-
-
News
News Highlights
- Books
Featured Books
- design007 Magazine
Latest Issues
Current IssueAll 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.
Creating the Ideal Data Package
Why is it so difficult to create the ideal data package? Many of these simple errors can be alleviated by paying attention to detail—and knowing what issues to look out for. So, this month, our experts weigh in on the best practices for creating the ideal design data package for your design.
Designing Through the Noise
Our experts discuss the constantly evolving world of RF design, including the many tradeoffs, material considerations, and design tips and techniques that designers and design engineers need to know to succeed in this high-frequency realm.
- Articles
- Columns
- Links
- Media kit
||| MENU - design007 Magazine
Broadcom PCB Design: Miniaturization on the Cutting Edge
June 15, 2015 | Andy Shaughnessy, PCBDesign007Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

I recently attended the Orange County Designer's Council “Lunch and Learn” meeting, held at the Broadcom offices on the campus of the University of California, Irvine. Afterward, I sat down with Scott Davis, CID, the senior manager of PC board design at Broadcom, to discuss the company’s savvy PCB design department and their approach to PCB design.
Andy Shaughnessy: Scott, tell us a little about yourself and the design team you manage.
Scott Davis: I've been in the industry since 1996 when I actually joined a historic company, Praegitzer Industries. It was part of the Praegitzer design group that started the numerous acquisitions and transfers throughout the history of Tyco, the e2E Corporation, and the acquisition of Plexus Corporation. I moved with them from Oregon to Colorado, and then in 2007 I was informed about the position here at Broadcom. I have been here almost eight years. I'm managing a team of about 40. These people are designers, along with a CAD library team and our two resources that run Valor full time. This is a global team. We have 11 people in Singapore, one person in Canada, one person in India, and the rest of the remaining folks here in America, mainly in California.
Shaughnessy: Is that 40 PCB designers?
Davis: It's managers, designers, librarians, and Valor operators, a combination of all of the above.
Shaughnessy: So, you all rely on Valor?
Davis: We love Valor and the fabricators love the Broadcom packages for fabrication because they don't spend any time in engineering. They go right to the floor for production and we run every single design through Valor. The reason for that is we have two CAD tools. We're using the Mentor Graphics tools and we're using the Cadence tools, but we want our output packages to be consistent, including PDFs, Gerbers, .tgz files, pick-and-place files, etc. We find that Valor provides that third-party platform in order for us to quickly and automatically create those deliverables which we then load into our ERP systems for release to the suppliers.
Shaughnessy: What kind of design challenges are your teams facing?
Davis: Certainly the challenge we have as a world leader in semiconductors is the breadth of technology that we see. We see everything from two layer boards to 24-layer boards. We have a group here doing ATE boards. We're doing simple Bluetooth boards, WiFi boards, high-speed networking boards. So I think that the challenge we have is that, in a large design group, it's good for the designers to get that variety, and that keeps their skill sets really sharp on a variety of technologies. We're not doing power supply after power supply after power supply. You may work on a WiFi board one week and you may work on a cable set-top box or a cable modem the next week. That's one of the dynamic aspects of my group: the variety of technology that Broadcom brings to the table. It’s unique to the industry.
Shaughnessy: We surveyed our readers last month, and some of the designers said that it's getting to be less fun because there's so little real estate and they're just running out of space on the board. Is that a real problem for you too?
Davis: Yes, it's a real problem with the miniaturization of the WiFi circuits and the RF circuits. Certainly cellular telephones and any kind of 4G LTE and the new technologies that are coming up are just getting smaller and smaller. We are seeing 0.35 mm packages, 0.2 mm packages, so you're forced into these HDI, almost completely three-dimensional models that become very difficult to even realize or get a picture of when you first load your schematics and associate it to your board layout. It's very challenging.
Shaughnessy: How small of a via can you design?
Davis: Of course we can design almost anything. The fabricators are typically limiting us in some cases to 4 mil mechanicals, certainly 6 mil is a real break point. But 8 mil mechanicals are not a problem. You can go pretty thick on that. Microvias, we're trying to push down to 4 mils with 8 mil pads. That's pretty tight, but we stay pretty much industry standard as far as Class 2 for our designs. High reliability for most consumer electronics is not that large of an issue. You're certainly not Class 3. Most of our material is still 370HR, except for our high-speed stuff. We are doing some exotic materials and pushing the envelope in the SerDes serial stream gigabits per second.
Shaughnessy: It sounds like you have a really fun job.
Davis: It's a great job. I love being a part of industry opportunities. I want to thank you and appreciate the time to talk to me today.
Shaughnessy: Thank you. It’s been a pleasure.
Suggested Items
DownStream Acquisition Fits Siemens’ ‘Left-Shift’ Model
06/26/2025 | Andy Shaughnessy, I-Connect007I recently spoke to DownStream Technologies founder Joe Clark about the company’s acquisition by Siemens. We were later joined by A.J. Incorvaia, Siemens’ senior VP of electronic board systems. Joe discussed how he, Rick Almeida, and Ken Tepper launched the company in the months after 9/11 and how the acquisition came about. A.J. provides some background on the acquisition and explains why the companies’ tools are complementary.
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.
Siemens Turbocharges Semiconductor and PCB Design Portfolio with Generative and Agentic AI
06/24/2025 | SiemensAt the 2025 Design Automation Conference, Siemens Digital Industries Software today unveiled its AI-enhanced toolset for the EDA design flow.
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?
Beyond Design: The Metamorphosis of the PCB Router
06/18/2025 | Barry Olney -- Column: Beyond DesignThe traditional PCB design process is often time-consuming and labor-intensive. Routing a complex PCB layout can consume up to 30% of a designer’s time, and addressing this issue is not straightforward. We have all encountered this scenario: You spend hours setting the constraints and finally hit the Go button, only to be surprised by the lack of visual appeal and the obvious flaws in the result.