It's a good drafting tool that has deservedly become the industry standard. We use it to import a vendor's existing AutoCAD drawings and generate fabrication and assembly drawings. The arrangement lets us perform DRC verification, make design changes to optimize performance, and then transfer the design back to AutoCAD using the DXF format. The streamlined advanced IC package design flow eliminates delays caused by outsourcing critical design activities. Though the new design tools allow us to optimize package designs for performance and manufacturability, they also require new thinking and skills on the part of the package designer.
Automation saves a great deal of time and improves results.
The learning curve steepens at that point, since we must include not just tool training, but training in general design and layout techniques for managing electrical effects as well. Nonetheless, it's a process change that we must make in order to achieve the results we want with our new-generation ICs. A more far-reaching process change is our effort to incorporate packaging design as an integral element of the overall chip design process. The tool's open architecture will aid the integration by allowing design teams to predict how packaging decisions affect overall device and system performance. As a result, the tool can help optimize design performance while avoiding delays and reducing the number of iterations between the design and manufacturing departments.