Estimated reading time: 11 minutes

The Shaughnessy Report: The Year in Review

It was the supposed to be the year of the recovery, and signs of revival were everywhere. But 2010 proved to be a tough year for many companies in the PCB industry. Don't put away your compasses yet; we're still in the woods.

Still, there were plenty of great stories to be told in the world of PCB design. Power integrity and thermal analysis tools began to take off. RF/microwave tool makers partnered with PCB design tool companies. Every trade show I attended showed better attendance than in 2009 – hardly a ringing endorsement, though, given last year’s sluggish economic atmosphere.

Webinars were de rigueur in 2010; EDA tool companies, capital equipment makers, training centers and just about everyone else hosted online seminars in 2010. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Youtube and other social media beckoned. And, as in previous years, Mentor Graphics and Cadence Design Systems continued their M&A activities.

So without further ado, here are some of the highlights of 2010 as seen in PCB Design007.

January

Dr. Istvan Novak, distinguished engineer with Oracle and expert on signal and power integrity design, launched his new column Quiet Power. (OK, it was the last week of December 2009, but after last year’s wrap-up). His debut article “How Many Bypass Capacitors Do We Need?” rang up nearly 1,000 views.

Henry Ott, author of the EMC engineers’ bible Noise Reduction Techniques in Electronic Systems, published, Electromagnetic Compatibility Engineering. In an audio interview for the Shaughnessy Report, Henry and Guest Editor Eric Bogatin discussed the new book, as well as the importance of stack-up and knowing when to split planes. Eric later wrote a review of Henry’s book. 

Are PCB tools leading the way out of the EDA darkness? The EDA Consortium reported that EDA revenue for Q3 2009 was down 7.2% from the previous third quarter, but PCB/MCM earnings were up 1.5% over the same period.  

Cadence announced that it would cut 120 positions as part of a restructuring plan. 

One indication that the industry began to take social media seriously: Agilent EEsof launched its own Youtube channel.

The (Bare) Board Truth columnist Mark Thompson started off the year with his article “Design and Fab: Are we on the Same Page?” Judging from the number of views, a lot of readers had this same question in mind.  

Mentor Graphics surveyed its PCB design tool users and shared some of the often surprising results with us. For instance: The number of components is actually going up, while the number of pins per component is going down. Business Development Manager Dave Wiens sat down with Steve Gold for this video interview.

Columnist Joe Fjelstad wondered if the past may hold the keys to the future of design with his article, “Future of Electronics Design and Manufacture Found in Past?” Hard to believe planned obsolescence has been around for over 75 years.

Thermal tools were hotter than ever in 2010. Sigrity launched PowerDC Thermal, one of the first – if not the first – electrical-thermal co-simulation tools.

February

Mentor Graphics acquired Zeland Software, a small electromagnetic simulation tool company with a solid knowledge base. Mentor soon added full-wave 3D electromagnetic analysis functionality to the HyperLynx signal and power integrity analysis platform.

Bruce Archambeault, distinguished engineer with IBM, met with us at DesignCon 2010 to discuss various approaches for analyzing the impedance of power and ground planes.

Cadence Design Systems posted $220 million in revenue for the fourth quarter of FY2009 and a net loss of $150 million for fiscal 2009.

SiSoft VP of Software Products Todd Westerhoff and Guest Editor Eric Bogatin discussed how the potential for reflections means that shorter serial links aren’t always better.

ANSYS, parent company of Ansoft, posted revenue growth for 4Q09 and for the fiscal year 2009.

After a decade of development, much of it by Mike Jouppi, IPC-2152--Standard for Determining Current Carrying Capacity in Printed Board Design--was published in 2009. Circuit board designers Jack Olson and Borko Bozickovic developed a free Trace Width Calculator that allows designers to explore different design scenarios.

March

If you’re out of work, you probably wonder: Who is hiring PCB designers, and what are hiring managers looking for? Staffing executive Derek Doucette of American Contract Group explains in this Shaughnessy Report.

Bits of good corporate news emerged here and there: Mentor Graphics beat analysts’ Q42009 forecasts.

Reflecting an expanded focus on the North American market, Zuken launched Design Gateway, an e-training package for its PCB design tool users in America.

After two decades of working his way up at Polar Instruments, Martyn Gaudion took the reins as CEO. I spoke with Martyn about his plans for the company and its tools.

Mentor Graphics acquired Valor Computerized Systems for about $40 million.

Cadence Design Systems acquired FPGA technology developer Taray Inc., a firm that has worked with Cadence since 2007. Taray’s 7 Circuits FPGA optimization technology was featured in Cadence’s OrCAD System Planner.

