ASTER Technologies strengthens Siemens digital thread for optimized PCB manufacturability

ASTER Technologies strengthens Siemens digital thread for optimized PCB manufacturability

Siemens EDA is pleased to announce its acquisition of ASTER Technologies, a trusted name within the PCB design industry with more than...
What’s new in Z-planner Enterprise 2510

What’s new in Z-planner Enterprise 2510

The Z-planner Enterprise 2510 release of Z-planner continues to refine the product by focusing on simulation accuracy, overall ease of use and collaboration.
What’s new in Valor NPI 2510

What’s new in Valor NPI 2510

The Valor NPI 2510 release brings additional checks, better manufacturing awareness and  exciting visual enhancements that show a significant evolution of the product offering.
What’s new in Z-planner Enterprise 2504

What’s new in Z-planner Enterprise 2504

Z-planner Enterprise 2504 release The latest 2504 release of Z-planner Enterprise delivers powerful updates that streamline stackup planning, improve rigid-flex...
What’s new in Valor NPI 2504

What’s new in Valor NPI 2504

The latest Valor NPI 2504 release delivers powerful enhancements that make your Design for Manufacturing (DFM) analysis faster, more intelligent,...
Avoid overspending on stackup materials in your PCBs – 8 high speed materials to consider

Avoid overspending on stackup materials in your PCBs – 8 high speed materials to consider

PCB material discussions are often focused around stackup material selection. These tend to be framed by questions like: ‘We use material ‘x’ for our designs and really like it. What do you think of it?’ This often veils the real question which is: ‘Do you know a good alternative to it?’
Progressive verification: A 3-step approach to post-layout signal integrity analysis

Progressive verification: A 3-step approach to post-layout signal integrity analysis

Progressive verification prioritizes analysis based on their ease of completion. It focuses on getting the simple stuff out of the way as quickly as possible, tackling those big problems that can be identified quickly first and then sifting through progressively finer and more granular issues for better signal integrity.
What’s new in Z-planner Enterprise 2409 – stackup design wizard, impedance, compare stackups, DFSI

What’s new in Z-planner Enterprise 2409 – stackup design wizard, impedance, compare stackups, DFSI

What's new in version 2024.1 of Z-planner Enterprise including information on the enhanced stackup design wizard, impedance tab, compare stackups, improved import/export, DFSI and more
Component Assembly Risk Assessment tool in Valor NPI 2403

Component Assembly Risk Assessment tool in Valor NPI 2403

With a Manufacturing Driven Design, Valor NPI brings specialized component assembly knowledge into and throughout the entire NPI lifecycle. This allows designers and NPI engineers to have immediate and direct access to the knowledge of their specialists throughout the design flow, allowing individual and intelligent DFM reviews to happen at any all points of the process.
Strengthening PCB Solder Connections

Strengthening PCB Solder Connections

To increasing the overall solder strength within a PCB design, designers should be focusing on two distinct but related factors: The material composition of the solder, and the pad and footprint layouts for individual components. The composition of the solder itself will depend upon the application of the board, the components, construction method and materials within the board, and the overall final board quality. The overall footprint of the component will be dependent upon the components within a BOM and the recommended assembly guidelines of your assemblers. Both of these factors rely on discussions and interactions with your assembly house and leaving these discussions until after the design has been released ultimately limits your assembly options.
Manufacturing Driven Design leverages the intelligence within your PCB Design

Manufacturing Driven Design leverages the intelligence within your PCB Design

Intelligent Process-Driven DFM Analysis for PCB Designers Recent component shortages and distribution disruptions have exposed both the fragility of global...
Rigid-Flex Material Considerations

Rigid-Flex Material Considerations

Flex and rigid-flex designs refer to a PCB that is partially or entirely constructed using flexible rather than exclusively rigid...
6 material properties that can save you money when designing your PCB stackup

6 material properties that can save you money when designing your PCB stackup

Introduction Stackup decisions are critical to every PCB and electronic product, but they don’t always get the attention that they...
Valor NPI at Electronica 2022

Valor NPI at Electronica 2022

Valor NPI is pleased to be showcased at this year’s Electronica show from November 15th-18th in München, Germany. Located in...
Why is Design for Manufacturing important?

Why is Design for Manufacturing important?

Who is PCB DFM for? For those of us that have climbed a mountain to take in the gaze of...
Choosing the right laminate for your PCB design

Choosing the right laminate for your PCB design

A balanced approach to material selection involves understanding and considering more than just electrical parameters. In general, with dielectric materials, every parameter that improves performance comes at a marginal increase in cost. Because of this, ensuring that you don’t overdesign within your materials is quite important.
Proactive Design for Test (DFT) best practices

Proactive Design for Test (DFT) best practices

The process of PCB DFT needs to be considered sooner and more proactively in our PCB design process, incorporated in the schematic phase, not during the layout phase. A designer should determine what nets will be needed to be tested based on their likelihood of failure and position those pins in open, accessible real-estate.
Practical advice on PCB stackup planning

Practical advice on PCB stackup planning

The more technology advances, the more attention we must pay to every aspect of printed circuit board (PCB) design, including...
Test Drive Valor NPI Free for 30 Days

Test Drive Valor NPI Free for 30 Days

This free, online trial will let you learn how moving manufacturing knowledge into the layout process can eliminate potential manufacturing issues early with Valor NPI.
Global aerospace leader seamlessly integrates Valor NPI into an Allegro® workflow

Global aerospace leader seamlessly integrates Valor NPI into an Allegro® workflow

Corporate Goal: reduce re-designs and increase product quality A few years ago corporate management at a global aerospace leader examined...
What is New Product Introduction (NPI) and How Does it Apply to PCBs?

What is New Product Introduction (NPI) and How Does it Apply to PCBs?

The pace of PCB new product introductions has increased exponentially over the past few years – and with it the need for a proper NPI process. It’s not just that PCBs are used in more and more products across numerous industries; it’s also that more PCBs are needed in those products. For example, consider how many PCBs are used in even the lowest-end cars today versus how many were used years ago. As new-model cars become increasingly connected to online services, the need for PCBs will continue to grow.
PCB Stackup Design e-book

PCB Stackup Design e-book

While not the final word on the subject of stackups, Bill’s e-book goes a long way to helping you plan ahead, providing an important voice in a space that is surprisingly lacking in content. I would also recommend exploring Z-planner Enterprise, a stackup tool that Bill has spent years developing. Now all you need is a sharp pencil.
What is Design for Manufacturing?

What is Design for Manufacturing?

PCB Design for Manufacturing DFM looks at all factors that may impact the manufacturability of a PCB design, such as assembly, fabrication, flex/rigid-flex, microvia, panel and substrate. It should also consider whether SMT component placement and soldering can be conducted automatically to reduce costs. DFM can involve general manufacturing specifications and/or the specifications of a specific manufacturer.