Electronic design automation

Electronic Design Automation ( EDA ), refers to software for the design of electronics , especially microelectronics . It is a branch of computer-aided design (CAD) or computer-aided engineering (CAE). Instead of EDA, the term ECAD ( electronic CAD ) is also used.

tasks

The task of the EDA is to automate the design on different levels:

• Creation of circuit diagrams , especially when designing printed circuit boards , but also the design of state machines . As a rule, such EDA applications create net lists that contain the elements or components required for the circuit and specify their interconnections. The resulting net lists are then usually processed by programs on other levels.
• Verification of the correct function of circuits through simulation and formal methods.
• PCB design and -entflechtung (sinker layout , Eng. PCB design ), d. H. Design of a circuit board for the components. Automated placement of the circuit components ( autoplacer ) and automated unbundling of the connections ( autorouter ) can also be used.
• Chip design , d. H. the automated development of integrated circuits (ICs), in particular ASICs , from the specification and implementation in a circuit diagram and layout to the finished circuit.
• Implementation of logic circuits on programmable logic modules, especially FPGAs .
• Design of multi-chip modules (MCM) and packaging or SiP design.

Provider of software for the design of integrated circuits

Alphabetically sorted selection of commercial EDA providers for the design of ICs, ASICs, FPGAs and printed circuit boards. Only universal EDA tool manufacturers that are not tied to a semiconductor manufacturer are listed:

• Cadence Design Systems : OrCAD
• Dolphin integration
• Forte Design Systems
• Synopsys : Magma Design Automation
• Mentor Graphics PADS
• Tanner EDA
• Zuken: CADSTAR and CR-5000

Manufacturers of CPLDs and FPGAs often offer their customers their own EDA tools at very favorable conditions, since these companies do not live from software licenses, but rather use them as marketing in order to be able to sell their ICs better. Important providers of such EDA tools are all well-known providers such as Altera , Xilinx and Actel . In part, their tools also consist of limited tools from the providers mentioned above.

Programs for the design of printed circuit boards

Alphabetically sorted selection of programs for circuit board design:

• Allegro PCB design by Cadence
• Altium Designer
• Bartels AutoEngineer (BAE)
• Board Station of Mentor Graphics
• DipTrace from Novarm Ltd
• Eagle from Autodesk Inc.
• EasyEDA , web-based and as a desktop program
• Fritzing from the Potsdam University of Applied Sciences
• gEDA , open source
• KiCad , open source
• National Instruments Multisim
• OrCAD PCB Design from Cadence
• PCB Investigator , from EasyLogix
• Proteus from Labcenter Electronics
• Pulsonix from Westdev Ltd.
• sPlan from Abacom
• TARGET 3001! from engineering office Friedrich

see also: PCB layout: software

literature

• J. Lienig: Layout Synthesis of Electronic Circuits - Basic Algorithms for Design Automation . 2nd edition, Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg / New York 2016, ISBN 978-3-662-49814-9 .
• V. Meyer zu Bexten: User-Controlled Layout Synthesis for Analog Integrated Circuits . Shaker, Aachen 1994, ISBN 3-8265-0093-8 .
• K. Mitzner, B. Doe, A. Akulin, A. Suponin, D. Müller: Complete PCB Design Using OrCAD Capture and PCB Editor, 2nd Edition. Elsevier / Academic Press 2019, ISBN 9780128176849

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Florian Schäffer : EasyEDA: Web-based circuit diagram and circuit board editor. In: heise online. 19th December 2016 .