Evaluation of EDA tools for electronic development and a ...694377/FULLTEXT01.pdfCREATING COMPONENT...

Department of Science and Technology Institutionen för teknik och naturvetenskap Linköping University Linköpings universitet

gnipökrroN 47 106 nedewS ,gnipökrroN 47 106-ES

LiU-ITN-TEK-A--13/071--SE

Evaluation of EDA tools forelectronic development and a

study of PLM for futuredevelopment businesses

Dennis Tang

2013-12-17

LiU-ITN-TEK-A--13/071--SE

Evaluation of EDA tools forelectronic development and a

study of PLM for futuredevelopment businesses

Examensarbete utfört i Elektronikdesignvid Tekniska högskolan vid

Linköpings universitet

Dennis Tang

Handledare Patrik HussExaminator Magnus Karlsson

Norrköping 2013-12-17

Upphovsrätt

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© Dennis Tang

Sida 2

9

EVALUATION OF EDA

TOOLS FOR ELECTRONIC

DEVELOPMENT AND A

STUDY OF PLM FOR

FUTURE DEVELOPMENT

BUSINESSES

AUTHOR: Dennis Tang

EXAMINER: Magnus Karlsson

Department of Science and Technology, ITN

Linköping University

SUPERVISOR: Patrik Huss

Department of Science and Technology, ITN

Linköping University

SUPERVISOR: Olov Häggbom

Development Engineer

Rimaster Development AB

ISRN: LiU ITN TEK A 13/071 SE

2013

A MASTER OF SCIENCE THESIS IN

ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING

ABSTRACT

Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools are today very capable computer programs supporting electronic

engineers with the design of printed circuit board (PCB). All tools have their strengths and weaknesses; when

choosing the right tool many factors needs to be taken into consideration aside from the tools themselves.

Companies need to focus on the product and revenues for a business to be viable. Depending on the

knowledge and strengths of the company, the choice of tools varies. The decision should be based on the

efficiency of the tools and the functions necessity for the company rather than the price tags. The quality and

availability of support for the tools, training costs, how long will it take to put the tool in operation and present

or future collaboration partners is equally important factors when deciding the right tool. The absence of

experience and knowledge of the current tool within a company is a factor which could affect important

operation; therefore it is important to provide training and education on how to use the tool to increase its

efficiency. Providing training and education can be a large expense, but avoids changes within and makes the

business competitive. The choice of EDA tool should be based on the employed engineer’s current knowledge

and experience of the preferred tool. If the employed engineer’s knowledge and experience varies too much, it

might be preferable to make a transition to one of the tool by training and education.

Product lifecycle management (PLM) is a data management system and business activity management system

which focuses on the lifecycle of a product. To manage the lifecycle of a product it is necessary to split the

lifecycle into stages and phases for a more manageable and transparent workflow. By overseeing a product’s entire lifecycle there are benefits which affects many areas. PLM greatest benefits for EDA are collaboration

across separate groups and companies by working together through a PLM platform, companies can forge

strong design chains that combine their best capabilities to deliver the product to the customers.

This report is a study on evaluating which EDA suits the company with consideration of the employed

eﾐgiﾐeer’s deﾏaﾐds, requests and competence. The interests in PLM made the company suggest a short theory

study on PLM and EDA benefits.

CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................ 1

1.1. THESIS BACKGROUND ......................................................................................................................................... 1

1.2. OBJECTIVES ..................................................................................................................................................... 2

1.3. DELIMITATIONS ................................................................................................................................................ 2

1.4. READER’S GUIDE ............................................................................................................................................... 3

2. THEORY AND TECHNOLOGY ......................................................................................................................... 5

2.1. ELECTRONIC DESIGN AUTOMATION ...................................................................................................................... 5

2.2. SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM ........................................................................................................................................ 7

2.3. PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD LAYOUT ......................................................................................................................... 7

2.4. DESIGN RULES AND DESIGN RULE CHECK ................................................................................................................ 9

2.5. PRODUCT LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT.................................................................................................................... 11

2.6. BENEFITS BY USING PLM WITH EDA ..................................................................................................................... 13

3. METHOD AND IMPLEMENTATION ANALYSIS .............................................................................................. 15

3.1. METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................................................................. 15

3.2. TEST OBJECT - CAN CONTROLLER ........................................................................................................................ 16

3.3. TEST SCENARIOS FOR EDA ................................................................................................................................. 17

3.3.1. TEST OF SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM ................................................................................................................. 18

3.3.2. TEST OF PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD LAYOUT DESIGN ........................................................................................ 19

3.3.3. TEST OF 3D VIEW FEATURE ...................................................................................................................... 20

3.3.4. TEST OF GERBER, BOM AND PDF .............................................................................................................. 20

3.3.5. TEST OF THE IMPORT AND EXPORT FUNCTIONS ............................................................................................ 21

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ......................................................................................................................... 23

4.1. COMPARISON OF SCHEMATICS ........................................................................................................................... 23

4.2. COMPARISON OF LAYOUTS ............................................................................................................................... 25

4.3. COMPARISONS OF 3D VIEW .............................................................................................................................. 27

4.4. COMPARISONS OF GERBER ................................................................................................................................ 27

4.5. IMPORT & EXPORT COMPARISONS ..................................................................................................................... 28

4.6. SUMMARY .................................................................................................................................................... 29

5. CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................................. 31

6. FUTURE WORK AND RESEARCH .................................................................................................................. 33

7. BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................................................... 35

7.1. PUBLISHED REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................... 35

7.2. ONLINE REFERENCES ....................................................................................................................................... 36

7.3. ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................................................................. 37

8. APPENDIX ...................................................................................................................................................... I

A. COMPARISON BETWEEN EDAS ................................................................................................................................ I

B. RESULTS ........................................................................................................................................................... III

ALTIUM ......................................................................................................................................................... III

ORCAD ........................................................................................................................................................ VII

PADS ............................................................................................................................................................ XI

C. TUTORIALS ....................................................................................................................................................... XV

ALTIUM ........................................................................................................................................................ XV

CREATING COMPONENT ................................................................................................................................................... XV

TRANSFER DESIGN OVER TO LAYOUT .................................................................................................................................. XXI

SETUP LAYERS ............................................................................................................................................................. XXII

GENERATING BOM ..................................................................................................................................................... XXIII

ORCAD ...................................................................................................................................................... XXV

CREATING COMPONENT ................................................................................................................................................. XXV

TRANSFER DESIGN OVER TO LAYOUT ................................................................................................................................. XXX

SETUP LAYERS ............................................................................................................................................................ XXXI

GENERATING BOM ................................................................................................................................................... XXXIII

PADS ....................................................................................................................................................... XXXV

CREATING COMPONENT ............................................................................................................................................... XXXV

TRANSFER DESIGN OVER TO LAYOUT .................................................................................................................................. XLII

SETUP LAYERS ............................................................................................................................................................. XLIII

GENERATING BOM ...................................................................................................................................................... XLV

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Schematic symbols. .................................................................................................................................. 7

Figure 2: Multi-layered PCB. ................................................................................................................................... 7

Figure 3: Differences between schematic symbol (A) and PCB footprint (B).......................................................... 8

Figure 4: PLM models. ........................................................................................................................................... 12

Figure 5: Thesis workflow. .................................................................................................................................... 15

Figure 6: CAN Controller. ...................................................................................................................................... 16

Figure 7: Evaluation process. ................................................................................................................................ 17

Figure 8: Test relation. .......................................................................................................................................... 18

Figure 9: Schematic comparison between Altium (A), OrCAD (B) and PADS (C). .................................................. 23

Figure 10: Layout comparison between Altium (A), OrCAD (B) and PADS (C). ..................................................... 25

Figure 11: 3D View comparison between Altium (A), OrCAD (B) and PADS (C). ................................................... 27

Figure 12: Gerber view comparison between Altium (A), OrCAD (B) and PADS (C). ............................................ 27

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Terms differences between schematic and layout ................................................................................... 8

Table 2: The scope of a PLM can be divided into three lifecycle stages with five associated phases .................. 11

Table 3: Areas that benefit from the use of PLM .................................................................................................. 11

Table 4: Schematic test procedures ...................................................................................................................... 18

Table 5: Layout test procedures ............................................................................................................................ 19

Table 6: Schematic diagram tests ......................................................................................................................... 23

Table 7: PCB layout tests ....................................................................................................................................... 25

Table 8: Import & Export of schematic diagram test results ................................................................................ 28

Table 9: Import & Export of PCB layout test results ............................................................................................. 28

CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION

1

1. INTRODUCTION This chapter contains a short presentation about the company and their requirements for this thesis project.

