Mentor Graphics Announces PADS PCB Product Creation Platform with Voltage Drop and Electronic Cooling Capabilities

WILSONVILLE, OR --- Mentor Graphics Corporation announces a comprehensive product-creation platform based on PADS® PCB software that enables individual engineers and small teams to solve the engineering challenges involved in creating today’s electronic products. With increasing systems design complexity and the need for printed circuit board (PCB), mechanical and systems engineers to access easy-to-deploy tools, the PADS platform has been extended to enable engineers to develop PCB-based systems from concept through manufacturing hand-off.

The product creation process is much more than schematic capture and board layout. Engineers must address many other issues for a successful product design, including component selection, signal and power integrity, electronic cooling, form and fit, and design for manufacturability. With this release, the PADS platform extends its product-creation solution by adding PADS HyperLynx® DC Drop and PADS FloTHERM® XT tools for high productivity at unprecedented price-performance.

DC Drop for Power Integrity Analysis

By adding world-class HyperLynx DC Drop analysis to the PADS platform, engineers can create electronic products ranging from low-power wearable devices to products that require high-power processors. The increasing number of power rails in modern devices can result in non-functional or hard-to-debug design if analysis isn't used early in the design process.

The PADS HyperLynx DC Drop product quickly identifies problem areas in the design which would be difficult to find in the lab on a prototype. The DC Drop tool quickly provides investigative solutions which the user can apply in an easy-to-use environment. Results can be validated in layout to ensure that appropriate guidelines were followed, thus reducing prototype spins. With the DC Drop product, engineers can:

• Optimize the power distribution network (PDN) for efficient, clean, multi-voltage power to ICs.
• Quickly analyze voltage drops caused by insufficient copper across power supply rails, thus eliminating time-consuming troubleshooting of prototypes.
• Identify layout areas that contain excessive current density so they can be eliminated early.

PADS FloTHERM XT Tool for Electronics Cooling As electronics become smaller, faster, and more densely packaged, designers need to consider complete thermal effects to ensure product reliability. Physical testing is not always possible due to time and cost but, with the PADS product creation platform, a system’s thermal profile requirements can be achieved quickly, easily, and affordably. The PADS FloTHERM XT product is an award-winning electronics cooling solution that can be used as early as placement to identify thermal effects of the entire system. Using the SmartParts™ feature, designers can build simple models in minutes, apply complex mechanical parts directly from MCAD, create custom CAD geometry with ease, and import detailed electronic assemblies from EDA tools.

Key benefits of PADS FloTHERM XT include:

• A CAD-centric solution for thermal simulation and electronic cooling.
• Consideration for all thermal aspects of the design, including package selection, PCB layout, board structure, and enclosure design.
• Direct interfaces with all major MCAD vendors and all vendor-neutral file formats.
• Automatic report generation via HTML, PDF, or Microsoft® Word.

Product Availability

The new PADS release with PADS HyperLynx DC Drop and PADS FloTHERM XT electronic cooling options will be available in July. The PADS HyperLynx DC Drop tool starts at $4995 (USD). The PADS FloTHERM XT tool starts at $12,500 (USD).To learn more, consult a Mentor Graphics sales representative or call 1-800-547-3000.

Additional information can be found at:
http://www.pads.com
http://www.mentor.com