.

Fully-featured CAM editor the CAM editor is fully featured for CAM file review and editing. As well as the traditional Gerber support it includes full ODB++ import and export. It also has powerful panelization support and a broad range of Numerically Controlled (NC) rout capabilities, including autorouting, rout tabs and automatic mill path definition.

Mixed-signal circuit simulation the mixed-signal circuit simulator offers true Spice 3f5 analog and XSPICE digital simulation. Updated for the P-CAD 2006 release, the Bonus Technology circuit simulator now supports PSpice models and functions, giving you maximum flexibility when sourcing simulation models.

Situs Topological Autorouter Routing the connections on a printed circuit board is a complex and time-consuming activity. On large or dense boards, the process of routing can take a designer considerable time time that is becoming increasingly sparse as product life-cycles shorten. Autorouters aid a designer in the routing process by automatically placing tracks and vias on the board to make the connections. Autorouting is a numerically intensive and complex process that, to be truly useful, must combine adherence to relevant design rules, achieve high or 100% routing completion, and provide good routing quality.

While many current-generation autorouters deliver on each of these requirements to some degree, the grid-based, shape-based or geometrical approaches that they take in mapping the routing space present serious limitations with denser, non-orthogonal and geometrically irregular component packaging technologies technologies that are becoming more common in modern board design. Current-generation autorouters, because of their geometric limitations, also tend to produce results that

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look autorouted, leading to extensive manual rework. Indeed many designers shy away from using autorouters because of this limitation alone.

The Situs autorouter does not suffer from the limitations of current-generation autorouters. It uses a topological-analysis technique to map the board space, which, unlike geometric or shape-based mapping, is not dependent on obstacle shape or coordinates. Topological mapping provides greater flexibility in route path determination and unrestricted routing direction.

The name Situs comes from Situs Analysis, a branch of mathematics that studies the properties of geometric figures or solids that are not normally affected by changes in size or shape, commonly known today as topology.

Design Rule compliance Situs complies with all the appropriate electrical and routing design rules, including net-specific routing widths, net-specific via styles and blind and buried vias. Since it uses a topological approach, which results in more natural, diagonal routing, it does not comply with the routing corner-style rule.

Sophisticated fanout and escape routing capabilities Situs includes a number of sophisticated fanout strategies, supporting all surface mount packaging technologies including BGA, QFP and LCC fine pitch components. These can be run during autorouting, or used interactively to pre-fanout components, nets, connections and so on. Select the required fanout option in the Tools Autoroute Fanout sub-menu.

Figure 27. Situs includes sophisticated fanout algorithms (supporting staggered rows of fanout vias) that tackle the fanout task at the component level rather than the individual net level.

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The fanout behavior is controlled by the Fanout Control design rules, to configure select Options Rules. Default fanout rules are created for the various package kinds, the settings of these can be adjusted in Situs if required.

Figure 28. Escape routing systematically routes from each fanout via to the edge of the component, ready for component-to-component routing (displayed using transparency to reveal routing on lower layers).

Routing Setup Report When you launch Situs you will be presented with the Situs Routing Strategies dialog. The top section of this dialog includes a Routing Setup Report. The Routing Setup Report is performed automatically, giving you immediate feedback in the form of error, warning and hint reports. The report will identify rules or setup conditions that could prevent the board from being fully routed. Use the hyperlinks in the report to control the rules and fix the problems on the fly, prior to routing. You dont need to wait until it is routed to find that your design contains rules that negatively affect completion.

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Figure 29. Use the Routing Setup Report to identify potential routing problems before starting Situs.

Multiple routing strategies Situs comes with a number of default routing strategies, each focused to route well in a specific situation. Situs will automatically select either the default two layer or the default multilayer strategy automatically, but you are free to select a different strategy. The main difference between the two default strategies is that the default multilayer strategy includes a signal fanout pass. Select the preferred routing strategy before launching the router.

Figure 30. Choose one of the default strategies, or create your own.

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User-definable routing strategies User-definable routing strategies

Refer to the articles and tutorials in the Board Layout > PCB Routing section of the Altium Designer Knowledge Center panel for more information on the Situs autorouter.

Figure 31. Include the required passes in your custom routing strategy.

The Situs autorouter allows you to customize the routing strategies to include those passes suitable for your board. Situs comes with a set of in-built strategies for common board configurations, but allows you to add your own strategies, configure the included passes, set the order of passes and trade speed for via minimization.

Choosing the optimal combination of strategies is highly dependant on the characteristics of the board being routed. It is recommended that you start by duplicating one of the default strategies, then experiment by adding, removing and reordering routing passes.

If you prefer a more grid-like routing result, enable the Orthogonal checkbox in the Situs Strategy Editor dialog. The Orthogonal option will force the routing to follow a horizontal/vertical orientation. If you use this option then it is recommended to add Straighten and Recorner passes.