1.1. THESIS BACKGROUND

Rimaster started out as a mechanical workshop in 1982 by Per Carlsson. Later the focus changed and Rimaster

expanded from mechanical products towards assembly of electronics and electrical subsystems. At current

date besides being active in Sweden, they are also active in Poland, Belgium and China. They have also acquired

three companies and made them subsidiary companies. Rimaster Development is one of them.

Rimaster Development has development facilities at two locations, Jönköping and Söderhamn. The facility

which is stationed in Jönköping focuses on electronics developments and test system development, while

Söderhamn focuses on electrical developments and Computer Aided Design (CAD) modeling. The development

team in Jönköping uses Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools to design electronic based systems and

layout for Printed Circuit Board (PCB). Currently the develop department in Jönköping are using two different

EDA programs, OrCAD1 and PADS

2. Recently new software has been introduced to the department, Altium

3

Designer. To own three similar EDA programs is very costly and inefficient. Reducing to only one of the

software would be a more cost effective and productive solution. Söderhamn on the other hand are working

with CAD software called Pro/Engineer. The CAD files are stored in a PTC Pro/INTRALINK server, which is an old

workgroup data management solution that has come to its end of life (EOL). The need to be able to use the

latest CAD software and still control the design process made them look for a new substitute. The new

replacement system, called Windchill4, a Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) system. The key feature in

Windchill is PDMLink which serves as the foundation for a multitude of optional modules such as

Pro/INTRALINK. This implementation will enable Rimaster to use the newest CAD software and at the same

time use existing data in the new platform. The implementation also extends to Electronic Computer Aided

Design (ECAD). Rimaster vision is to offer the customers extended support in lifecycle management of their

products. To realize this vision, Rimaster will start performing changes step by step and eventually spread its

functionality to Rimaster Development and integrate EDAs workflow into PLM. Rimaster Development

requested a study on the subject and a problem description was given as follows.

When working with electronics development, the EDA tools used and possible integration with product

databases are of great significance to the workflow and efficiency. This thesis aims at investigating which tool

fit Rimaster best in combination with examining how the various EDA tool can be integrated with a PLM

system, and to develop a proposal on a work processes that use these tools. The work shall include the

management of schematic and layout as well as controlling the updating and handling of the respective

products. A commercial PLM system is in use, but if time permits an OpenPLM should also be investigated. The

OpenPLM is an open source product lifecycle management tool.

After the preliminary study was conducted, and also due to some reorganization work going on at the company

the thesis project focus was slightly changed along the way. Practical implementation of PLM was excluded in

favor of a more detailed study on EDA. Therefore the supervisor at the company has agreed to exclude PLM

from this thesis and new objective was formed.

1 Cadence OrCAD Solutions 2 PADS PCB Tools - Mentor Graphics 3 Altium - Next Generation Electronics Design

4 PTC - Windchill


2

1.2. OBJECTIVES

Changes within Rimaster made current problem description needed to be modified and new objectives were

established.

Rimaster Development is still in need of finding the right EDA tool to fit the organization. To be able to identify

which of the current tools that would be the most cost effective and productive solution. A study will be

conducted with the engineers to identify the requirement of an EDA tool and focus on what are the most

important features in an EDA tool which suits Rimaster Development? This thesis will investigate in this matter

further. The topic about PLM advantages in terms of how electronic development can evolve to be more

sustainable environmental thinking is still very interesting. There are wishes that this topic could be pursued

further even the PLM system have been excluded from this thesis. To evaluate PLM fully would not be possible

due to the timeframe, but an introduction of PLM will be presented to inspire future studies in the subject.

The new objective can be summarized as:

1. Evaluate the three EDA tools and identify the one most suited for Rimaster Development.

2. Create tests based on eﾐgiﾐeer’s requirements of an EDA tool.

3. Introduce theory for PLM advantages for electronic product development.

If time permits an investigation should be performed to identify if OpenPLM is an acceptable alternative to the

current PLM system.

4. Investigate integration possibilities between OpenPLM and the selected EDA tool. (Optional)

1.3. DELIMITATIONS

There are a lot of different EDA tools available on the market. This thesis does not try to investigate or research

them all since that would not be possible within the timeframe of this thesis. The focus should be mainly on the

three EDA tools currently used by Rimaster. An EDA is very complex tools that have many features. To evaluate

multiple EDAs fully is not reasonable or practical. The study and evaluation of EDA is focused mainly on the EDA

general capability and with respect to Rimasters requirements specification.

Selective tests need to be constructed to achieve the goal for this thesis. These tests should be based on the

engineer’s suggestions which can be found in chapter 3. When it comes to the theory about the EDA and

related subcategories, it is equally vast and has to be selective when presenting the facts in chapter 2.

PLM is a very broad field of study that involves multiple areas in different type of products. Focus is set on

PLMs which involves electronics development and introduce its idea how the development business can

benefit from using lifecycle management. This can be read in section 2.5 and 2.6.


3

1.4. READER’S GUIDE

This thesis is written with an academic level of understanding to the subject at hand. Some fundamental

technical terms might not be explained. Depending on whom the reader is some parts might be needed to read

more carefully than others. The general idea is to write with an academicals level of understanding, but still in a

logical and chronological order so it is easy to follow for the average reader. If some abbreviation is getting too

difficult to decode, use section 7.3. Those who are not familiar with electronic design tools, start with

chapter 2 otherwise skip to directly to chapter 3. If the reader is interested in a background description of

product lifecycle management, read section 2.5.


4

CHAPTER 2 – THEORY AND TECHNOLOGY

5

2. THEORY AND TECHNOLOGY In this chapter we get familiarized with the definition of EDA and basic design rules which are introduced to

give a hint of what a designer should know in order to design more reliable and robust designs. A short

presentation is given about the purpose of PLM and its benefits.

2.1. ELECTRONIC DESIGN AUTOMATION

EDA is a category of tools for designing and services which enables engineers to create electronic products. It is

also used as an umbrella term for CAD, CAM and CAE. Be aware that the terms can be used in different type of

computer aided subjects. Do not mistake their definition to be same as presented in this study.5

Computer Aided Design (CAD)

Any type of design activity, which makes use of a computer in order to develop, analyzes or modifies an

engineering design. Modern CAD systems are based on interactive computer graphics (ICG). ICG helps

designers to create, transform and display data in the form of pictures or symbols.

Schematic entry, PCB layout, Routing and Component management.

Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM)

CAM purpose is to control machinery tools for manufacturing process. The computer can assists in planning,

management, transportation or storage. The purpose is to optimize a production process which will make it

more time efficient, minimize waste and reduce the energy consumption.

Tools which prepare printed circuit board and integrated circuit (IC) design data for manufacturing.

Computer Aided Engineering (CAE)

The definition is widely used for computer software which aid in engineering. This includes software with

capabilities in verification of both design and product.

System level design, verification tool, design entry (textual and graphical), simulation tools, analysis

tools, design for tests equipment, test automation tools and synthesis tools.

5 Computer Aided Design and Manufacturing by Narayan K. Lalit


6

When choosing an EDA that fits a particular business, several questions and issues need to be taken into

consideration.6

Type of business: Global, national or local located design collaborations? Cultural and personal

challenges? Number of people involved?

Type of network capability: Current computer networks performance and the engineering staff

needs? Wide-, metro- or local area network?

Security requirements: Firewall restrictions? Log in restriction based on type of network or

geographical location?

Type of computer systems: What operation system should be used? Server- or local based

workstation? Needs of computer hardware’s and accessories?

Training: EDA tools complexity and understanding of the graphical user interface (GUI) can be of

challenge. Engineer needs training on how to use the EDA tools to increase its efficiency. It is a

learning curve, but the engineer acquires skills with on using the tool.

Compatibility: Many EDA tools and data files are not compatible with each other this can pose some

issues when working with other clients. This can also be an issue every time the tools get upgraded,

how will it affect the backward compatibility with older data files?

Transition: When an EDA is replace or updated, can the competence be transferred to the new- or

updated tool?

Cost: The type of licensing options, training, support, features and more, affects the pricing of the tool.

This covers the basics about EDA, but in consideration for this thesis objective the theory will continues with

presentation about of electronic computer aided design (ECAD). ECAD has the same function as a CAD, but its

core feature focuses on electronics development. This core feature is to work with schematic diagrams and PCB

layout design.

