PCB Design:
CADSTAR PCB Design Suite
Developed With The PCB Designer In Mind
The CADSTAR PCB Design Editor offers a powerful editing suite for
your most challenging, complex designs. With everyday tasks made
intuitive and often automated, the tool set within CADSTAR has been
developed with the PCB designer in mind.
Interaction
Whether you're working with the product all of the time or just
occasionally based on project requirements, CADSTAR always feels
like you've never put it down. Throughout both Schematic
and PCB design editors, menu items and options for common functions
have been placed in the same location, ensuring that you have the
tool at hand and know exactly how to use it. Right hand mouse key
functionality is available for all commonly used commands. CADSTAR
is very productive, letting you get your designs through the system
rapidly. The same GUI makes it easier to learn and once you've mastered
CADSTAR Schematic Capture, you'll
find that common functions will be in the same place on PCB.
Placement and Routing
At the heart of CADSTAR's core technology is P.R.Editor
XR, Zuken's Place and Route Editing tool.
For the designer who wishes to place components by hand, advanced interactive
placement tools including component push aside and spring back, and optimum and
legal position indicators, provide the ultimate control over component placement.
For those who wish to use automatic tools CADSTAR's supplied
with a number placement wizardThe Trunking routing solution is
based on intelligent trunk objects, which allow easy high level
design planning, avoiding unnecessary loops. It addresses issues
associated with handling different routes, busses, or differential
pairs collectively as one entity, enabling users to quickly sketch
routes facilitating fast up-front planning and manipulation of
a collection of signals as a group. All interconnects can be concurrently
considered when routing at the ends of a trunk using the trunk
end router function, combating design complexity as the board
density increases. It also enables painless non-destructive design
modifications and obeys constraints like Length, Skew and Delay.
During routing it allows users to change signal order within the
trunk to ensure successful connectivity at any stage. s, allowing
you to place components around the board outline or place components
in rows/columns or radially with user-defined criteria. Full automatic
placement is also included.
For routing your design P.R.Editor offers complete
control over the whole routing process, automatically or interactively.
The latest grid-free, spacial data-structure technology and rules-driven
architecture, coupled with ease-of-use, makes CADSTAR a serious
productivity tool for design engineers. Even the most complex, tightest
designs are achievable in the shortest possible time. Using the
latest true 45 degree routing algorithm, Activ-45 is a single click,
error free 45 degree auto completing interactive routing tool that
is setting new standards in interactive routing.
Trunking
Design Re-Use
CADSTAR Design Re-Use allows designers to re-use proven and tested circuits
from an earlier design in a new design. This means the components within the
proven designs, which already meet EMC and SI guidelines, do not need
to be placed and re-routed on new design, therefore cutting the amount of
design time required. In addition, Design Re-Use also allows d Design
work to be split amongst different designers. For example, whilst one person
is working on the digital part of the design, another can be working
on other parts of the design.
Typical examples
where design re-use is suitable include:
- Power supplies
- RF Designs
- Multichannel
designs (I/O, drivers etc)
- Via Fan-Out
and decoupling structure on BGA designs
Analog Design
With advanced copper filling, split, partial and full copper power
planes possible, analog design is made easy where precise control
is required. These advanced features are incorporated into standard
tools, which also include curved and mitered copper, cut-outs, hatching
with flexible angles and non-uniform spacing. Teardrops which are
user-defined in size can be placed on tracks, vias and pads, moving
and rotating dynamically to maintain intelligent drops of copper.
Curved tracks and automatic track fattening complete the professional
analogue capabilities. CADSTAR is not limited to just one design
type. It works well in all design worlds.
Manufacturing
CADSTAR supports manufacturing output formats for Gerber, extended
Gerber RS274X, ODB++, IPC-D-356, all included at no additional
cost. For NC drilling, Excellon, Chinonburg and Sieb & Meyer outputs
can be created using a user definable set-up file.
For
penplots, check plots and laser prints, CADSTAR supports Windows
device drivers,
intelligent file formats as PDF (requires PDF writer to be installed)
- all delivered through a graphical post processing
option and the ability for 'one touch' Post processing using
the Batch Post Process option. The DXF format can be output using
the post design processor and the DXF design I/O facility.
For
assembly machine drivers and detail lists, a unique report generator
facility is provided allowing you to customize reports and outputs
using simple everyday language. No programming skills are required.
With
links to industry standards built in, CADSTAR lets you design at
a great advantage.
Further Information
