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Which PCB Design Software is the Best?

Printed From: PCB Libraries Forum
Category: General
Forum Name: General Discussion
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URL: https://www.PCBLibraries.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3020
Printed Date: 21 Nov 2024 at 11:42pm


Topic: Which PCB Design Software is the Best?
Posted By: 911EDA
Subject: Which PCB Design Software is the Best?
Date Posted: 13 Dec 2021 at 12:46pm

Which PCB design software is the best?

This is a difficult question. PCB designs with more complex design requirements would benefit from using PCB software tools such as Altium, PADS, or Allegro. Simple designs can be done using free or lower cost software packages. Below are ten of the more common PCB layout software tools available.

  1. https://www.911eda.com/solutions/which-pcb-design-software-is-the-best#altium" rel="nofollow -

    https://www.911eda.com/solutions/which-pcb-design-software-is-the-best#pads" rel="nofollow - PADS Layout  

  2. https://www.911eda.com/solutions/which-pcb-design-software-is-the-best#allegro" rel="nofollow -

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    https://www.911eda.com/solutions/which-pcb-design-software-is-the-best#designspark" rel="nofollow -

    1. Altium Designer

    Altium Designer is a PCB and electronic design automation software package for printed circuit boards. It is developed by Renesas in Japan.

    Altium Designer's suite encompasses four main functional areas: schematic capture, 3D PCB design, Field-programmable gate array (FPGA) development and release/data management. Noteworthy features referred to in the reviews include:

    2. PADS Layout

    PADS is a PCB and EDA software package developed by Siemens. There are two versions, Standard and Standard Plus.

    3. Allegro

    The Cadence Allegro PCB Designer quickly takes simple and complex designs from concept to production in a constraint-driven design system to ensure functionality and manufacturability. Scalable technology allows designers to cost-effectively match all current and future technological and methodological needs for teams, organizations, and projects of all sizes and complexities.

    The industry's latest bleeding-edge high-speed design, RF antenna, flex-circuitry, and design for manufacturing (DFM) technology in the Allegro PCB Designer gives you what you need to deliver the innovative products your customers demand. And the advanced design reuse and productivity features give you the advantage you need to beat your competitors to market.

    Key Benefits

    4. OrCAD PCB Editor

    OrCAD PCB Designer is a tiered, scalable PCB design solution that delivers advanced capabilities and highly integrated flows. The powerful, tightly integrated PCB design technologies include schematic capture, librarian tools, PCB editing and routing (PCB Editor), Constraint Manager, signal integrity (included in Professional), autorouting (included in Professional), and optional mixed-signal circuit simulation.

    5. Xpedition

    Xpedition Enterprise is the industry's most innovative PCB design flow, providing integration from system design definition to manufacturing execution. Its unique, patented technologies can reduce design cycles by 50 percent or more while significantly improving overall quality and resource efficiency. Developed by Siemens.

    6. Board Station (Obsolete)

    Tightly integrated in the overall design flow, Board Station XE combines the power of leading-edge auto-routing technology with interactive editing capabilities in a single, powerful and easy-to-use design environment.

    By leveraging leading technology in PCB physical design, Board Station XE customers benefit from shorter design times, increased productivity, and unmatched design quality for even the most complex PCB designs.

    There is no better way to add productivity and new technology to your Board Station flow than by deploying Board Station XE. And you don't have to give up your current flow to do it because the flows co-exist, leveraging the same licenses.

    7. Fusion 360 (Eagle)

    Fusion 360 (EAGLE) is a scriptable electronic design automation (EDA) application with schematic capture , printed circuit board (PCB) layout , auto-router and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) features. EAGLE stands for Easily Applicable Graphical Layout Editor ( German : Einfach Anzuwendender Grafischer Layout-Editor) and is developed by CadSoft Computer GmbH . The company was acquired by Autodesk Inc. in 2016.

    Fusion 360 (EAGLE) contains a schematic editor, for designing circuit diagrams. Schematics are stored in files with .SCH extension, parts are defined in device libraries with .LBR extension. Parts can be placed on many sheets and connected together through ports.

    The PCB layout editor stores board files with the extension .BRD. It allows back-annotation to the schematic and auto-routing to automatically connect traces based on the connections defined in the schematic.

    Fusion 360 (EAGLE) saves Gerber and PostScript layout files as well as Excellon and Sieb & Meyer drill files. These are standard file formats accepted by PCB fabrication companies, but given EAGLE's typical user base of small design firms and hobbyists, many PCB fabricators and assembly shops also accept EAGLE board files (with extension .BRD) directly to export optimized production files and pick-and-place data themselves.

    Fusion 360 (EAGLE) provides a multi-window graphical user interface and menu system for editing, project management and to customize the interface and design parameters. The system can be controlled via mouse, keyboard hotkeys or by entering specific commands at an embedded command line . Multiple repeating commands can be combined into script files (with file extension .SCR). It is also possible to explore design files utilizing an EAGLE-specific object-oriented programming language (with extension .ULP).

    8. KiCad

    KiCad is an open source EDA software for Windows, OSX and Linux. Create PCB circuits for free with the most advanced features.

    9. ExpressPCB

    ExpressPCB is a free PCB design tool provided by the PCB manufacturer ExpressPCB. You cannot export any files for manufacturing outside of ExpressPCB. Start by downloading their free CAD software ExpressPCB Plus! It includes ExpressSCH Classic for drawing schematics and ExpressPCB Plus for circuit board layout. Both programs are completely free, fully functional and easily installed with a single InstallShield setup program.  Learning to use their software is fast because of its standardized Windows user interface.

    10. DesignSpark

    DesignSpark PCB is a free electronics design software, (EDA software is a sub-class of computer-aided design (CAD) software.) Although there is no charge for the software, the user must register with the website to unlock the program and it displays advertisements which must be acknowledged before the user can begin working. DesignSpark resulted from a collaboration between electronics distributor RS Components and EDA software developer Number One Systems.

    Original article about https://www.911eda.com/solutions/which-pcb-design-software-is-the-best" rel="nofollow - which PCB design software is the best . 





Replies:
Posted By: circuits
Date Posted: 10 Sep 2024 at 7:05am
Hey There,

I have written the article related to this topic you can checkout here - https://discrete.co.in/blog/list-of-best-pcb-design-software-and-tools" rel="nofollow - Best PCB Design Software

In this guide, you will find the best PCB design softwares



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