6 Electronic Design Automation (EDA) by Mark D. Brinbaum


7

2.2. SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM

A schematic diagram is a simplified graphical representation of an electrical circuit which symbolizes devices

such as transistors, resistors and capacitors. Some examples are shown in Figure 1. Symbols can vary from

standard to standard and some symbols have changed with time, but most of them are standardized. The

straight lines between symbols correspond to the electrical connection between devices.7

Figure 1: Schematic symbols.

Original schematic diagrams were done by hand up until 80’s with standardized templates or pre-printed

adhesive symbols. Schematic diagrams are often used in electronic- and electrical industries as design

description for equipment’s. The usage area involves maintenance or repair of electronic and

electromechanical systems. With the technology advancement, the development of specialized computer

languages and the complexity of electronic circuits the use of EDA is today more common than traditional

schematics which are getting less practical.8 9

2.3. PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD LAYOUT

Printed circuit boards serves as mechanically supports and electrical connections for electronic components

using conductive tracks and pads. PCB's can be single-sided (one copper layer), double-sided (two copper

layers) or multi-layered. Layers can be mixed with different type of connections while dedicated layers with

one purpose such as signal, power or ground is called plane. Connections between layers are made with plated

through holes called via. The Core and prepreg can be made from varieties of material depend on the design

parameter on the substrate. Its purpose is to give the design a structural integrity for mounting and soldering

components on the PCB. Advanced PCBs may contain components such as capacitors, resistors or active

devices embedded in the substrate. A simple illustration of multi-layered PCB is made in Altium Designer that is

shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Multi-layered PCB.

7 Electronics Club 8 EDA for IC Implementation, Circuit Design, and Process Technology by Scheffer, Lou, Luciano Lavagno, and Grant Martin 9 Computer Aided Design and Manufacturing by Narayan, K. Lalit

Track


8

PCB layout design is transferred interpretation of the schematic diagram. The terms correspondence differently

between layouts compared with schematics which show in Table 1 and Figure 3.

Table 1: Terms differences between schematic and layout

Schematic diagram PCB layout

Symbol Footprint

Pin Pads

Line or Wire Track or Route

Drawing connections Routing

(A) (B)

When working with a PCB design it is necessary to predefine the shape of the board and the number of layers

before placing components footprint into position. First sight when working with PCB design is that all

components have rats nest, it is a definition for components with corresponding connection between pads

which is shown as thin blurred strings. This can be overwhelming at first, but the rats nest clears up when all

connections have been routed.10

11

There are plenty more theories about PCB design, but will have to step into manufacturing processes which is

slightly off-topic. Further information about the ﾏaﾐufaIturiﾐg proIess Iaﾐ He read iﾐさMöﾐsterkort: fråﾐ CAD till kortざ H┞ EsHjörﾐ Johaﾐssoﾐ or iﾐ other books with similar topics.

10 Mönsterkort: från CAD till kort by Esbjörn Johansson 11 Circuit Design, Layout, and Simulation by Jacob Russel Baker

Figure 3: Differences between schematic symbol (A) and PCB footprint (B).


9

2.4. DESIGN RULES AND DESIGN RULE CHECK

When designing a PCB it is crucial to get it right from the start. The PCB is the base of electronic products and

few parts of an electronic design have such an impact on the final product as the PCB. Therefore a designer

should start with setting the criteria’s it should have and start with creating a design rules for its design. PCB

must be designed so that it effectively solves the electrical function with respect to standard requirements,

reliability and manufacturing method. To do these manufacturers and customers need to create thorough

documentations of the design. Hopefully this will leads to more robust and reliable PCB constructions.

There are three types of design rules.12

Electrical Design Rules:

The electrical path properties are crucial depending on its purpose and connection type. Some

are depended on the electrical width and thickness of the path, a logic gate may not drive more

than five other gates or it might give signal integrity problem.

The Physical Rules:

The mechanical limitations are usually the factor here as manufacturing maximum height

requirement, what type of PCB, amount of components, single or double mounted PCB, lead-

free construction.

Rules of Layout versus Schematics:

It is important to verify that schematic net-list corresponds to the physical net-list in the layout

since missing or extra connections can cause major damage to the design. Verify if the

footprint matches the physical component.

Many companies uses standards requirement to give designers a hint to some design rules in how to design

their PCBs. They are not obligated to follow them, but the design rules works as guidelines for their design.

Here are a few of the standards: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)13

, Joint Electron Device

Engineering Council (JEDEC)14

and Institute for Printed Circuits (IPC)15

. Standard requirements are copyrighted

materials which can be acquired by purchasing the documents or by buying the education courses or

certifications services from the standard provider.

12 Electronic Design Automation (EDA) by Mark D. Brinbaum 13 Standard - IEEE 14 Standard - IPC 15 Standard - JEDEC


10

Sometimes design rules get a bit confusing when the theoretical and physical demands get complicated and

intertwined. An example is when using a PCB width calculator which is based on IPC-2221

(formerly IPC-D-275)16

17

18

which helps designer calculate the trace width. The purpose of calculating trace

width is to estimate if the track can handle the amount of currents which passes through the connections. The

theoretical calculation is limited by the manufacturing process. The copper thickness is usually 35 m on

external layers while inner layers are up to 70 m.19

The IPC has a temperature profile chart that it is calculated

based on the current on the copper thickness. The chart calculation is limited to 35 amperes for external layers

and 17.5 amperes for inner layers. The designer needs to evaluate and keeps this in mind specially when

designing high current power distribution PCB boards. This is a typical power distribution and thermal balance

rule and there are similar problems in designing timing and signal integrity critical parts.

Design rules can be very difficult to grasp, but with experience and practice the designer will build up a

knowledge base which will teach them useful rules to implement into the design. Design rules are in the end

good guidelines to follow.

16 The CircuitCalculator.com Blog 17 HWB – PCB trace 18 ANSI PCB Trace Width Calculator 19 Mönsterkort: från CAD till kort by Esbjörn Johansson


11

2.5. PRODUCT LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT

Product lifecycle management (PLM) has its roots in mechanical design, where engineers needed to keep track

of design files generated by the design systems. Product data management (PDM) capabilities allowed them to

store files, control revision levels, and see relationships between parts and assemblies. The scope of

information has been expanding and shared to include not only CAD files but also analysis results, test

specifications, quality standards, engineering requirements, change orders, bill of materials lists, manufacturing

procedures and so forth. This is the beginning of PLM. In the beginning of the internet which emerged in the

90’s, new capabilities were available that eased the process of collaboration in a greater scale. PLM solutions

took advantage of the new technology and rapidly developed as an enterprise platform that enabled

collaboration throughout every stage of the product lifecycle. All associated data design files, gives all

engineers, regardless of geographical location, a unified view of the information so that everyone is working

with the same versions of files and accurate up to date data.

PLM is a data management and business activity management system which focuses on the lifecycle of a

product; from the product very first idea all the way to the time of disposal. The objective of PLM is to increase

product revenues, reduce related costs and maximize the value of the product. PLM can be broken down into

three stages, Beginning of Life (BOL), Middle of Life (MOL) and End of Life (EOL). In BOL can be associated with

imagine-, define- and realize phase. In MOL focuses the product use, maintenance and support. In EOL is about

retiring, disposal and recycling of the product. This is illustrated in Table 2.

Table 2: The scope of a PLM can be divided into three lifecycle stages with five associated phases

Beginning of Life Middle of Life End of Life

Imagine/Define/Realize Use/Maintain/Support Retire/Dispose/Recycle

This is the importance of a PLM to focus on the product and gets it under control across its entire lifecycle.

Controlling a product throughout the product lifecycle has its benefits and has a wide spread impact in

different areas. Table 3 lists a few examples of these benefits.

Table 3: Areas that benefit from the use of PLM

Area Benefits

Financial -Increased revenue.

-Increased potential sales opportunities

-Reduced product development costs.

-Improved forecasting to reduce material costs.

Time -Early market introduction.

-Reduced project overtime.

-Reduced engineering change time.

-Time assessment.

Quality -Improved quality and reliability of the product.

-Reduced manufacturing process defects.

-Reduced number of returns.

-Reduced amount of customer complaints.

Business -Increased innovation rate.

-Increased reuse factor.

-Re-use of original data.

-Increased product traceability.

-Reduced waste.

-Maximized supply chain collaboration


12

Basic lifecycle management is to see a product from cradle to grave concept. With time the models evolves and

get more suited to different type processes. The model can go even further by using a method called work

breakdown structure (WBS) to analyze each segment closer. There are many ways to display a PLM model

depending on its purpose and type of product. In Figure 4 shows a few adaptations on how to illustrate PLM

models.20

21

Figure 4: PLM models.

