PCB Design Blogs

The HotFix SPB17.40.028 of 17.4-2019 of Allegro^® PCB Editor has been rolled out and is now available for download. This release includes various enhancements, new features, and product changes that address design challenges and speed up the development of complex PCBs.

Let’s look at some of the productivity improvements done in Allegro PCB Editor in this release.

DFA Region-Based DesignTrue DFM Checks

This release introduces region-based Design for Assembly (DFA) checks. These checks are available with all the licenses of Allegro layout editors. Assembly requirements may vary from design to design because of mechanical constraints or voltage requirements. To address different assembly requirements, assign the default DFA spacing rule to the entire design and create DFA regions to set specific DFA spacing rules for those regions.

To leverage the benefit of region-based DFA checks, create a DFA spacing CSet, modify the default spacing between symbols in this CSet, and assign it to the relevant package symbols in a design.

You can then create DFA regions on each layer explicitly and assign the DFA CSet to these regions.

Multiple DFA regions can be created with different DFA spacing values between package symbols. These DFA regions when overlapped or nested use the most conservative DFA spacing value.

Keep Backdrill Up to Date with Dynamic Backdrill Mode

The backdrill solution has been enhanced in this release. A new option is added in the Backdrill Setup and Analysis dialog box to update the backdrill information in real-time for design changes, such as sliding vias, moving components, changing connection layers, and so on. To maintain the backdrill behavior consistency with the previous releases, this new option, Enable dynamic backdrill, is not visible by default. To enable this option, set the backdrill_enable_dynamic variable in User Preferences Editor. 

With this variable, the new option appears under the Settings tab of the Backdrill Setup and Analysis dialog box. 

Enable the dynamic backdrill mode after successfully running the backdrill. The dynamic backdrill mode keeps the backdrill on canvas up to date as you interactively edit the design while maintaining appropriate backdrill clearance and depth. Any change in the routing of the design impacting the existing backdrill will not require repeated backdrill executions.

Support for Multi-Drill Patterns for Padstacks

In addition to the basic row and column arrangements, you can now create polar and custom drill patterns.  You can choose a pattern style from the following styles:

• Array – Specifies row and column arrangements. (Existing)
• Polar – Specifies circular drill patterns.
• Custom pattern – Specifies the X and Y locations of the drills.

It is now easier to configure complex or irregular multi-drill patterns using different hole patterns. This enhancement reduces the need of creating separate via arrangements inside the pad boundary.

What’s Next

That was a small subset of the features added to this release. We will continue to discuss more features and enhancements in the coming weeks. For details, refer to the knowledge base on the Cadence Online Support site.

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About BoardSurfers

The BoardSurfers series provides solutions to the various tasks related to the creation and management of PCB design using the Allegro platform products. The name and logo of this series are designed to resonate with the vision of making the design and manufacturing tasks enjoyable just like surfing the waves. Regular, new blog posts by experts cover every aspect of the PCB design process, such as library management, schematic design, constraint management, stackup design, placement, routing, artwork, verification, and much more.