Selective autorouting modes The autorouter also features a range of commands that allow the selective routing of portions of your board. You can route a single net or connection, a component, a net or component class, an area of the board, all connections in a room, connections on selected components and connections between selected components.

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Understanding queries Typically you will send your board to Situs for routing, and when it is finished use the Save and Return command to pass the routing results back to the P-CAD PCB editor. However, there might be a situation where you would like to explore routing the board with different design rules, particularly if the board is dense and difficult to route. In this situation it is valuable to have an understanding of how design rules are handled in Situs.

Like the P-CAD PCB editor, Situs is a rule-compliant design tool. The difference with Situs is how each rule targets the objects that it applies to. In the P-CAD PCB editor you either define the routing requirements as general object-to-object settings, or you define a design requirement that is applied by layer, room, net, or net class. In Situs the rule targets the objects by writing a query.

A query is essentially an instruction to the software. A query is a combination of symbols keywords, object identifiers, operators and values that are analyzed and then applied to every object in the workspace to see if the object complies with that query. The result set returned by the query is the set of objects that the rule will apply to. In Situs the rules are defined in the PCB Rules and Constraints Editor dialog (select Options Rules in the menus). Each rule definition will have a query, defining what objects that rule targets. shows a rule that defines the width that the VCC net must be routed at. You can either use the dialog controls to create the query, such as choosing the Net option, and then selecting the required net in the dropdown, or you can type the query in directly, which in this example is InNet(VCC).

Figure 32

Figure 32. Routing requirements are specified as rules, in the PCB Rules and Constraint Editor.

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Some tips on becoming familiar with queries include: Use the Query Helper When you know what sort of keyword you are looking for, but are not sure

what the exact syntax is. Try typing it; the type-ahead prompts will help. Also, use the Mask field, for example, if you are looking for footprint related keywords, type *footprint in the Mask field, then click on each of the categories to list only those keywords that include the string footprint in the keyword or description.

Use the PCB Filter panel to test a query Type the query in the PCB Filter panel and click Apply to visually check to see if it is targeting the correct objects. You can also review the current rule scopes at any time by setting the PCB panel to Rules, so when you click on an individual rule in the panel, it will filter the workspace to show only the objects to which the rule will apply.

Refer to the articles and tutorials in the Board Layout > Working with the Query System section of the Altium Designer Knowledge Center panel for more information on queries.

Fully-featured CAM editor Included in the P-CAD Bonus Technologies is a fully-featured CAM editor, allowing both board designers and fabrication engineers to verify critical manufacturing information quickly and easily.

The CAM editor comes with a complete range of import/export options, a host of PCB design check/fix analyses and all the graphical and geometrical tools you need to edit and modify any design for fabrication and assembly. With a single mouse click, the program will analyze your entire design, locating and automatically repairing 18 of the most common manufacturing design flaws such as solder bridging, power/ground shorts, netlist shorts and silkscreen over soldermask.

Comprehensive data verification features The CAM editor includes strong data verification Design Rule Checks (DRCs) as well as sophisticated netlist extraction capabilities. There is an extensive range of data verification checks for potential fabrication problems, such as silkscreen over mask, solder bridging, net antennas or starved thermals. Its netlist extraction supports any board configuration, including blind and buried vias, as well as split power planes using both thermal relief and direct power plane connections.

Figure 33. The CAM editor includes comprehensive DRC checks.

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Advanced panelization Board designers and CAM engineers alike will benefit from the advanced panelization tools provided in the CAM editor. A straightforward process allows a single board to fill a panel according to the border and spacing information you provide. Additional data such as drill coupons and tooling holes can be defined as individual steps and inserted into the panel alongside the array of board data. As well as an array of the same board, CAM data from different boards can be loaded as steps into the same panel, meaning that you can fill your panel with any boards you want. Combined with powerful commands that support rotating and flipping of steps, the CAM editors panelization features allow panels to be optimized for both cost and assembly techniques.

Figure 34. Build panels of different boards, flipping and rotating them as required to suit your panel assembly process.

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Bi-directional ODB++ import/export While Gerber and NC drill files continue to satisfy the needs of many companies, the increased complexity of PCBs, combined with the need for faster design turn-around has resulted in the emergence of new CAD/CAM data formats. The most popular of these, ODB++, captures all PCB fabrication and assembly data in a single, unified database.

You can take advantage of ODB++ functionality even if you have assembled your CAM data from other image/drill data, such as Gerber, NC Drill, IPC netlists, or HPGL files. In fact, the CAM editor will automatically create imported layer names in an ODB-compliant format, in case you want to export to ODB++. The ODB++ support is truly bi-directional you can also export to any of the traditional formats from data you imported from an ODB++ source.

Strong import/export capabilities The CAM editor is not limited to P-CAD CAM files, it supports import and export of all major CAM file formats used in the board fabrication industry.