This covers the basics of PLM, its purpose and benefits. More about the subject can be read in recommended

litterateur in section 7.1.

20 Product Lifecycle Management: 21st Century Paradigm for Product Realisation by John Stark 21 Product Lifecycle Management by Antti Saaksvuori and Anselmi Immonen

Requirements,

Analysis and Planning

Concept,

Prototyping and Manufacturing

Sales, Use and

Support

Disposal,

Recycling and Feedback


13

2.6. BENEFITS BY USING PLM WITH EDA

The greatest benefits of utilizing PLM in EDA processes are; information management, software management

and collaboration across separate groups and companies throughout the process of the products lifecycle. By

working together through a PLM platform, companies can create a better overview and transparency of all

projects to forge stronger design chains that combine their best capabilities to deliver the product to the

customers.

The advantage for manager is to get a quick summary of the progress, what phase they are in and how they are

executing according to plan. By using WBS even more detailed overview can be achieved. Design activities are

shown on the schedule and create better visibility into designs process and their status can be instantly

accessed. This enhances team productivity by enabling teams to share ideas, bug reports, engineering change

information, and so on. Managers can instantly see the status of the entire design and fully understand any

questions, issues, bottlenecks, and status as well as track critical items from current location.

Built-in queries show the "who, what, when and why" for each change in the design. Automatic triggers

facilitate communication and process flow to alert appropriate team members of events such as schedule

changes, late changes to requirements or specifications, or that the data is ready for the next phase of design.

Dialogue between engineers to resolve design issues or determine the design intent is captured and retained to

document design history. This enables the reuse of processes and faster resolution of design issues in the

future.

Management solutions for bill of materials (BOM) development processes established design rules and physical

design. This solution aids production engineers and operations personnel in organizing, compiling and

managing the BOM and BOM variants. Automated links directly to the design files ensure that changes in the

development cycle are fully reflected. Engineering and manufacturing can now collaborate throughout the

entire lifecycle.22

23

24

22 Product Lifecycle Management: 21st Century Paradigm for Product Realisation by John Stark 23 Product Lifecycle Management by Antti Saaksvuori and Anselmi Immonen 24 Product lifecycle management: Driving the next generation of lean thinking by Michael Grieves


14

CHAPTER 3 – METHOD AND IMPLEMENTATION ANALYSIS

15

3. METHOD AND IMPLEMENTATION ANALYSIS This chapter describes the approach of this thesis on solving objective one and two from section 1.2. It also

describes the used method and implementation strategy.

3.1. METHODOLOGY

To be able to understand and solve the problem, the opinions of the engineers have to been taken into

consideration. The feedback about the requirements and expectations of EDA tool will be important research

material when drawing any conclusions. Summery from the conversations revealed a few common elements

which involve the process of creating schematic diagrams and printed circuit board layout. It should also be

easy to generate necessary data such as GERBER files, bill of materials (BOM) and portable document format

(PDF) for manufacturing and documentation. To get started with the tool should be simple and give a user-

friendly experience. After listening and evaluating the responses from the engineers, a general work flow is

created to help with the evaluation process, which is presented in Figure 5. The first step is to investigate how

to create tests which reflects the requirements and expectations of the engineers.

Figure 5: Thesis workflow.

To evaluate three different tools with similar features, some commonality is needed (i.e. criteria for the

evaluation). Therefore a reference project is a suitable approach for solving the problem.25

The procedure was

as follows; a suitable test schematic diagram and PCB layout was design into all three tools and the result was

analyzed and compared. From the process an understanding of the tools strengths and weaknesses will be

given, which will help when trying to make a final conclusion.

Rimaster was able to provide a suitable project, a CAN controller design. The detail about the project is

presented in detail in section 3.2 and more details about the tests are presented in section 3.3 with the

implementation descriptions. From the implementation of the tests, results is retained and analyzed. The

results are gathered and presented in appendix B and is used in the comparison in chapter 4. By using the

tutorials in appendix C, the results can be duplicated. To arrive at a conclusion the results will be analyzed and

discussed in chapter 4.

25 alitet Alla ed H┞ o ergﾏaﾐ aﾐd eﾐgt lefsjö

Create tests Implementation Results Conclusion


16

3.2. TEST OBJECT - CAN CONTROLLER

A Controller Area Network (CAN) controller was suggested and given by Rimaster as test object because of its

simple design and being suitable for an EDA tool evaluation. The CAN controller is designed and manufactured

by Rimaster which is shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6: CAN Controller.

The CAN controller is a small part of a larger test and verification equipment that is designed and assembled by

Rimaster. Its purpose is to transfer data between programmable switching boards to test input/output (I/O) in

order to verify their manufactured products. The test equipment has 616 test channels that are divided

between 28 relay boards (22 channels/relay board). To hold all relay board, two distribution boards are need

with 30 CAN controller card docked to it. All the communication is then going through two backplane boards

with 15 (96-pins) connectors. Backplane and distribution boards are interconnected. Everything is controlled

and programmed through LabView26

is a visual programming language program.

The first solution of digital I/O was purchased USB board. For unknown reason the system became very slow

and a new solution were needed. The company has previous knowledge and experience in different type of

communication, CAN, which was a possible solution to the problem. A prototype of the CAN board was

designed and manufactured. The CAN controller performed as expected and the system show no sign of

problems. The CAN solution went to production and replaced all existing USB board.

The CAN controller consists of a PIC18F4580-I/PT processor, high speed CAN transceiver for CAN

communication, a crystal to generate the clock frequency, an Ethernet port, 6-pin Micro-MaTch connector for

serial communication and a 34-pin connector with 2.54 mm spacing as a docking connector. The PCB consists

of four layers with three signal layers and one ground plane.

26 National instruments – LabVIEW


17

3.3. TEST SCENARIOS FOR EDA

Earlier in section 3.1 the requirements and requests from the design engineers concerning the EDA tools were

briefly discussed. Those factors will be the product for the tests and the results are compared in

chapter 4. Figure 7 is an illustration of the process which was chosen for the evaluation procedure of the EDA.

This process was created by taking these similar programs into consideration. All three programs have to be

tested accordingly to obtain comparable results, but the original design of the CAN controller was already

made in OrCAD and the materials was sufficient and satisfactory therefore it will be OrCAD generated results

for evaluation. The design for the CAN controller was already designed and would be preferable to reuse the

design for evaluation of Altium and PADS.

Figure 7: Evaluation process.

Customers often approach development businesses for support with design or improvements of existing

products. It is not uncommon that the designs are made using different design tools. This could be a challenge

due to compatibility issues between the EDA tools. A solution would be to outsource this responsibility to a

third-party that is specialized in conversion. Otherwise it is more time saving and economical to be able

converts it directly in existing tool to test the software’s import and export options. Also an in-house solution

gives more control over design data and the different versions.


18

Before describing the actual tests, let’s clarify the relationship of the products in question. The schematic

diagram and PCB layout is the core feature of any ECAD. Generating BOMs is a feature of schematic diagram

and GERBER is exported image files for manufacturing, i.e., part of the PCB layout. PDF will help the user to

generate a widely used file format for documentation. A visual presentation of test relation is shown

in Figure 8.

Figure 8: Test relation.

When working with schematic diagram and PCB layout there are many complex procedure involved. By using a

method called work breakdown structure (WBS), further detail can be revealed and will be presented in section

3.3.1 and 3.3.2.

3.3.1. TEST OF SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM

When duplicating the original schematic diagram there are common procedures which are shown in Table 4.

During the work process there might be some special component which does not exist in the current libraries.

This component needs to be created and then placed in a new or existing library to store the newly created

component. Before starting with creating the schematic diagram it is important to setup custom design rules

for the project. Designing schematic diagrams is basically to add component and draw connections. A good

practice is to design rule check from time to time to make sure that no design violations exist, i.e., to avoid

future complication. When the schematic diagram is finished the design needs to be transferred to the PCB

layout design and documents need to be generated for documentation.

Table 4: Schematic test procedures

Implementation steps of Schematic Diagram

Create parts: Schematic symbols

Library management

Edit design rules

Draw schematic diagram

Transfer design to layout

Generate support documents (BOM, PDF)

When creating schematic symbol for the processor, it can either be created manually, already existing in

current library, library update through EDA provider or downloaded from manufacturer. Differences might

occur depends on which option was chosen for the processor symbol. The pin-out can differentiate which

affects the placement of other symbols and may affect the connections as well. The schematic diagrams

duplication still should look familiar despite these changes. When the schematic diagram is finished, BOM file

and necessary documents is generated for complete project documentation.

