MICROELECTRONIC SYSTEMS NEWS

FILENUMBER: 9971 BEGIN_KEYWORDS PCB END_KEYWORDS DATE: February 2001 TITLE: INCREASED COMPLEXITY OF PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD DESIGN
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TITLE: INCREASED  COMPLEXITY  OF  PRINTED  CIRCUIT  BOARD DESIGN

Recently printed circuit board (PCB) design has become almost  as
complex  as  system-on-chip  design.   Increasingly, PCBs contain
multiple  layers  of  high-speed  interconnect  for  high-density
packages.   Some  studies  indicate  that  the PCB has become the
bottleneck in system design now that virtual  components  can  be
assembled quickly in SoCs.

Aptix  provides  reconfigurable  PCBs   for   system   emulation.
Component-based  prototyping  allows  the  user  to  build  up  a
reconfigurable  prototype  of  a  system  using   FPGAs   and   a
reconfigurable PCB.  For additional information, access: Aptix

Six European companies have collaborated to develop a  new  rapid
prototyping  platform  called FlexBench.  The product is intended
to reduce time-to-market by accelerating the verification process
and  avoiding respins which may delay product introduction by 3-6
months.  The mother-board consists of  reprogrammable  FPGAs  and
reconfigurable  board  connections  as  well  as sockets for non-
reprogrammable devices.  Up to four of these mother-boards can be
cascaded  and  each has four slots for mezzanine boards. A number
of supporting software tools are available  including  a  system-
level design tool, a partitioner and a JTAG tool.  For additional
information, access: FlexBench


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