PCB Design Blogs

The HotFix 019 (QIR 3, indicated as 2021.1 in the application splash screens) update for OrCAD® and Allegro® is now available at Cadence Downloads.   This blog post contains important links for accessing this update and introduces some of the main changes that have been made and new features that you can look forward to.

OrCAD/Allegro 17.4 (SPB174)

Here is a list of some of the key updates made in this release across products:

Infrastructure Changes

• Downloading and installing updates are made easier with the new Downloads Manager. You can see the state of your installations and available releases and updates at a glance. To learn more, visit this blog post on Download Manager. 
• In this release, support for Japanese and Chinese locales has been added. Allegro System Capture and Allegro Pulse are automatically localized depending on the locale settings of the computer, while for PCB Editor, a few setup steps are required.

Allegro PCB Editor and Allegro Package Designer Plus

• The Fast mode introduced in QIR 2 gave you the benefit of quickly getting shapes and routes right while ensuring almost Smooth mode quality. Now, the performance of the Fast mode is even better while it continues to ensure the same quality of results and even includes aperture support.
• Design productivity increases with fast rendering. For example, faster zooming, panning, or toggling of layer visibility speeds up the design process. Moreover, this speed and response time comes with improvements in rendering quality and support for a range of GPUs.
• DesignTrue DFM now has checks for mask rules for via-in-pad technology and same net adjoining vias. A change in aspect ratio calculation has made DRCs for microvias more robust. You can control the visibility of pins using the associated Package Geometry/Component_Lead subclass. DFM Wizard supports template files of version 2 for both Design for Fabrication (DFF) and Design for Assembly (DFA).  DRC Browser makes navigation through DRCs easier and introduces the ability to waive a group of DRCs in one go.
• Realistic 3D models ensure that the manufactured product matches the design intent and avoids surprises. In the endeavor to resemble the intent closely, curves are smoother and provide a better view of the CAD models that are mapped to the symbols (footprints). The realistic view is further enhanced by showing copper wall plating thickness of plated holes in scaled dimensions. You also have the bottom view of the model in isometric view, enabling you to see the design in its entirety.  
• Replace modules are now locked in the design and the dynamic shapes in a module are converted to static shapes during placement. You can avoid unnecessary or duplicate objects from being brought into a design by marking objects as module-only. Replacing reuse module instances with a different variant is also supported.
• You can ensure that the schematic and layout files are always in sync. In Allegro System Capture and Allegro PCB Editor, a link can be created between the version of a schematic from which the board was generated, and the layout version with changes that were backannotated to the schematic. With this linked design version control, layout designers can easily find the exact version of a System Capture design for reference. Similarly, schematic designers can locate the corresponding layout file.
• A new Virtual Proto Workflow option has been added to the Analysis Workflows panel when working with Sigrity Aurora. This helps to create mock-up physical structures in PCB Editor. You can also import footprints from previously saved designs and run what-if analysis in Topology Explorer.
• A new Aurora Via Wizard is available that helps to optimize differential pair or single-ended coupled via structures in the pre-layout phase.

Allegro Pulse 

• The browser-based project dashboard available with Pulse helps improve collaboration between designers and supporting functions. Easy-to-remember URLs are now available to access all the projects on a server and you can access the list of library parts used in each project from the web dashboard. The Unified Search screens for the dashboard have also been enhanced to show visual indicators for recommended components.
• PLM Part Numbers can be linked with New Part Requests. This ensures that the PLM system and the ECAD library database remain in sync with the new parts requested by the designers. Additionally, every part created by the ECAD librarians also gets pushed to the PLM system.

Allegro System Capture

• In addition to creating projects and opening projects, you can also access all the latest resources available for working with System Capture from its new Start Page. You can also access product videos and blog posts from this page. 
• You have the flexibility to select the library type at the time of project creation. When you open a project, System Capture automatically switches to another library format as needed. 
• A new Audit dashboard shows the design integrity errors and warnings. You can run incremental checks, force reviews before running electrical analysis, waive off rules for specific parts, and do more. New graphical rules have also been added.
• System Capture now includes an integrated Layout Viewer. You can view an existing board file in a separate tab of System Capture. This extends the cross-probing functionality also. You can now locate the same design component in the schematic, layout, and in Constraints Manager.
• When working with shared designs, you can not only share the complete design, but also control permissions on specific parts of the design, such as blocks, views, pages, or symbols.
• Unified Search now provides a powerful facet-based search to build complex field-level queries. In addition, administrators or project owners can use these search filters to influence the components available to other team members in shared designs. These features are available only when designers connect to a remote central Pulse server.

 Topology Explorer

• SystemSI now supports JEDEC standard for fifth-generation Low Power Double Data Rate (LPDDR5) technology by adding LPDDR5 interfaces to the postprocessing of measurements.
• Along with usability enhancements, the Custom Compliance Kit workflow now supports the latest IEEE 802.3BJ standard giving you easy access to the latest standard COM values. This comes with ease-of-use enhancements in generating and displaying reports from result items and the option to add lower borders to masks.
• SystemPI integrates Sweep Manager for Power Ripple and Impedance Analysis. You can sweep parameters, such as Rdie, Cdie, and current PWL in addition to the subcircuit and S Parameter files.

 OrCAD Capture CIS

• Support for copy-pasting occurrence-based parts across designs is available. During a copy-paste operation, the occurrence properties of the selected instance are preserved and copied to the new design.
• Finding parts that can be simulated using PSpice is now easier. The PSpice search window is displayed by default when you create a new PSpice project.

PSpice A/D and PSpice Advanced Analysis

• Reduce the design-to-market time and avoid errors with the 5000 TI–PSpice models across 100 unique model categories. As many as 4000 test circuits are now available with OrCAD Design. TI libraries and different model categories are accessible from the PSpice Part Search page, if you have S006 or a later version of PSpice for TI installed.
• MATLAB versions R2020B and R2021A are supported for the PSpice co-simulation flow in addition to the already supported R2020A version. 

These were some of the top changes that are available in the QIR 3 release of Cadence OrCAD and Allegro 17.4-2019. For more information on the new features and enhancements made across products, see What’s New in Release 17.4-2019 HotFix 019. We’ll soon be back with more in-depth blog posts on new features and enhancements made across products, so watch this space.

In case you have questions or feedback, send them to pcbbloggers@cadence.com.

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Allegro Release Team