EDA tests

Schematic Diagram

BOM

PDF

PCB Layout

PDF

GERBER


19

3.3.2. TEST OF PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD LAYOUT DESIGN

When converting a schematic diagram into a PCB design it is important to check if the schematic symbols has

correct or missing footprint. If there are any abnormalities, investigate and double check the design. Update or

create a new footprint for the component if abnormalities are detected. Save the changes into a library to

update the properties of the component. Once more the engineers need to verify that the design rules are

correct before continuing. There are a few new steps in the layout process compares to schematic diagram.

The designer needs to specify how many layers the board should have and its size. This is the challenge for

every designer. Depending on the complexity of a design the designer needs to convert the two dimensional

(2D) schematic diagram to a three dimensional (3D) interpretation of the design. This is where the three main

design rules need to be kept in mind. Any change on either schematic or layout needs to be updated to retain

consistency of the design. When the PCB design is finished, the GERBER file and the 3D model are generated

for comparison process and necessary files for project documentation. The order of the procedure is illustrated

in Table 5.

Table 5: Layout test procedures

Implementation steps of PCB Layout Design

Receive design transfer from schematic diagram

Create parts: layout footprint

Library management

Edit design rules

Setup layers

Create board and place parts

Route

Update and transfer

Generate support documents (GERBER, 3D Model, PDF)

The design from OrCAD will be duplicated into another EDA which will make the design more consistent and

comparable. The original design used three signal layers and one ground plane which makes routing simpler

but deviates from the common four metal-layer PCB design rules. A multi-layer design should have at least one

ground and one power plane in the inner layers. The current design deviates from that rule. It is not too

difficult to change and should not pose any problem to have Altium and PADS in a different design layout. It is

preferable to follow the design rules. The next design should have two signal layers, one power and one ground

plane. Components are placed similar to the original design while routing is affected by the layer change.


20

3.3.3. TEST OF 3D VIEW FEATURE

During the PCB layout design process there is an option to view the component and PCB as 3D model. It gives

engineers a glimpse of the design’s physical appearance and by using Mechanical-CAD file the PCB can be

integrated into a virtual product for evaluation.

The test is based on EDA’s ability to present the 3D PCB model. A 3D view of the PCB is generated for

evaluation. The purpose is to evaluate the details and its presentation.

3.3.4. TEST OF GERBER, BOM AND PDF

To evaluate the GERBER files from the EDAs. A third-party software will be used, GC-Prevue27

from GraphiCode

which is a free to use GERBER data viewer. This will simulate the EDAs presentation given to the manufacturer.

The file format contains PCB images for copper layers, solder masks, drill holes and silk screens which uses as

standard image file format for PCB manufacturing industries.

A BOM is a list of components and its quantities for manufacturing the product. A BOM may be used for

communication between manufacturing partners or component engineer who will produce components for

the design.

Implementation:

Import the GERBER into the GC-Prevue, analyzed and compare the results from the different EDAs.

BOM is generated into three different formats: HTML, TEXT and Excel file for evaluation.

Save the schematic and layout design as PDF.

27 GraphiCode – GC-Prevue


21

3.3.5. TEST OF THE IMPORT AND EXPORT FUNCTIONS

The advantages of importing and exporting files to a third-party or software are flexibility and expansion

alternatives when working with different companies. This could also benefit an organization restructuring

development. The company might experience changes and wants to make a software transition. Old projects

need to be transferred to the new software structure.

ﾏport aﾐd e┝port of files iﾐto other software’s Iaﾐ He a Ihalleﾐge. Differeﾐt Ioﾏpaﾐies ha e differeﾐt parameters to store information and how whether the companies want to share this code is uncertain. When

reading the files, partial information might be lost, interpreted wrong or the action might not execute at all due

to incompatibly.

One way to test import and export feature is to export a schematic diagram and PCB layout from one of the

EDA and import the information into the other two EDAs. Same procedure is done from each EDA. The results

are noted in section 4.5.


22

CHAPTER 4 – RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

23

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION In this chapter comparisons are made between the test results. The results will be evaluated and discussed.

The figures used in comparisons only show parts of the original figure. The full size figures can be found in

appendix B. Appendix C contains tutorials which can help the reader reproduce the results which are presented

in this chapter.

4.1. COMPARISON OF SCHEMATICS

The final results from the schematic tests are very similar with apart from some minor visual differences which

can be seen in Figure 9. The main difference is perhaps not related to the visual appearance of the schematic,

but rather on the functionality of the program. Visual aspects are also a subjective matter hard to judge

subjectively. However, clear and work effective visuals are an important aspect.

(A) (B) (C)

Figure 9: Schematic comparison between Altium (A), OrCAD (B) and PADS (C).

All three programs in Figure 9 show similar traits with some differences. First impression from their user

interfaces feel very fresh and up to date in Altium while OrCAD and PADS look a little bit out of date. All three

programs have very different approach on how to operate and show varying degrees of intuitively, that are

more or less easy to use. Most difficult is when the user needs to right click on different objects or areas to find

the right type of submenus for correct actions. It is seen that proper training and time working in the

environment will eliminate initial orientation problems in all programs.

Table 6 shows the test which has been performed during creation of the schematic diagrams. Schematic editing

is usually not too complicated to operate. If the user spends enough time and effort in parts creation and is

thorough with the parts information, it usually pays off later on.

Table 6: Schematic diagram tests

Tests in schematic diagram Altium OrCAD PADS

Create parts: schematic symbols ● ● ●

Library management ● ● ●

Edit design rules ● ● ●

Draw schematic diagram ● ● ●

Transfer design to layout ● ● ●

Generate support documents (BOM, PDF) ● ● ●


24

Creating parts: schematic symbols

There are instructions in appendix C on how to duplicate the results for this test. By using wizard mode it can

simplify creation of components. Wizard mode is a step by step instruction setting which helps the user to

focus on a specific detail during component creation. Both Altium and PADS uses this feature to simplify this

task while OrCAD uses a more classic approach by drawing the symbol manually. The symbol can always be

edited later if needed in all the three programs.

Library management

Library management is part of PCB design. There are many developed components by different manufacturers

with different part specifications. To building up a library and manage it is not necessarily difficult but caution

must still be taken. Minor mistakes can lead to unnecessary workload and time consuming troubleshooting. For

example, wrongly selected component or if component information is not accurate can lead to anything from

simple to extensive redesign of the whole PCB. Worst case scenario, entire product needs to be scrapped. This

is why CAD tools must have a good library manager to facilitate the process. Because of this component

footprints are created simultaneously during creation of a schematic symbol. For example, Altium and OrCAD

create a library files which can be linked to its project manager. Every component can be displayed easily when

navigating in the project manager. OrCAD have gone one step even further by implementing a design flow

process for managing the file structure of the libraries; which is a bit hard to completely understand without a

course in the subject. PADS library management involves a lot of menu navigation, but the menus are not hard

to follow.

Editing design rules

Design rules are limitations which are presets by default or changed by the user to suit the design. By using

design rules, unforeseen mistake can be avoided and minimize unnecessary changes later in the design phase.

Design rules can be easily configured in many ways in all three tools.

Drawing schematic diagram

Most of this subject was mentioned earlier in the beginning of this section. All three schematic diagrams are

very competent and no important tools are missing in the program. The experience is familiar and can be

picked up easily by the engineer.

Transfer design to layout

It is important to do an inspection when the schematic is finished. Checking for missing parts and errors is

important for ensuring the quality of the design before transferring it to the layout editor. There is a tutorial on

how to transfer in appendix C.

Generating support documents (BOM, PDF)

The final task is to generate nescesary data for documents needed for production documentation. One of the

documents is the BOM. This information is used for the auditing and manufacturing process. To be able to

generate these documents in a common widely used file format, such as portable document format (PDF) is

essential since that means it can be viewed on different platforms and operating systems. PDF feature is built

into Altium license, but OrCAD and PADS does not always include this as a basic feature in the lower editions of

licenses.


25

4.2. COMPARISON OF LAYOUTS

By transferring the schematic diagram to the layout program, the physical PCB starts to take shape. The layout

allows the designer to create, edit and verify the PCB design (shown in Figure 10) before the program generate

the output files which are required for manufacturing the PCB.

(A) (B) (C)

Figure 10: Layout comparison between Altium (A), OrCAD (B) and PADS (C).