Zuken released functionality to enable PADS users to migrate to CADSTAR, with PADS legacy designs maintained in CADSTAR 12.0.

Columnist and “Signal Integrity Evangelist” Eric Bogatin hosted CPCA’s first high-speed PCB design workshop. He gave Steve Gold a first-timer’s review of CPCA 2010.

Cadence teamed with AcAe to help users of competing tool sets transition to Allegro. AcAe is a Maitland, Florida-based service bureau that has developed DART, a non-EDIF EDA translator.

April

Paul Reid, program coordinator with PWB Interconnect Solutions, debuted his column Reid on Reliability, which features “live action” animation that depicts various ways that vias can fail. Some of Paul’s columns wound up pulling hundreds of hits in the hours after they were posted.

Can you convert an angry customer into a loyal advocate for your products or services? Software Bytes columnist Abby Monaco shared such a story in “Flipping the Angry Customer.” If you have a love-hate relationship with your EDA vendor, you’ll get a kick out of this.

Dan Smith, an HDI design technologist often referred to as the "New Mr. HDI," is creating an HDI design certification for IPC. He sat down for an interview at IPC APEX/EXPO 2010, where he was teaching a class on Designers Day.

Attendance at “brick and mortar” trade shows was up from 2009, despite an increase in the number of virtual trade shows and Webinars. The “old-fashioned” trade show isn’t going to disappear anytime soon.

After the restructuring, Cadence had a decent first quarter, narrowing its Q1 loss and increasing revenue.

Microwave was a great arena to play in during 2010. RF/microwave software maker AWR Corporation posted its 13th consecutive year of growth.

Material Witness columnist Chet Guiles delved into thermal management for designers and fabricators with “Beat the Heat: A Non-Math Intro to Thermal Properties.”

Yes, even electrical engineers can use help with their writing skills (none that I know, of course). Maxed Out columnist Max Maxfield, a “recovering engineer,” launched a curriculum called “Writing 4 Engineers.”

May

During ESC Silicon Valley, a panel of legendary analog engineers – Bob Pease, Martin Giles and Nick Gray – sat down with Element 14 and discussed what it means to be a design engineer. It’s mainly chip design stuff, but it’s worth it just to hear columnist/curmudgeon Bob Pease give his take on why anyone becomes an engineer in the first place. Cadence acquired Denali Software.

No time like the present: Trilogy Circuits completed its expansion, doubling the size of its Richardson, Texas facility to 20,000 square feet. VP of Sales and Marketing Mark McCrocklin spoke with us about his trip to Capitol Hill, where he met with congressmen and senators as a guest of the Texas Manufacturing Assistance Center.

Zuken’s E3 system stayed in the news in 2010. In May, Zuken debuted its E3 Wiring Diagram Generator tool.

The SI-List has been around how long? Eric Bogatin’s column “Sweet Sixteen: Happy Birthday SI-List” was a big hit, pulling in over 1,000 views.

During ESC Silicon Valley, Ray Rasmussen spoke with ECOsystem partners Jeff Blauser of NXP, Duane Benson of Screaming Circuits, Bhavesh Mistry of National Instruments, and Nolan Johnson of Sunstone Circuits about their continuing collaboration.

DFA was a hot topic this year. Jack Olson wrote a two-part series of articles on optimum component placement. As usual, Jack’s articles had a high “open rate.”

June

Mark Thompson published his most-read Bare (Board) Truth column of the year in June. “How to Qualify Your Fabricator” has drawn almost 3,000 views.

One of the most popular Shaughnessy Reports ever, the story of the 60th anniversary of Paul Eisler’s PCB patent must have struck a nerve. Like many pioneers, he was ripped off and imprisoned but never gave up.

Jack Olson published Part II of his component placement series, and like most of his articles, it drew big numbers.

Do you know how to make a case for your job? My Shaughnessy Report on that topic triggered this response from Rick Hartley. I still believe that most managers have no idea what their PCB designers do for a living.

This Reid on Reliability column, “PWB Barrel Cracks: Accelerating Failure,” was red meat for designers and fabricators alike, with over 2,000 hits so far.AWR and Cadence teamed up to enable PCB and RF co-design with AWR Connected for Cadence Allegro.

European Editor Pete Starkey spoke with Polar Instruments CEO Martyn Gaudion about the Speedstack stack-up documentation tool.

July

I-Connect007 acquired SMT Magazine. Editorial board members include Vern Solberg, who brought his design column to PCB Design007.

