iCD EDA Interfaces

"Increase impedance accuracy by up to 5% by importing iCD stackup definitions into your PCB design and simulation tools".

Virtual vs Actual Materials

EDA software vendors generally ignore the materials that are used to fabricate a multilayer PCB. Instead they use 'Virtual' materials to build the stackup. In other words, the user picks a dielectric thickness and dielectric constant and bases their entire substrate design on a material that may not actually exist. This can lead to a major design change later in the PCB design process when the trace widths and spacing of critical signals needs to be modified to match the PCB fabricators recommendations.

Alternatively, choosing the 'Actual' materials that your preferred PCB Fabricator stocks can result in up to 5% better accuracy. The iCD Stackup Planner is delivered with an extensive Dielectric Materials Library (DML) containing over 36,225 commonly used rigid and flex core, prepreg and solder mask/coverlay materials up to 100GHz. This is arguably the most comprehensive list of material properties ever compiled. Here is a complete list of material manufacturers and product types, that are included in the iCD Stackup Planner (Nov 2020).

iCD Design Integrity provides a centralized, shared, Impedance Planning Environment that connects Materials, PDN Analysis, Stackup Planning, Signal Integrity, PCB Design and Fabrication consolidating the impedance control from schematic to fabrication. The impedance is planned pre-layout and flows through the design process to fabrication - achieving right first time design.

EDA Interface Options