• PCB Design

Exploring What’s New in CR-8000 2020

Adding new features to CR-8000 2020

What drives the features that are added or updated in a new release?  The majority of the changes or additions in any Zuken tool release are customer-driven. Our customers provide valuable insight into emerging technologies, process and methodology changes, and the direction in which their EDA needs are taking them. We employ traditional methods to follow technology trends and anticipate our customers’ needs to build our long-term strategies. However, firsthand feedback is the best source of information to help us support customers’ immediate needs. This post focuses on the high points of the CR-8000 2020 release. You’ll find four main areas of interest:

1. Placement and routing
2. Signal integrity and power integrity
3. 3D Outputs
4. Design Gateway

Placement and routing

Placement and routing typically make up the majority of a PCB design cycle. The CR-8000 2020 release has many new and updated features to the PCB design tool, Design Force. These updates include push and shove of components during placement, automatic generation of component group areas, and optional auto-placement of those groups.

CR-8000 2020 features an improved contour mode for bundle routing, which is beneficial for flex and rigid-flex designs.

In addition, the CR-8000 2020 Release features enhancements to the reinforcing via functions that allow the user to have greater flexibility to add as many shield, reinforcing, and thermal vias as possible. Users will also see a simplified dynamic mode to display the constraint status of skew groups. Much-improved algorithms for lengthening and unlengthening of routes and an improved mechanism to display unconnected nets on the design canvas aid the user in meeting constraints or controlling display clutter.

Signal integrity and power integrity

Another critical area of the PCB design process is in the signal integrity and power integrity workspace. The CR-8000 2020 release has many new and improved features to support this. A new capability for direct cross probing from the electrical editor to either Design Force or Design Gateway simplifies the process for determining uncoupled areas, line segments of concern, or any other object that may be of interest in the electrical editor.

Batch SI screening allows the engineer to rapidly sweep a large collection of signals and evaluate the results to drive design decisions. Zuken already has robust interfaces to a wide array of some of our customers’ favorite simulation tools. But CR-8000 2020 takes it to the next level with Ansys. We now give users the ability to view the results from Ansys SIwave directly in Design Force. Therefore, this limits the need for data transfers between Ansys and Zuken tools.

3D Outputs

Users will see significant enhancements to 3D outputs. These outputs are critical for accurate mechanical modeling, thermal, and stress analysis. In the CR-8000 2020 release, this data output includes the proper cross-section data as well as continues to use accurately shaped parts from previous releases.

Design Gateway

Design Gateway, CR-8000’s schematic tool, sees a facelift in the 2020 release. Most apparent to the users will be the updates to the GUI as well as many more options to control and personalize the look and feel of the tool. Above all, this new level of control allows users to tailor the tool for optimum usage and to structure it to their personal preferences.

Moreover, the speed of Design Gateway gets a boost in CR-8000 2020. Enhanced opening speed and draw and redraw rates help users navigate and work through their designs more quickly than ever before.

Summary

While it’s easy to see that CR-8000 2020 brings with it a long list of enhancements and updates, note that I’ve only scratched the surface. Users can also access online documentation for an extensive list of enhancements and additions available.

Check out our What’s New in CR-8000 2020 release for more information