Introduction

Where do the Cadence SPB / OrCAD tools fit in to the design process?

Starting with an idea for a new product will typically result in some form of outline for the requirements of the system. If the system requires some element of electronics, the circuit needs to be created, converted to a physical layout, and manufacturing data created. This is where the Cadence SPB / OrCAD tools come into play, capturing the schematic with OrCAD Capture then laying out the physical connections and creating the manufacturing data in OrCAD PCB Editor.
The manufacturing data goes to a fabricator to etch the connections and put the layers together and to an assembler to assemble the components onto the board. There may be some “bare board” testing provided and there may be some assembled board testing, depending upon which services have been selected.
System integration and test would be the final stage of development and this may lead to “rework” if the completed system does not meet the product requirements.

Design processing

Once the circuit has been captured, it could be passed to simulation tools, like OrCAD PSpice for component level simulation, or Sigrity for pre-layout simulation to investigate signal quality. Sigrity can also be used for verifying the signal quality of critical nets in the physical layout before the board is manufactured.

Tools options

In addition to OrCAD PCB Designer Standard and Professional, Allegro PCB Designer offers a range of options to address specific advanced PCB design requirements, check out the product option details at: https://www.parallel-systems.co.uk/matrix/

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