Veteran designer and CID+ instructor Kate Mayer launches a new column, Connect With Kate. Her “How to Study for the CID Exam” column laid out the best way to study for the test without wasting your valuable time. 

IPC released the B revision of IPC-7351. The revised SMT design and land pattern standard updated guidance for land pattern geometry requirements, and included a padstack naming convention.

Another popular Shaughnessy Report ran in July: “Great Education Online, if you Know Where to Look.” PCB design education seems to be a critical topic, year after year.

 August

Eric Bogatin discussed the challenges of designing differential pairs for high-speed serial links, such as SATA, SAS and XAUI. 

Istvan Novak published a series on the inductance of bypass capacitors in his Quiet Power column.

Chet Guiles explained how the science of rheology – how and why things flow – can help us understand how prepregs melt and flow.

Mentor Graphics’ second quarter results beat expectations, and the company predicted revenues of $880 million for fiscal year 2011.

Doug Brooks began writing a column for PCB Design007, Brooks’ Bits. His first article, “Calculating PDS Impedance,” drew a big audience.

SeptemberBob Tarzwell’s column PCB 101 broke down the coefficient of thermal expansion and explained how various materials can be used to control expansion.

We provided complete Real Time video coverage of Electronics Midwest in Chicago. One of the first interviews: Don DeGroot, president of CCNi and chair of the D-24 High-Speed/High-Frequency Test Methods Subcommittee, explained the group’s efforts regarding characteristic impedance, dielectric constant and dielectric loss.

Terry Costlow discussed updates to IPC-7351B, and how the changes can make life easier on PCB designers.

Which is a bigger concern to a fabricator – traces below 0.004" or spaces below 0.004"? Mark Thompson got small with his column on “Today’s Smaller Geometries.”

Eric Bogatin pondered the question: Does tightly coupling a differential pair transmission line reduce channel-to-channel crosstalk? As Eric likes to say, “It depends.”

 October

The first Bogatin Boot Camp on differential pairs drew nearly 100 people to the Santa Clara Convention Center on October 4. Seeing Eric in a drill sergeant’s uniform made it worth the while.

The Designers Council eliminated its fees, as IPC’s Anne Marie Mulvihill explained. Designers who said that the $50 fee would take food out of their children’s mouths were ecstatic.

Kate Mayer likes to tell her CID and CID+ students, “Manage Your Vias, Manage Your Design.” Her column on this topic pulled over 1,300 clicks. Click here to watch her interview on via management at Electronics Midwest.

The EDA Consortium reported some good news: EDA and PCB tool revenue rose in Q2 2010. PCB/MCM design tools were up 12.6% from the same period a year ago. John Wilson of Mentor Graphics detailed proper thermal design practices for lowering enclosure temperatures.

Zuken held its annual Z-DAC users conference in Atlanta, six miles from my home. Steve Chidester, head of product marketing for Europe and America, sat down and discussed Zuken’s plans for 2011 in this audio interview.

After an interesting year, Cadence posted a 10% revenue increase for Q3 2010.

November

Mentor Graphics announced the winners of the 22nd PCB Technology Leadership Awards.

In this Maxed Out column, Clive “Max” Maxfield waxes philosophically about 21st century technology and 19th century poetry.

Ray Rasmussen attended the Orbotech Executive Forum in Venice, Italy. Of great interest to PCB designers: Julian Coates of Mentor Graphics (formerly of Valor) explained how Mentor planned to meld all of Valor’s DFM and DFA functionality into Mentor’s design flow, and then eliminate Valor.

Agilent posted Q4 revenue of $1.6 billion.

For his Brooks’ Bits column, Doug Brooks wrote a series of article on “Resistance, Reactance and Impedance.” All three are linked here.

Cadence and CST collaborated to offer a flow for PCB and package layout co-design in high-speed and RF design.

Happy Holden weighed in on Ray Rasmussen’s column regarding the end of the PCB.

December

Mentor acquired CodeSourcery, a California-based company that creates tools for embedded software developers. In her Software Bytes column, Abby Monaco confirmed what we all suspected: Software tool companies rush new tools out the door as part of “The Half-Assed Software Development Model.”

In another installment of the story that won’t die, Doug Brooks tossed in his two cents’ worth in a reply to Ray Rasmussen’s column on the death knell for PCBs.

Mark Thompson revisited netlist errors and mismatches in his last Bare (Board) Truth column of the year. Do you even need to supply a netlist?

Yes, another year is in our rearview mirror. Go spend time with your families, and turn off that phone! I hope all of you have a great holiday, and have a happy new year.