-
- News
- Books
Featured Books
- design007 Magazine
Latest Issues
Current IssueProper Floor Planning
Floor planning decisions can make or break performance, manufacturability, and timelines. This month’s contributors weigh in with their best practices for proper floor planning and specific strategies to get it right.
Showing Some Constraint
A strong design constraint strategy carefully balances a wide range of electrical and manufacturing trade-offs. This month, we explore the key requirements, common challenges, and best practices behind building an effective constraint strategy.
All About That Route
Most designers favor manual routing, but today's interactive autorouters may be changing designers' minds by allowing users more direct control. In this issue, our expert contributors discuss a variety of manual and autorouting strategies.
- Articles
- Columns
- Links
- Media kit
||| MENU - design007 Magazine
EMA Becomes Distribution Partner for SkillCAD Cadence Virtuoso Layout Automation Suite
January 12, 2021 | EMA Design AutomationEstimated reading time: 2 minutes

EMA Design Automation®, a full-service provider and innovator of Electronic Design Automation (EDA) solutions, has announced that it is extending its focus on designer productivity to the IC world by partnering with SkillCAD to bring their LAS (layout automation suite) to the Cadence® Virtuoso® User Community.
“Much of the time spent designing an IC is during the layout phase,” said Manny Marcano, president and CEO of EMA Design Automation. “SkillCAD provides over 120 fully-validated commands to enable Virtuoso design teams to realize significant productivity gains through automation, reducing design times by up to 50%. Anyone designing analog, mixed-signal, or RF ICs can benefit from the SkillCAD routines. Current Cadence Virtuoso users have access to these new, time-saving routines directly inside their Virtuoso design environment, providing virtually zero learning curve and an instant productivity boost.”
SkillCAD has evolved into over 120 functions, including:
- Patented V-Editor tools that introduce a revolutionary way of editing layouts by simply drawing a directional line (vector) instead of conventional clicks (this consolidates the layout steps for object selection, stretching or moving, and design rule compliance into a single step, significantly minimizing the number of mouse clicks or keystrokes)
- Metal routing tools that allow the designer to route one or fifty metal lines with equal ease
- Pin placing tools that allow the placement of hundreds of pins in a matter of seconds
- And many other tools that greatly improve layout design productivity
Widths, spacing, and other design rules are known to the SkillCAD tools, enabling simple commands to correctly construct complex layout objects according to the design rules. This significantly improves productivity of the layout designer, while reducing costly design iterations. Also, the SkillCAD routing commands are extremely powerful, yet easy to use-they automate and simplify usage. There are five main routing commands, with over 200 sub-routines and parameters to automate routing and editing.
“SkillCAD is very excited to have EMA Design Automation to be our exclusive distributor in the US. EMA not only provides SkillCAD with a proven sales and support organization, they also have a marketing and inside sales team not found in the industry,” said Pengwei Qian, founder and CEO of SkillCAD. “EMA's sales and support organization coupled with SkillCAD proven technology will give us the resources to provide the Cadence Virtuoso community with powerful routing commands coupled with our patented V-editor, which can improve layout designers' productivity by hours a day while reducing design errors.”
“We have a long history of enhancing the Cadence design environment in the PCB space with EMA technology like CircuitSpace®, so it was a natural fit to help bring this same level of efficiency to IC designers,” added Marcano. “We are extremely excited about this important partnership and look forward to helping support the Cadence Virtuoso user community.”
About EMA Design Automation, Inc.
EMA Design Automation is a trailblazer in product development solutions offering a complete range of EDA tools, PLM integrations, services, training, and technical support. EMA is a Cadence® Channel Partner serving all of North America. EMA develops Ultra Librarian®, TimingDesigner®, CircuitSpace®, CIP™, EDABuilder®, and a host of custom solutions to enhance the OrCAD products, and all are distributed through a worldwide network of value added resellers. EMA is a privately held corporation headquartered in Rochester, New York. Visit EMA at www.ema-eda.com for more information.
Testimonial
"Our marketing partnership with I-Connect007 is already delivering. Just a day after our press release went live, we received a direct inquiry about our updated products!"
Rachael Temple - AlltematedSuggested Items
Global PCB Connections: Understanding the General Fabrication Process—A Designer’s Hidden Advantage
08/14/2025 | Markus Voeltz -- Column: Global PCB ConnectionsDesigners don’t need to become fabricators, but understanding the basics of PCB fabrication can save you time, money, and frustration. The more you understand what’s happening on the shop floor, the better you’ll be able to prevent downstream issues. As you move into more advanced designs like HDI, flex circuits, stacked vias, and embedded components, this foundational knowledge becomes even more critical. Remember: the fabricator is your partner.
The Art and Science of PCB Floor Planning: A Comprehensive Guide
08/14/2025 | Cory Grunwald and Jeff Reinhold, Monsoon SolutionsPCB design is an intricate and crucial part of developing electronic products. One of the foundational stages of PCB design is floor planning, a phase where the placement of components and the flow of signals are meticulously mapped out. A good floor plan ensures that the PCB performs well, is easy to manufacture, and meets all mechanical and electrical requirements. We’ll explore the essential aspects of floor planning, from its objectives and process to the challenges that designers face.
EnSilica Establishes New EU Mixed-Signal Design Centre in Budapest, Hungary
08/12/2025 | EnSilicaThe facility strengthens EnSilica’s presence in the European Union and taps into Budapest’s deep technology ecosystem, which hosts numerous leading automotive and industrial multinationals. This expansion will increase the Group’s global headcount to around 210 employees.
Happy’s Tech Talk #41: Sustainability and Circularity for Electronics Manufacturing
08/13/2025 | Happy Holden -- Column: Happy’s Tech TalkI attended INEMI’s June 12 online seminar, “Sustainable Electronics Tech Topic Series: PCBs and Sustainability.” Dr. Maarten Cauwe of imec spoke on “Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) Models for Assessing and Improving the Environmental Impact of PCB Assemblies,” and Jack Herring of Jiva Materials Ltd. spoke on “Transforming Electronics with Recyclable PCB Technology.” This column will review information and provide analysis from both presentations.
Elementary, Mr. Watson: Why Your PCB Looks Like a Studio Apartment
08/13/2025 | John Watson -- Column: Elementary, Mr. WatsonIn November 2022, I wrote a column called "Is Your Bathroom in the Kitchen?" This piece related a bizarre real estate listing that emerged out of St. Louis that had architects scratching their heads and interior designers cringing. Nestled in the historic Central West End sat a 200-square-foot apartment that completely defied logic. It wasn't the size that raised eyebrows, it was the layout. Here's the kicker: While that's rare in real estate, it's shockingly common in PCB design.