All three programs have very different approaches and the variation is big when it comes to designing the

layout for the PCB. These programs are comparable in the sense that no important tools are missing. OrCAD

and PADS have a separate PCB editor program and a standalone program for advanced routing features. Altium

has all those feature integrated into the main program. Which approach that is the most convenient mainly up

to every engineer individual preferences when working with PCB designing.

Table 7 shows the tests which are performed when working with the layouts. Table 6 and Table 7 look similar

due to the fact that some tests are linked. Creating a footprint is usually done during the same process as

creating the symbol so it should be linked together from the beginning through the library manager to avoid

errors and mistakes during transfer; same reason is applied to design rules, which are skipped in this section.

Table 7: PCB layout tests

Tests in PCB layout Altium OrCAD PADS

Receive design transfer from schematic diagram ● ● ●

Create parts: layout footprint ● ● ●

Library management ● ● ●

Edit design rules ● ● ●

Setup layers ● ● ●

Create board and place parts ● ● ●

Route ● ● ●

Update and transfer ● ● ●

Generate support documents (GERBER, 3D Model) ● ● ●

Receiving design transfer from schematic diagram

Before working with layout some preparations have to be checked to ensure the design reliability. Check the

footprint after the transfer to ensure that it corresponds to the real component pads and appearance. As

mentioned in chapter 2.4 it is important to verify that the schematic net-list correspond the physical net-list in

layout since missing or extra connections is likely to cause major damage to the design.


26

Setup layers

The number of la┞ers is predeterﾏiﾐed H┞ desigﾐ aﾐd shouldﾐ’t He Ihaﾐged uﾐless necessarily. The layers have

multiple functions such as handling power or ground plains, amount of routing options, thermal conductivity

etc. All three EDA tools use different approach to present this option which is described in appendix C. Altium

uses a layer manager and the changes reflect on a figure in the layer manager. Every layer is divided into tabs

at bottom of the drawing board. OrCAD uses both manual editing and wizard mode to create layers. The right

sidebar on the main view has checkboxes to enable and disable the layers. PADS, in the other hand, use pop-up

windows to setup layers. To view the different layers the user needs to navigate in menus and checkboxes to

enable and disable to display layers.

Routing

Routing is a basic feature and should be integrated with the PCB editor. Some tools have approached this

differently by creating standalone routing programs with advanced features; the question is why this

approach? It would be better to get it integrated with the PCB editor instead of having multiple programs.

There are many elements on a component which can be selected. Clicking an element or surface is sometimes

challenging and frustrating. Altium and OrCAD work with minor problems, but in PADS selecting a specific

element was not as easy. With the right click mouse menu there are options for selecting any type of element

or surface option. Most of the time this does not work and a specific type of element or surface need to be

selected to acquire the right element. This might not be an issue if the user is having experience with but it may

certainly be a hindrance to new users.

Update and transfer

The feature to enable update and transfer of changes on the go makes the work more flexible. More detail of

the transfer to layout is presented in appendix C. When working with Altium and OrCAD, all the marked details

are highlighted in both schematic and layout which makes a perceptible feedback to the user. PADS have the

options to choose if the workspace is connected or disconnect with a simple mouse click.

Generating support documents (GERBER, 3D Model and PDF)

The final task is to generate needed documents for manufacturing. The GERBER file format is the images of the

PCB. Manufacturing industry uses this file format as standard for PCB production. Read section 4.3 and 4.4 for

more information about the comparisons.


27

4.3. COMPARISONS OF 3D VIEW

The amount of effort put in during component creation, the results can be clearly seen here. A good example

of how detailed it can be during 3D view illustration is shown in Figure 11 (B). All EDA tools managed to

generate a 3D view from the layout editor.

(A) (B) (C)

Figure 11: 3D View comparison between Altium (A), OrCAD (B) and PADS (C).

The detail level in Altium is excellent while OrCAD and PADS lacks those qualities as shown in (A) it also looks

more realistic when comparing with Figure 6 on page 16 than their counter parts. OrCAD and PADS 3D preview

is generated as a 3D module while Altium is more than a 3D viewer it is also a real time interactive 3D tool. This

feature enables Altium to make direct changes in its 3D environment.

4.4. COMPARISONS OF GERBER

There are minor differences here which are show on Figure 12. Most noticeable is the color and that is a

difference which should be ignored. Depending on the order the files are imported into the program and it gets

a pre-assigned color in the GERBER viewer program.

(A) (B) (C)

Figure 12: Gerber view comparison between Altium (A), OrCAD (B) and PADS (C).

There are differences on processors pads. When compared with section 4.2 the pads are correctly displayed.

There are crosses which are displayed on (A) and (C) those are drill holes and are disabled on (B). Overall the

results have minor differences which are debatable but not an important factor in this comparison.


28

4.5. IMPORT & EXPORT COMPARISONS

The import and export function enables a more flexible working environment where different companies can

share information with each other. Unfortunately this is not always the case which is shown in Table 8 and

Table 9.

Table 8: Import & Export of schematic diagram test results

Altium OrCAD PADS

Altium - NO YES

OrCAD NO - NO

PADS YES NO -

Table 9: Import & Export of PCB layout test results

Altium OrCAD PADS

Altium - NO YES

OrCAD NO - NO

PADS YES NO -

The import procedure from Altium to PADS went relatively simple and no problems were noted. From PADS to

Altium on the other hand, needed some tinkering by converting the PADS files to ASCII as PADS logic 2007

output format before it could be imported into Altium. The information from the process in both cases is

retained and the user can start working almost immediately with minor tinkering. Unfortunately that was not

the case with OrCAD. OrCAD can only import specific formats which Altium and PADS have limited support for.

There are import opportunities in Altium and PADS for OrCAD file formats, but OrCAD needs to downgrade its

file format to an older version before the import and export might be possible. During the test a newer version

of OrCAD was used and the option to downgrade was not available to complete the test.

To From

To From


29

4.6. SUMMARY

The comparisons show that all three EDA is equivalent competent in the basic functionality and all tests do not

point unanimously to either of them. Altium have a slight advantage in 3D view test for presenting a more

realistic view of the design and are compatible with PADS. OrCAD compatibility with neither Altium nor PADS

puts OrCAD in a disadvantage in the comparisons. By using the information from appendix A, more information

is evaluated for the conclusion. The list shows that Altium have built in management system and programming

tools, OrCAD are simulation oriented and PADS is the only tool with thermal simulation. Depends on the

business approach and focus some feature is more appealing to suits the company needs, but the pricing is a

very strong argument. For half of the price, Altium stands out as most affordable comparing to OrCAD or PADS,

but OrCAD and PADS can tailor the licenses to lower the price. Hence, in many cases only a part of a software

package is necessary, which then can tip the scale otherwise. All together the choices are many and the final

decision lies with the company.


30

CHAPTER 5 – CONCLUSION

31

5. CONCLUSION

All three evaluated EDA are no doubt very capable software, no important tools are missing for PCB design.

Comparing the capability of each EDA with the Requirements of Rimaster staff shows that each tool has its

strength and weaknesses. It should be kept in mind that these strengths and weaknesses can be interpreted

differently depending on the user. In this work both a general view and Rimasters situation have been

investigated and taken into consideration during the evaluation.

et’s foIus on a company or department which uses EDA, what are they looking for? Business needs to focus on

the product and revenues for a business to be viable. If the business does not already possess the knowledge,

they may need to hire someone to look over the PCB and suggest adjustments before a larger order and use

the support continuously throughout the design process to avoid inconsistencies in the final product. Therefore

the choice of tools should rather be based on efficiency and necessary functions than the price tag. There is

nothing that says that a more expensive tool is better or worse than a cheaper one. Other important

parameters to consider when choosing a tool is the quality and availability in support of the program, training

costs and how long will it take to put the system in operation for example. It may be helpful to consider the

choice of EDA tools based on present or future collaboration partners for utilities. If a suitable diagram program

already is available, replacing it might be a good idea to get the layout program from the same supplier for

integration benefits. Besides good integration to schedule tool, for some companies are great advantages to

having really good integration with mechanical CAD or advanced simulation, e.g., RF simulation. Try to find a

couple of companies with experience in several EDA tool to get their opinions on what is the strengths and

weaknesses of the different tools.

Let's look at Rimaster situation. They had some designer who worked with OrCAD and PADS. Over time some

have been assigned to new jobs assignment which does not requires any EDA knowledge, new employments

and some have quitted their employment. In the end, the knowledge within these tools in the company has

been reduced. When the company hired young engineers, they have been using Altium. No matter how

capable previous tools are. The lacks of knowledge and experience among the new employees makes them

ineffective at their tasks. Therefore it is important for companies to provide training and education for those

tools if they want to retain knowledge within the companies. It costs, but avoids major changes within.

