CADSTAR Power Integrity Advance™
The overall performance and EMC behaviour of electronic equipment is not only determined by the design of the circuitry and geometry of the layout, but also by the power distribution system. Parasitic noise voltages on the power/ground system caused by the fast switching of currents from integrated circuits (ICs) can lead to malfunctions and significant increases in electromagnetic emissions.
High-speed components that utilize numerous complex high pin-count ICs, like FPGAs and CPUs operating on multiple voltage rails, add fuel to the fire. As these ICs become more of a commodity in electronics applications, the fight for the board space required to successfully transmit signals gets more aggressive.
The combination of increasing PCB power requirements and decreasing voltage levels results in tighter signal noise margins, so careful design of the PCB power distribution system is now a critical stage in the design flow.
CADSTAR Power Integrity Advance (PIA) provides fast and practical power integrity and electromagnetic interference analysis for CADSTAR within the real-time PCB design flow, offering EMI, AC and DC power analysis combined in a single environment, to help you determine the best decoupling and power distribution strategy for your layout.
Benefits
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Ensure quality and integrity of the power distribution system
- Provide full board EMC screening for differential and common mode board level EMC effects prior to production of the first prototype
- Save cost and board real estate by reducing the number of decoupling capacitors
- Improve decoupling by determining correct distribution of capacitor values
- Indicate quality of placement location, value and trace/via connection
- Provide a clear graphical display of voltage distribution map
DC Analysis
DC Analysis identifies unintended design features that impact the quality of power distribution that may cause the voltage supply to fall below specification at the target device.
DC Analysis automatically creates an equivalent DC circuit representing the power distribution system, which is combined with model information of device power consumption to verify DC voltage drop and current flow. Common problems that can be identified include dense grouping of via holes causing increased local resistance.
AC Analysis
AC Analysis verifies plane impedance characteristics to assist the design engineer in the planning and selection of the decoupling capacitor network.
AC Analysis builds a 3D R/L/C matrix to check frequency-dependent power/ground impedance across the board to make sure supply impedance at a device is low at key frequencies, such as at a clock frequency and its harmonics. High impedance may require corrective action such as placement changes, addition or modifications to the decoupling network or reshaping of a power or ground plane.
EMI Analysis
EMI analysis highlights design features that cause electromagnetic emission hotspots, 
considering both Common Mode and Differential Mode radiation. Solid, research-based algorithms, developed by Zuken in collaboration with the EMC Expert System Consortium at the Missouri University of Science and Technology, ensure fast and meaningful results that assist reliable PCB design in the real world.
Compatibility
CADSTAR Power Integrity Advance™ is compatible with all current versions of CADSTAR PCB Design.
Product News
See what the international electronics press has to say about CADSTAR Power Integrity Analysis:
EE Journal New Power Integrity Advance module launched for CADSTAR 13.0
PCBDesign007 *Zuken* Launches Power Integrity Advance for CADSTAR 13.0
PCBCafe New Power Integrity Advance module launched for Zuken ...
PCB Circuit design & FAB Zuken Announces Power Integrity Advance Tool
EE Herald New module in CADSTAR PCB design software to ensure proper power ...
electropages Zuken - New tool ensures correct behaviour of power distribution ...
