Power distribution analysis

Altium along with Australian based In-Circuit Design has released new extensions for Altium Designer for advanced stackup planning and power distribution network analysis.

With the increasing challenges concerning high-speed signals – not only because of high clock frequencies, but also because of faster edge rates – PCB designers need to have analysis tools that allow them to successfully design with fewer iterations.

The two new extensions for Altium Designer, the ICD Stackup Planner and ICD power distribution network (PDN) planner, are accessible from within the design tool to provide for seamless analysis.

ICD 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 f lows through the design process to fabrication.

Attention to critical placement, fanout, matched length and differential pair routing are vital for more and more mainstream designs. However, planning the multilayer PCB stackup configuration is one of the most important aspects in achieving the best possible performance of a product. The ICD stackup planner enables engineers and PCB designers to master this challenge.

With a frequency range up to 100 GHz, the ICD PDN Planner analyzes the AC impedance of each on-board PDN giving a concise graphical view of the entire network including plane resonance peaks.

www.demm.co.nz/reader-enquiry #141132b