What is the Best PCB Layout software ? (Money no object)

Hi,

There have been quite a few discussion regarding cheap PCB/Schematic layout packages recently. What package(s) are considered the best if money is no object ? What features does this/these package(s) have that are not available in the cheaper PCB/Schematic packages ?

What packages are used to do the layout of these new generation ultra compact cell phones and other high volume consumer products ?

Regards Anton Erasmus

Reply to
Anton Erasmus
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"Anton Erasmus" schreef in bericht news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

I have experienced very expensive en powerfull packages like ORCAD en ULTIBOARD. But eagle is a cheap one

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and can make wonders.

Reply to
vinger

I don't know about phones but I know people like Wind River use PowerPCB & Blaze Router from Mentor.

I suspect the major difference would be rules base routing. i.e. it's possible to say these 2 traces have to run next to each other, have to have a certain clearance, have to have a certain time delay, have to have a certain impedance. etc

Also more than 4 layer routing, split or mixed plane, and other things like design for test and design for manufacturing.

Spectra is also a very big name in autorouting.

A decent spec on these systems is generally in the tens of thousands of dollars.

Reply to
Paul

One thing it can't do (without screwing up the DRC) is holes in a PAD. I am using a small regulator that requires heat spreaders on the top and bottom of the board connected by vias directly under the thermal pad on the bottom of the package. I know this is not normal, but TI recommends it. I was never able to get rid of the DRC errors this produced.

Reply to
Ralph Malph

If this is the package I remember, you can make the thermal pad a small pad with THERMAL=OFF inside a rectangle on the top layer. A pain, but no DRC complaints.

Reply to
Ian McBride

I am not trying to make a thermal. I am trying to make a fairly large rectangular pad with six holes (vias) in it. The entire rectangle needs to have the solder mask removed from it. I guess I could have split the pad up into six equal, rectangular areas as pads. But they should be touching and I don't think I can get this past the DRC either unless I allow everything to touch. I believe I have object spacing set for 10 mil at the moment.

Or could I use a polygon to open up an area in the solder mask? I did not try much in that area.

Reply to
Ralph Malph

By George! That did it! I can draw a rectangle on the tStop layer to open up some copper around the six pads. I already found somewhere that you can put the same name on multiple pads by adding a $ or # or something similar to the name. So I could use six pads inside a solder mask rectangle to add these to the part.

However, there are still four more vias that are outside this pad area that need a surface plane which is under solder mask. I believe adding a rectangle to the copper layer of a part causes problems because it does not have the signal name. Or maybe a rectangle does not need a name? But will that cause other problems such as a copper pour leaving a gap around it?

The part according to TI should be like this...

+---------------------+ | +-----------+ | | O | o o o | O | | | | | | | | | | O | o o o | O | | +-----------+ | +---------------------+

The inner rectangle has no solder mask and six 0.013" vias. The outer rectangle has solder mask and 0.018" vias. I don't see how to do the outer ones.

Reply to
Ralph Malph

Ralph Malph schrieb:

Sorry, I really can't see your problem here.

EAGLE does not support extended pad shapes in packages without DRC complaints, but you can draw about anything directly in your board (most often using polygons makes sense) with perfect match of specifications and DRC. However, you can include non-copper objects (like stop mask) in the package definition.

I have written about this several times in eagle.support.eng, I thought you had noticed that.

--
Dipl.-Ing. Tilmann Reh
Autometer GmbH Siegen - Elektronik nach Maß.
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Reply to
Tilmann Reh

Ralph,

try to use polygones. Don't forget to give it/them the right signal name. If the signal name (e.g. GND) is the same for different polygones or Vias, Eagle will connect them together ( or tries it). I hope it helps you....

...kay

"Ralph Malph" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news: snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com...

PAD.

and

on

recommends

small pad

DRC

Reply to
Kay Schubert

I think it is up to what does start with? I'm used PowerPCB. :)

Reply to
tVhead80

But you don't say anything about the pads or vias that are needed to connect to the other side of the board. I guess I could use a stop mask rectangle in the package to allow the heat transfer pad on the part to be soldered to the board. But then all the rest of this area has to be hand drawn, the copper pour on both layers and the 10 vias with two different hole sizes.

The fact that I can't put this in the package in the library is my complaint. It is silly to have to manually add these features each time you use the part.

Reply to
Ralph Malph

I *am* using polygons. The problem is with the vias that need to be added. I have to do this manually on the board rather than once in the package.

Kay Schubert wrote:

Reply to
Ralph Malph

Ralph Malph schrieb:

Agreed, this topic is already on our wishlist.

But currently, the described method is the only one that is DRC-clean, and normally there are not too many of those packages on each board.

--
Dipl.-Ing. Tilmann Reh
Autometer GmbH Siegen - Elektronik nach Maß.
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Reply to
Tilmann Reh

In my opinion, it's clearly EAGLES PCB Design software. You can try out the free trial first. The support and tutorials are awesome, too!

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Reply to
manu28101992

The best is Altium.

No limits, no funny libraries, not just a hobby tool.

Reply to
hamilton

If you are a full-time PCB designer, and not a circuit designer, then Altium may be a good choice. If PCB design is something you do occasionally, then stay away, it's far too complicated and you need to re-learn everything you've forgotten every time you use it.

Cheers

--
Syd
Reply to
Syd Rumpo

Unfortunately that appears to be available just for for a hobby OS.

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Grant Edwards               grant.b.edwards        Yow! I'm thinking about 
                                  at               DIGITAL READ-OUT systems 
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Reply to
Grant Edwards

My biggest issue with Eagle is that I have a terrible time getting other people's schematics to print out properly on a B/W laser printer. The colored lines and text look like crap and are nearly illegible on an 8.5x11" printout. (This may be a user-education fault on my part.) I often run into this problem when printing out schematics for the boards from Olimex.

I use PADS Logic, Layout, and Router from Mentor Graphics. The original package was about $4K for the basic setup. You can add some features for extra bucks. It only autoroutes two layerss at the level I have, but that's fine since I don't do boards with more than 4 layers--two of which are usually ground and power planes.

The printouts look good too. The colored stuff gets converted to B/W in a way that keeps things legible.

Mark Borgerson

Reply to
Mark Borgerson

I've got no comments about the quality of the software or its suitability for the job, but if you are happy spending $4K on the software then surely you also have the budget for an A3 colour printer?

Reply to
David Brown

You can force monochrome (check "black" in print dialog for better monochrome readability. Alternatively, get one of these, works great and decent size output: Canon PIXMA iX6520 Inkjet Business Printer $149.95 The paper costs more than the printer !

Hope that helps, Best Regards, Dave

Reply to
Dave Nadler

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