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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.
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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.
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September Design007 Magazine: Silicon to Systems
September 9, 2024 | I-Connect007 Editorial TeamEstimated reading time: Less than a minute

Silicon to Systems: From Soup to Nuts
Traditionally, most designers of PCBs and ICs have operated in separate silos, unaware of much of what is happening just upstream or downstream. IC designers did their thing and PCB designers did theirs, and everything worked—until recently, that is.
Now, the increase in complexity in electronics is driving technologists throughout the electronics supply chain to adopt a “silicon to systems” outlook. Advanced packaging systems are causing PCB designers problems with signal integrity, power delivery requirements, and thermal issues.
This month, in the September 2024 issue of Design007 Magazine, we asked our expert contributors to weigh in on silicon to systems—what it means to PCB designers and design engineers, EDA companies, and the rest of the PCB supply chain—from soup to nuts.
Suggested Items
Meet the Author Podcast: Martyn Gaudion Unpacks the Secrets of High-Speed PCB Design
07/10/2025 | I-Connect007In this special Meet the Author episode of the On the Line with… podcast, Nolan Johnson sits down with Martyn Gaudion, signal integrity expert, managing director of Polar Instruments, and three-time author in I-Connect007’s popular The Printed Circuit Designer’s Guide to... series.
Elementary, Mr. Watson: Rein in Your Design Constraints
07/10/2025 | John Watson -- Column: Elementary, Mr. WatsonI remember the long hours spent at the light table, carefully laying down black tape to shape each trace, cutting and aligning pads with surgical precision on sheets of Mylar. I often went home with nicks on my fingers from the X-Acto knives and bits of tape all over me. It was as much an art form as it was an engineering task—tactile and methodical, requiring the patience of a sculptor. A lot has changed in PCB design over the years.
Facing the Future: Time for Real Talk, Early and Often, Between Design and Fabrication
07/08/2025 | Prashant Patel -- Column: Facing the FutureThere has always been a subtle but significant divide between those who design and those who build printed circuit boards. It’s not a hostile gap, but it is a real one, and in today’s high-speed, high-complexity, high-stakes environment, that gap is costing us more than time and yield. It’s costing us innovation.
Elementary Mr. Watson: Retro Routers vs. Modern Boards—The Silent Struggle on Your Screen
06/26/2025 | John Watson -- Column: Elementary, Mr. WatsonThere's a story about a young woman preparing a holiday ham. Before putting it in the pan, she cuts off the ends. When asked why, she shrugs and says, "That's how my mom always did it." She asks her mother, who gives the same answer. Eventually, the question reaches Grandma, who laughs and says, "Oh, I only cut the ends off because my pan was too small." This story is a powerful analogy for how many PCB designers approach routing today.
Cadence AI Autorouter May Transform the Landscape
06/19/2025 | Andy Shaughnessy, Design007 MagazinePatrick Davis, product management director with Cadence Design Systems, discusses advancements in autorouting technology, including AI. He emphasizes a holistic approach that enhances placement and power distribution before routing. He points out that younger engineers seem more likely to embrace autorouting, while the veteran designers are still wary of giving up too much control. Will AI help autorouters finally gain industry-wide acceptance?