Supported import formats include: Gerber, ODB++, Netlist (including IPC-D356), Drill, Mill/Rout, DXF/DWG and HPGL/HPGL2.

The following export options are available in the CAM editor: Gerber; Netlist; IPC-D-350, Save Drill, Mill/Rout, DXF, Part Centroids, Aperture List and Bitmap (*.bmp). Switch to the NC Editor mode to access the Drill Export option.

There is also a QuickLoad feature that allows you to load all supported file types simultaneously.

NC drill and rout

Refer to the articles and tutorials in the Generating Manufacturing Output section of the Altium Designer Knowledge Center panel for more information on the CAM editor.

Core to any effective CAD/CAM software is the ability to create both regular (drilled) and irregular (routed) holes in the PCB panel. The CAM editor includes a broad range of Numerically Controlled (NC) rout capabilities, including autorouting, rout tabs and automatic mill path definition. NC rout paths can be defined manually or automatically (by edge tracing existing objects), with full control over tool parameters, plunge/retraction points and rout direction. Add breakout tabs along the path using the Add Tabs command.

Figure 35. Use the Auto Rout PCB feature to automatically trace the board outline and define the rout path.

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Mixed-signal circuit simulation The circuit simulator uses an enhanced version of Berkeley Spice 3f5/XSPICE, allowing you to accurately simulate any combination of analog and digital devices, without manually inserting D/A or A/D converters.

This mixed-signal simulation is possible because the simulator includes accurate, event-driven behavioral models for its digital devices, including TTL and CMOS digital devices. All Spice compliant analog simulation models are supported.

Analyses types The circuit simulator includes the standard analyses operating point, transient and ac small signal as well as a number of advanced analyses including DC sweep, temperature sweep, parameter sweep, noise, pole zero and Monte Carlo analysis.

Figure 36. There are over 40 circuit simulation examples, covering a wide range of circuit examples and analysis types.

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PSpice support models, functions and global variables The PSpice simulation model format is the format of choice for many device manufacturers. The Bonus Technology circuit simulator now has strong support for PSpice models, giving you maximum flexibility when sourcing simulation models. PSpice models are used in exactly the same way as Spice 3f5 models, in fact your circuit can even include a mix of PSpice and Spice 3f5 models. There is also excellent support for PSpice functions. A number of new examples have been added, demonstrating PSpice model support.

Support for global parameters and equations Global parameter and equation support has also been added to the circuit simulator. Use a global parameter in an equation, and use that equation in a component value on your schematic. Alternatively, define the equation as a global parameter, and then reference the global parameter from a component value. Use global parameters to tune component values as you run the simulator, or control a variable in an equation that is determining a component value.

To use global parameters simply include the expression or parameter name within curly braces {}. When the simulator detects this it will attempt to evaluate it, checking the Global Parameters page of the simulators Analyses Setup dialog for the definition of any part of the expression that cannot be immediately resolved. The new Global Parameters example has been added to the circuit simulation examples folder to demonstrate global parameter and equation support.

Figure 37

Figure 37. Include global parameters in your design and use them to tune values during simulation.

shows the Analyses Setup dialog for an example circuit that uses global parameters, where you can quickly adjust values between simulation runs.

X-axis equation support Refer to the articles and tutorials in the Design Verification > Circuit Simulation section of the Altium Designer Knowledge Center panel for more information on the circuit simulator.

The simulation waveform viewer has also been enhanced. You can now create user-defined equations based on the X-axis, giving you complete flexibility in interpreting your simulation results.

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Learning more about the Bonus Technologies The P-CAD 2006 Bonus Technologies are features of the Altium Designer environment. Information about Altium Designer and the Bonus Technologies is available in the Knowledge Center panel use the Knowledge Center command in the Help menu to display it.

Figure 38. Use the Knowledge Center panel to learn more about the Bonus Technologies.

The Knowledge Center panel presents help information while you work. It tracks the command, dialog, object, or panel that is currently under the cursor and loads help about it hover for a second or so for the content to appear, or press F1. If you want to keep the current content that is displayed, click the Autoupdate button to disable auto-loading.

The Knowledge Center is a portal from the concise help summary displayed in the top of the panel there are links to PDF-based reference and applied documents.

The lower section in the panel has a navigation tree, use this to browse through the PDF-based documentation, and open a document of interest.

The Knowledge Center includes a powerful PDF searching feature, available at the bottom of the panel. Pages that include all words in the search string are returned (except common words such as and, or, etc). The search scope is determined by your current location in the navigation structure.

Libraries created in accordance with ISO9001:2000 Standard P-CAD 2006 board-level design libraries have

p-cad 2006 feature highlights.pdf

Documents

pcb layout professionals

pcad specialized design

design flows

design explorer

complete pcb design

altium designer

board layout specialists

highdensity pcb layouts