Resource Library

Curious to what a day in the life of an OrCAD Capture is like? Watch this video to see a typical workflow.

Double check your DFM rules before signoff with a forced batch check of all rules for your whole design. If you do find something awry, it’s easy to locate and fix in your design.

Easily ensure test points are accessible in your designs.

Easily create and assign constraints for manufacturing based on IPC standards and common PCB rules.

Measure from true signal origin to end point through vias and through packages, not just the etch, so you can get timing right and ensure signal performance.

With the speed at which technology is advancing, the need for new designs to be completed quickly and accurately is more important than ever. Any delay in design or manufacturing could be detrimental to your timeline and product release. Manufacturing Design Errors can halt board production and cause lengthy delays in your design process. However, checking for fabrication errors early in the design process can streamline manufacturing. OrCAD helps you do this with Design for Fabrication Constraints. Ensure the manufacturer’s minimum tolerances are met by defining constraints for outlines, masks, annular rings, copper spacing and silkscreen. Address the errors, flagged with DRC Markers, before sending the board to manufacturing to ensure production is completed quickly and accurately.

You’ve spent countless hours creating the perfect layout for a specific circuit on your PCB. Now you need to create the same layout for matching circuits in your design. Replicating redundant circuits can be time consuming and mundane. Instead of wasting time manually placing each part with the identical spacing and layout of your original circuit, automate the process and focus on more important aspects of your design. Placement replication in OrCAD helps you do this. Once a circuit is defined, easily create a place replicate module. Highlight the components for the redundant circuit and apply the module. OrCAD PCB Designer automatically configures the circuit layout and spacing.

Design Rules can be difficult to manage in Rigid-Flex designs, especially in transition zones due to different rules for flex and rigid areas and layer specific constraints. With increased design complexity, manually checking Rigid-Flex designs can be time consuming and result in an oversight. However, by assigning layer-based constraints, this process can be automated. OrCAD helps you do this with Inter-Layer DRC Checks. OrCAD allows you to set separate rules for both a flex and rigid design. Simply select the subclass layers that will be checked against one another. Assign and define the rule and let OrCAD PCB Designer automatically check the design—any errors are flagged with a DRC marker for your review. Eliminate the need for error-prone, time-consuming, manual checks of your Rigid-Flex Design with OrCAD PCB Designer and manufacture your design with confidence.

With the size of devices decreasing and frequencies increasing, the need for managing electromagnetic interference in RF Designs is more important than ever. This disturbance by an outside source can cause a variety of issues in your design including a decrease in signal and power integrity, addition of cross talk, resonance and ringing, or even complete circuit failure. Designing for these issues at the board level is a tedious and time-consuming part of the design process, but allows you to ensure your design intent is not affected. A common, inexpensive solution is to include via shielding in your design. OrCAD helps you do this using Via Arrays. Automatically insert a group of vias in a matrix pattern over the entire board, an area inside a boundary box, or in a dynamic shape. And place vias as a boundary around a shape, hole, route keepout, cline, via, or pin. By placing vias with proper spacing around the edge of your board or high-risk areas, you can reduce EMI and cross talk. Design changes are made easy with the ability to unplace all vias automatically. Quickly and easily add and edit the necessary via shielding and ensure your RF designs are not affected by EMI with Via Arrays in OrCAD PCB Designer.