Product lifecycle management (PLM) has a lot to offer and greatest benefits for EDA is the collaboration across

separate groups and companies by working together through a PLM platform, companies can forge strong

design chains that combine their best capabilities to deliver the product to the customers.

Based on the conclusions above, even though all factors does not point unanimously the obvious choice is

Altium. This is based on the fact that previous knowledge of OrCAD and PADS has decreased within the

company and the new employees are overall more familiar with Altium, i.e., less training are needed. All

features that are presented in appendix A are integrated into one working environment which is governed by

one license. If it lacks any feature, it can be easily downloaded through plug-in functionality within the program

and there are no worries about whether their license covers the new feature or not. Altium have open

community which makes finding knowledge and plug-in is more easily acquired.

With this summery, conclusion it ought to be easier for Rimaster or any other company/person facing the same

dilemma to make the right choice when choosing its EDA. No matter which ones they chooses all three

software are very capable in its field, as long as proper training and educations is given.

CHAPTER 5 – CONCLUSION

32

CHAPTER 6 – FUTURE WORK AND RESEARCH

33

6. FUTURE WORK AND RESEARCH

In this thesis product lifecycle management was mentioned. This is a very interesting subject in terms of the

EDA advancements and the needs of a more sustainable development in the world. By considering a product

impact in each stages of BOL, MOL and EOL benefits can be maximized. Many of today’s products include

electronic components, which may include many different types of materials which could have a negative

impact on the environment. If it does not get disposed properly it will end up on a scrap dump instead of a

recycling plant. The PLM system ought to give manufacturers better control over the manufacturing process for

designing a more reliable and robust product. Further study in integration, implementation and impacts of EDA

and PLM would be recommended.

CHAPTER 6 – FUTURE WORK AND RESEARCH

34

CHAPTER 7 – BIBLIOGRAPHY

35

7. BIBLIOGRAPHY

7.1. PUBLISHED REFERENCES

Bengt, Molin. (2001). Analog Elektronik.

Lund: Studentlitteratur. ISBN: 914401435X

. (2002). Kvalitet I alla Led.

Lund: Studentlitteratur. ISBN: 9789144023731

Birnbaum, Mark D. (2004). Essential Electronic Design Automation (EDA).

New Jersey: Prentice Hall. ISBN: 0131828290

Grieves, Michael. (2006). Product lifecycle management: Driving the next generation of lean thinking.

New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN: 0071452303

Nilsson, James W. & Riedel, Susan A. (2001). Electric Circuits. 6th

ed.

New Jersey: Prentice Hall. ISBN: 0130321206

Johansson, Esbjörn. (2002). Mönsterkort: från CAD till kort. 2nd

ed.

Stockholm: Sveriges verkstadsindustrier (VI). ISBN: 9175485842

Narayan, K. Lalit. (2008). Computer Aided Design and Manufacturing.

New Delhi: Prentice-Hall of India. ISBN: 9788120333420

Baker, Russel Jacob. (2005). Circuit Design, Layout, and Simulation.

New York: IEEE-Press. ISBN: 047170055X

Saaksvuori, Antti. & Immonen, Anselmi. (2008). Product Lifecycle Management. 3rd

ed.

Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. ISBN: 3540781730

Scheffer, Lou, Luciano Lavagno, and Grant Martin. (2006). EDA for IC Implementation, Circuit Design, and

Process Technology.

Boca Raton, FL: CRC Taylor & Francis. ISBN: 0849379245

Stark, John. (2011). Product Lifecycle Management: 21st Century Paradigm for Product Realisation. 2nd

ed.

London: Springer London. ISBN: 0857295454


36

7.2. ONLINE REFERENCES

Altium - Next Generation Electronics Design

06 Sept. 2012. <http://www.altium.com/>.

07 Mar. 2013. <http://www.altium.com/files/pdfs/Altium-Designer-Feature-Set-Summary.pdf>

ANSI PCB Trace Width Calculator

09 Sept. 2013. <http://www.desmith.net/NMdS/Electronics/TraceWidth.html>.

Cadence OrCAD Solutions

07 Sept. 2012. <http://www.cadence.com/products/orcad/pages/default.aspx>.

07 Mar. 2013. <http://www.cadence.com/rl/resources/datasheets/pcb_design_suites_ds.pdf>

Electronics Club

10 Oct. 2013. <http://electronicsclub.info/index.htm>.

GraphiCode – GC-Prevue

20 Sept. 2012. <http://www.graphicode.com/GC-Prevue>.

HWB – PCB trace

19 June 2012. <http http://www.hardwarebook.info/PCB_trace>.

National instruments - LabVIEW

02 Oct. 2012. <http://sine.ni.com/np/app/main/p/docid/nav-104/lang/sv/>.

PADS PCB Tools - Mentor Graphics

06 Sept. 2012. <http://www.mentor.com/products/pcb-system-design/design-flows/pads/>.

PCB footprint references

28 Jan. 2013. <http://www.siongboon.com/projects/2005-09-07_home_pcb_fabrication

/footprint/index.htm>.

PTC – PTC Windchill – Business Process Management (BPM) – Collaboration Software

10 Oct. 2012. <http://www.ptc.com/product/windchill>.

Rimaster - Leading supplier of cable harnesses, electrical cabinets, electronics and cabs

07 Sept. 2012. <http://www.rimaster.com/>.

Standard - IEEE

07 Jun. 2013. <http://www.ieee.org/portal/innovate/products/standard/>.

Standard - IPC

07 Jun. 2013. <http://www.ipc.org/ContentPage.aspx?Pageid=Standards>.

Standard - JEDEC

07 Jun. 2013. <http://www.jedec.org/standards-documents>.

The CircuitCalculator.com Blog

19 Jun. 2013. <http://circuitcalculator.com/wordpress/?p=25/>.


37

7.3. ABBREVIATIONS

Abbreviation Full Meaning

2D Two Dimensional

3D Three Dimensional

BOL Beginning of Life

BOM Bill of Materials

CAD Computer Aided Design

CAM Computer Aided Manufacturing

CAN Controller Area Network

CAE Computer Aided Engineering

CEO Chief Executive Officer

CIS Component Information System

ECO Engineering Change Order

ECAD Electronic Computer Aided Design

EDA Electronic Design Automation

EMC Electromagnetic Compatibility

EOL End of Life

GUI Graphical User Interface

HTML HyperText Markup Language

IC Integrated Circuit

ICG Interactive Computer Graphics

IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

IPC Institute for Printed Circuits (1957)

Association Connecting Electronics Industries (1999)

JEDEC Joint Electron Device Engineering Council

MCAD Mechanical Computer Aided Design

MOL Middle of Life

PCB Printed Circuit Board

PDF Portable Document Format

PDM Product Data Management

PLM Product Lifecycle Management

PSPICE Personal Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis

WBS Work Breakdown Structure


38

CHAPTER 8 – APPENDIX

I

8. APPENDIX

A. COMPARISON BETWEEN EDAS

Altium OrCAD PADS

Version 12 16.5 ES

Platform Windows Windows, Linux, AIX,

Solaris

Windows

Schematic ● ● ●

Layout ● ● ●

MCAD ● ● ●

3D Viewer ● ● ●

Management systems

Component manager ● ● ●

Variant management ● ●

Revision management ●

Lifecycle management ●

Simulation

Analog simulation ● ● ●

Signal integrity analysis ● ● ●

High-speed design rules ● ● ●

RF design tools ● ● ●

Digital simulation ● ●

Frequency Analysis ●

Power analysis ●

IC simulation ●

Thermal analysis ●

Routing

Auto routing

● ● ●

Interactive push & shove ● ● ●

High-speed interactive

routing

● ● ●

Interactive 3D routing ●

Other features

Embedded Design Tools ●

FPGA Design Tools ● ● ●

C++ support ●

Code Debugging ●

Cloud storage ●

3D Design tools ●

App based market place ●

IPC-compliant libraries ●

Approximated Price (SEK) 50000 103300 118000

Subscription costs (SEK) 12000 21000 23500


II


III

B. RESULTS

This appendix shows the generated results from Altium, OrCAD and PADS.

