-
- News
- Books
Featured Books
- smt007 Magazine
Latest Issues
Current IssueWhat's Your Sweet Spot?
Are you in a niche that’s growing or shrinking? Is it time to reassess and refocus? We spotlight companies thriving by redefining or reinforcing their niche. What are their insights?
Moving Forward With Confidence
In this issue, we focus on sales and quoting, workforce training, new IPC leadership in the U.S. and Canada, the effects of tariffs, CFX standards, and much more—all designed to provide perspective as you move through the cloud bank of today's shifting economic market.
Intelligent Test and Inspection
Are you ready to explore the cutting-edge advancements shaping the electronics manufacturing industry? The May 2025 issue of SMT007 Magazine is packed with insights, innovations, and expert perspectives that you won’t want to miss.
- Articles
- Columns
- Links
- Media kit
||| MENU - smt007 Magazine
Silicon to Systems: Collaboration Between IC and PCB Design Continues
October 2, 2024 | Andy Shaughnessy, Design007Estimated reading time: 1 minute

The walls are coming down between the designers of chips and PCBs. Because of the complexity of electronic systems, IC designers and PCB designers are increasingly finding themselves in need of information from technologists upstream and downstream, from silicon through the system level.
Stephen Chavez, senior product marketing manager at Siemens, shares his thoughts on this silicon-to-systems approach and what it means for PCB designers, EDA tool providers, and system-level developers as well.
More technologists are pointing out the need for PCB designers to focus on silicon-to-systems. What does that term mean to you and to EDA companies like Siemens?
Stephen Chavez: Silicon-to-systems refers to a holistic approach in electronics design where the interaction and integration of silicon (ICs, chips) are considered all the way through to the system level (PCBs, full electronic products). For EDA companies like Siemens, this means developing tools and methodologies that support seamless design flows from the chip level up to the complete system. This approach ensures that all components work together efficiently, reduces design iterations, and improves time-to-market by addressing potential integration issues early in the design process.
What do PCB designers need to understand about silicon and packages?
PCB designers must understand the following aspects of silicon and packages:
- Signal integrity and power integrity: As signals travel from silicon through the package to the PCB, maintaining signal quality and managing power distribution is critical. PCB designers must account for high-speed signal requirements, impedance control, and proper power delivery network design to avoid noise in regard to crosstalk, EMI, and EMC.
- Thermal management: Higher integration and power densities in silicon and packages lead to heat generation. Designers must incorporate effective thermal management solutions, such as heat sinks, thermal vias, and appropriate material choices.
- Land patterns and layout considerations: Understanding the physical and electrical requirements of IC packages is crucial. This includes correct pin mapping, accommodating different package types (e.g., BGA, LGA, microBGAs, QFP, etc.), and ensuring sufficient spacing and layer stackup to include the necessary via technologies to support the chip's needs.
- Design for manufacturing: Awareness of the manufacturing processes for both silicon and PCB can help designers create designs that are easier to manufacture, test, and assemble, reducing costs and time. Close collaboration with your external suppliers is key to success.
To read the rest of this article in the September 2024 issue of Design007 Magazine, click here.
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
Elementary Mr. Watson: Closing the Gap Between Design and Manufacturing
07/23/2025 | John Watson -- Column: Elementary, Mr. WatsonModern PCB designers are not merely engineers or technicians. I believe that PCB design, at its core, is an art form, and modern PCB designers should be considered artists. Beyond the technical calculations and engineering rules lies a creative process that involves vision, balance, and a passion for what we do. Like any artist who works with brush and canvas or chisel and stone, a PCB designer shapes invisible pathways that bring ideas to life. Each trace, layer, and component placement reflects thoughtful decisions that blend form, fit, and function.
The Pulse: Design Constraints for the Next Generation
07/17/2025 | Martyn Gaudion -- Column: The PulseIn Europe, where engineering careers were once seen as unpopular and lacking street credibility, we have been witnessing a turnaround in the past few years. The industry is now welcoming a new cohort of designers and engineers as people are showing a newfound interest in the profession.
Meet the Author Podcast: Martyn Gaudion Unpacks the Secrets of High-Speed PCB Design
07/16/2025 | 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.