CST's tool addresses EMC and SI for PCBs

Computer Simulation Technology has launched CST BOARDCHECK. CST's latest tool aims to help design engineers to deal with electromagnetic compatibility and signal integrity of PCBs to get a quick overview of potential problems in their layout.

CADENCE ALLEGRO, Zuken CR 5000, Mentor Graphics Expedition and ODB++ are all supported formats by the CSTs new tool. These formats are read-in using the CST STUDIO SUITE import filters.

Once imported, the engineer can easily check nets critical to the design against a number of individually selectable established design rules, in order to ensure the EMC and SI of the design.

EMC rules include net reference (net crossing split...), wiring, crosstalk (critical net near I/O net...), decoupling (capacitor density...), and placement (I/O filter distance,...). SI rules include net integrity (net length,...) and via integrity (unconnected via pads,...).

CST BOARDCHECK generates a report listing all violations and enables the user to highlight the corresponding锟絧roblematic portions of the design.

If required, the user can carry out further analyzes with a CST PCB STUDIO solver or perform a push-button export for 3-D full wave simulation in CST MICROWAVE STUDIO.

Bernhard Wagner, a managing director for CST, stated that the release of CST BOARDCHECK, state-of-the-art EMSAT rules for EMC and SI are now available to their customers, both in standalone or inside CST STUDIO SUITE.

"We are happy to see that with the release of CST BOARDCHECK, the knowledge and expertise of EMSAT is now available inside CST STUDIO SUITE. EMSAT is a well-established design rule checker for EMC and SI rules used by major companies worldwide that is built based on hundreds of man-years expertise gathered at IBM", said Bruce Archambeault, Distinguished Engineer, IBM, in a statement.

CST claims CST STUDIO SUITE is the culmination of many years of research and development into the most accurate and efficient computational solutions for electromagnetic designs. .

- Nicolas Mokhoff
??EE Times