The Mysterious Case of the Missing Bowties Part I

It was just another Monday at the office. I had released a design I had been working on for four…

PCB DFM Constraints with Valor NPI

Advanced DFM Constraints management in ADM (Analysis Definition Manager)- Valor NPI 2211

The Analysis Definition Manager (ADM), introduced in Valor NPI 10.0, is a constraints management tool for creating and maintaining sets of Design for Manufacturing DFM rules to be used during the analysis in Valor NPI.

PCB assembly machine

What is the PCB Design Process?

The PCB design process can be different depending on your company, but the fundamental aspects are all the same –…

PCB manufacturing capabilities

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…

What's new with Valor NPI DFM software release 11.5

What’s new in Valor NPI v11.5

Valor NPI 11.5 continues to introduce new and existing capabilities in MRA-Revolution, with a more complete Classification set which includes design preparations and analysis use of copper reference layers. Comparing an ODB++ to fabricator changes becomes easy and precise with the new CAM Compare flow and the first connection to stackup setup is established with Z-Planner integration.

IC PCB DFT image

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.

Automated PCB assembly process

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.

Valor Part Library PCB footprint

Valor Parts Library: What You Need to Know

Validating the PCB footprint with a comprehensive component library Are you familiar with the Valor Parts Library? Whether you are…

custom scripting for Valor NPI

Creating Custom Automation in Valor NPI Using Scripting Languages

The most modern language supported and delivered with Valor NPI is Python. If Perl is your language of choice then an additional module needs to be acquired through Active State. When all else fails there is the legacy C-Shell that is also included with Valor NPI.