Nolan’s Notes: Finding Your Sweet Spot
Standard of Excellence: Delivering Excellence—A Daily Goal
Knocking Down the Bone Pile: Tin Whisker Mitigation in Aerospace Applications, Part 3
EDA Tools and the Designer of the Future
January 28, 2025 | Andy Shaughnessy, Design007 MagazineEstimated reading time: 1 minute
We’re seeing new, young technologists moving into the PCB design and design engineering segment, and it’s just in time; many veteran designers are headed to retirement.
At the same time, there have been various recent advances in EDA tools. What will the PCB designer’s job—and the designer’s software tools—look like in the next five years?
Bob Potock, vice president of marketing for Zuken USA, weighs in on the PCB designers of tomorrow, and the EDA tools that will take them into an evermore complex future.
Andy Shaughnessy: I imagine Zuken has a “profile” of its typical user. How do you see this their job and its requirements evolving over the next few years?
Bob Potock: At Zuken, we believe that the PCB design and layout market is evolving. Today’s tools are mature, powerful, and easy to use. However, what's changing in the design process is how the tools are used and by whom. The standard hand-off from the design engineer to the PCB layout designer is becoming a thing of the past. A board with average complexity is more commonly designed, placed, and routed by the same individual: the hardware engineer. The modern hardware engineer will be an electrical engineer who can learn how to do PCB layout on the job. Moderately complex board designs now and in the future will see the traditional PCB layout function moving to the hardware engineer.
The high-complexity PCB market is different. The tools are more powerful, and the designs have more critical requirements. IC packaging may become part of the PCB layout activity at this complexity level. The traditional design engineer hand-off to the PCB layout designer may still exist. However, this modern PCB layout designer is an electrical engineer with training in power integrity, signal integrity, manufacturing, and IC packaging.
To read this entire conversation, which appeared in the January 2025 issue of Design007 Magazine, click here.
Share on:
Suggested Items
Zhen Ding Posts June 2025 Monthly Revenue Report
07/08/2025 | Zhen Ding TechnologyZhen Ding Technology Holding Limited, a global leading PCB manufacturer, reported June 2025 revenue of NT$12,823 million, up 19.68% YoY and up 8.75% MoM, setting a record high for the same period in the company’s history.
Study on Resonance Mitigation in Metallic Shielding for Integrated Circuits
07/08/2025 | Article by Maria Cuesta Martin, Victor Martinez, Vidal Gonzalez Aguado, Würth ElektronikInherent cavity resonant modes often lead to significant degradation of shielding effectiveness, responsible for unwanted electromagnetic coupling. Cavity resonant modes of the metal shielding enclosure can produce two adverse problems: the mutual coupling among different RF modules and shielding effectiveness reduction of the metal enclosure. The cabinets serve to shield certain components from electromagnetic interference (EMI). However, these cavities present some resonance peaks at 5 GHz, making it impossible to use them at higher frequencies.
Inside Aimtron’s Cross-border EMS Strategy
07/08/2025 | Nolan Johnson, SMT007 MagazineMukesh Vasani immigrated from a very small farming village in India to the U.S. in 1995 as a civil engineer. After shifting into electronics, Mukesh built his Chicago-based company, Aimtron, into a successful enterprise by combining quality with competitive pricing. He leveraged his roots in India to expand manufacturing without compromising on quality.
Be the Partner Engineers Can Rely On
07/08/2025 | Nolan Johnson, SMT007 MagazineGreen Circuits’ unique niche in the electronics manufacturing industry comes partly from its location in Silicon Valley, but also from its specialty of serving up quick-turn prototypes and low-volume work with high-complexity production. In this conversation, CEO Michael Hinshaw emphasizes the value of end-to-end services, especially while the pace of R&D development is accelerating amidst a growing demand for complexity across industries.
Hon Hai Reports New June Sales High Amid AI Boom
07/07/2025 | I-Connect007 Editorial TeamTaiwan-based manufacturing giant Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. reported on July 5 that its sales for June rose 10 percent from the previous year, driven by cloud and networking growth because of the boom in artificial intelligence (AI), the Taipei Times reported.