ALTIUM

Schematic Diagram


IV

PCB Layout

3D View


V

GERBER


VI


VII

ORCAD

Schematic Diagram


VIII

PCB Layout

3D View


IX

GERBER


X


XI

PADS

Schematic Diagram


XII

PCB Layout

3D View


XIII

GERBER


XIV


XV

C. TUTORIALS This appendix aims to show the differences in working with the three sample software Altium, OrCAD and PADS when creating (defining) an electrical component. Each subchapter of this appendix will demonstrate the workflow for each program.

ALTIUM

Creating component

Step 1:

On the projects sidebar, right click the project name and Add New to Project → Schematic Library.

A SCH Library tab will be added at the bottom of the project sidebar. Click the new tab.

Step 2:

Press on Edit to start up Library Component Properties.

Add component information. When finished press OK.


XVI

Step3:

Right click on the drawing area. Start by place pins, the example which will be created consist of 4 pins. When

done, right click on a pin and change it properties.

Set the first pin as 1 and change its electrical type to Power. Pin 2 and 3 will be passive pins. Pin 4 is also as a

power.


XVII

Right click on the drawing area and choose a rectangle to give the component a box. The schematic for the

component is finished.

Step 4:

Click on the project tab at the project sidebar. This will change the menu layout.

Click on Tools → Coﾏpoﾐeﾐt Wizard and follow the step by step instructions.


XVIII

The results should be similar as the picture below.


XIX

Step 5:

Click on Tools → Maﾐage 3D Bodies for Curreﾐt Coﾏpoﾐeﾐt. This will enable editing on the mechanical

properties the component.

Change the component body value to give the component a height.


XX

Step 6:

View the 3D model of the component by going to View → SwitIh To 3D.


XXI

Transfer design over to layout

Step 1:

Go to Desigﾐ → Update PCB DoIuﾏeﾐt.

Here the user can choose to validate, execute or report the changes. Press Execute changes to transfer the

schematic to the printed circuit board.

Step 2:

After the transfer makes sure the layout has right measurement unit. Go to Desigﾐ → Board Options and

choose metric.


XXII

Setup layers

Step 1:

Go to Desigﾐ → Layer StaIk Maﾐager.

Click on the text to change it properties. Set the power and ground plane in the inner segment. When finish

customizing press OK.

Step 2:

The new layer and plane is displayed at the bottom of the screen. Switch between the layer and plane by

clicking on the tabs.


XXIII

Generating BOM

Step 1:

Go to Report → Bill of Materials or Siﾏple BOM.

Step 2:

Build up the desired information for the BOM and save it in preferred file formats. Press OK when done.


XXIV


XXV

ORCAD

Creating component

Step 1:

Start by creating a new library for the project in OrCAD capture.

Go to File → New → LiHrary.

Right click on the library file to add New Part.

Step 2:

Name the new part and Press OK.


XXVI

Step 3:

Start with placing out four pins on the drawing area.

Place a rectangle box to finish the symbol and save.

The end results should look similar as the picture below.


XXVII

Step 4:

Start OrCAD PCB Editor program. Go to File → New. Choose package symbol (wizard).

Follow the step by step instructions.

Choose SOIC

for this

example


XXVIII

When choosing the padstack. Select 60X50. This could be change later in Tools → PadstaIk.

Step 5:

Go to Setup → Areas → PaIkage Height to give the component a height. Set a max height.


XXIX

Step 6:

Resize the doted area to fit the component. This area can be redrawn in the menu by selecting shape. Save the

design.

Press icon to display the 3D model.

The results should look similar as the picture below.

Step 7:

Link the footprint with the decal by right click on the schematic symbol in OrCAD capture and click properties.

Under PCB decal find the dra file footprint. Press OK and save.


XXX


Step 1:

Go to Tools → Aﾐﾐotate first. Theﾐ go to Tools → Create Netlist.

Note: This option might be grayed out unless it is activated in the project tab by right click on the schematic

diagraﾏ file aﾐd IliIk oﾐ the さCreate Netlistざ.

Step 2:

Press OK. The printed circuit board will be created or updated.


XXXI

Setup layers

Step 1:

When creating new printed circuit board, us the wizard option. Press OK.

Follow the step by step instructions (follow the picture from left to right).

Choose units.

Number of

layers

Set layer properties


XXXII

Step 2:

The layer visibility options are displayed on the right sidebar. Check and uncheck the boxes to customize the

view. Change the color scheme by clicking on the colored boxes.


XXXIII

Generating BOM

Step 1:

The option to generate BOM is located under Tools.

BOM can be saved in Html, Text or Excel file format by pressing Browse. When done. Press OK.


XXXIV


XXXV

PADS

Creating component

Step 1:

Start up PADS Logic program. Go then to tools and click on Part Editor.

Step 2:

To create a decal we need to click on the Edit Graphics button to enter a new environment

Step 3:

Click the Decal Editing button marked with red circle. It will expand and another toolbar comes forth. Click on

the icon marked with black circle to start CAE Decal Wizard.

Step 4:

In the CAE Decal Wizard we can choose to customize the look for the decal in real time. For this example we

will make a four pin chip with two pins on each side. Press OK when finished.

Step 5:

All pins have same identity. Right click on the pin and select properties.


XXXVI

Step 6:

Here we can change pin number and type. We set pins as previous picture and set Pin 0 as Power and Pin 3 as

Ground. Pin 1 and 2 as Source.

Step 7:

We are done with editing graphics. Go to File → Return to Part.

Step 8:

Press button to open Edit Electrical.

Step 9:

Here we see the part information. On the PCB Decals tab an existing footprint can be added to current decal,

but we have not designed any footprint for our specific component. We get back to this later in this tutorial.

Press OK.


XXXVII

Step 10:

Go to File -> Save As....

Choose a proper library. In our case we use the usr library. Give it a name and press OK.

Step 11:

To make the footprint for the decal we need to start PADS Layout program. Go then to Tools → PCB Decal

Editor.

Step 12:

Continue by clicking on the button to bring up the Drafting Toolbar marked with red circle. Next click on the

Decal Wizard button marked with a black circle.


XXXVIII

Step 13:

Here we can customize our component.

Set Device type as SMD, set Height (H) to 1.27, Pin count to 4, in the bottom left set units to Metric, remove

Thermal pad and set body width to 4. Press Calculate at the end to optimize the component parameters. Finish

by pressing OK.

Step 14:

Open File - > Library.


XXXIX

Choose the library that we saved our decals earlier. Set filter to Decals and choose the part type name and

press Edit….


XL

Step 15:

We made a decal before and need to assign it to the footprint. Mark the Gates tab and double click on the field

below CAE Decal 1. A new icon marked appears , click it.

Step 16:

Find the decal and press Assign >>. Finish with OK.

Step 17:

File -> Exit Decal Editor.


XLI

Step 18:

To view the component in 3D, we need to start PADS Logic and in a blank sheet we add the component. Follow

next tutorial さTraﾐsfer desigﾐ o er to la┞outざ. Wheﾐ ┞ou ha e finished the tutorial, use the PADS Layout

program and go to

View → 3D View → Dynamic View.

A 3D model of the component is opened in a new window.


XLII


Step 1:

When the design is finished in PADS Logic, it is time to transfer the design to pcb.

Press the PADS Layout Link icon. It will try to connect to a new or existing design in PADS Layout.

Step 2:

Click on the Design tab. Here you can start transferring your schematic design as ECO to PCB. The process is

trying to start PADS Layout and ask if it should start it as a new design or open an existing one.

If PADS Layout is already launched, it will try to connect with the existing design.


XLIII

Setup layers

Step 1:

In PADS Layout, go to Setup → Layer Definition.

Step 2:

From current setting we can see that the setup has two layers, Top and Bottom. We need to modify current

layers setup to fit current design.

EleItriIal a┞ers press the さModif┞ざ Huttoﾐ, a pop-up window comes up and change the number to 4. One

more pop-up window shows up, Reassign Electrical Layers. At さNew Layer #:ざ Choose 4 and Press OK.

The top four layers should be updated to Top, Inner Layers 2, Inner Layers 3 and Bottom.


XLIV

Step 3:

Choose ﾐﾐer a┞ers 2 aﾐd at Plaﾐe T┞pe Ihoose さ“plit/Mi┝edざ. Press the さAssigﾐ Net Huttoﾐざ. Find the proper

net you want to assign to this layer and OK. Do the same with next inner layers.

Handling four layers, choose Power and Ground as inner layers.

When done, press OK.


XLV

Generating BOM

Step 1:

In PADS Logic, go to File → Reports.

Press setup and select attributes which shall be contained in the BOM. BOM can be saved in Html -, Text - or

Excel file format. When done. Press OK.

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