Amundson Launches Arkeo Stack and Arkeo Panel

Reading time ( words)

James Amundson, electronics industry veteran of over 15 years is pleased to announce the launch of Arkeo Stack, an advanced PCB stack-up modeling software, focused on rigid, flex, rigid-flex and IMS PCBs stack-up solutions, targeting design engineers to PCB manufacturers. “Today’s electronics OEM, EMS and PCB companies are challenged in sourcing a cost effective, accurate, intuitive PCB stack-up software that will accommodate, simple to complex interconnect structures and all PCB design types. We believe we have a solution." Amundson Technologies partnered with PCB Companies and industry experts to design a solution to meet and exceed their stack up needs. "We solicited feedback from multiple Front End Engineers, Application Engineers and facility managers, from both rigid and flex PCB manufacturers, in developing Arkeo Stack." Mr. Amundson said.

To list a few of Arkeo stacks features:

• Rigid and Rigid-Flex modeling: Accurately model any number of rigid and flex zones, you can model any build no matter how complex. Accurately model impedance on any section of the build.
• Complex Interconnect Structures: Accurately model and display; mechanical vs laser vias, filled vs unfilled, stacked vs staggered, and consider copper thickness requirements for copper wrap.
• Accurate and Configurable: Materials are configured to facility thicknesses and specifications, making press thicknesses and impedance very accurate. All aspects of the system are configurable to facility or user needs.
• Impedance Calculations: Impedance calculations are generated using Apsim Rlgc for the most accurate predictions. Includes the ability to model structures with crosshatch reference planes.
• Back Calculation: System will automatically back calculate build dielectric thickness and/or line width given specific impedance requirements.
• Electrical Properties; Automatic calculations of individual layer Dk/Df for more accurate impedance predictions.
• Easy to use interface: The interface is very intuitive and easy to use, allowing users to master the software without a long learning curve.
• BOM generation: Bill of Materials with panel specific costs can be generated to view or input into most quotation packages.
• Customizable Reports: Reports are fully customizable allowing you to use your company's logo and display in the format of your choice. Multiple reports can be configured allowing users to have the output they need. Reports can be printed or saved directly to Pdf.
• Panelization: Built-in panelization layout tool. Layout panels with individual boards or arrays, add coupons, rails, etc. Arrays can be layed-out by fixed array size or by a matrix of boards. Full dimensions can be added to the array.
• "Industry feedback has been extremely positive." Amundson continued, "A Tier One OEM benchmarked our product against existing software systems in 2014. The results from their engineering staff gave Arkeo Stack the best report. We now have multiple installations in the US and Canada." 

More information on Arkeo Stack can be found at www.arkeostack.com.

04/30/2021 | Ed Acheson, Cadence Design Systems

With the current design transfer formats, rigid-flex designers face a hand-off conundrum. You know the situation: My rigid-flex design is done so now it is time to get this built and into the product. Reviewing the documentation reveals that there are tables to define the different stackup definitions used in the design. The cross-references for the different zones to areas of the design are all there, I think. The last time a zone definition was missed, we caused a costly mistake.

04/29/2021 | Bill Hargin, Z-zero

When Bill Hargin was cutting his teeth in high-speed PCB design some 25 years ago, speeds were slow, layer counts were low, dielectric constants and loss tangents were high, design margins were wide, copper roughness didn’t matter, and glass-weave styles didn’t matter. Dielectrics were called “FR-4” and their properties didn’t matter much. A fast PCI bus operated at just 66 MHz. Times have certainly changed.

04/30/2021 | Anaya Vardya, American Standard Circuits

One of the biggest challenges facing PCB designers is understanding the cost drivers in the PCB manufacturing process. This article is the first in a series that will discuss these cost drivers (from the PCB manufacturer’s perspective) and the design decisions that will impact product reliability.