Course Outline:

1. Getting Started
Signing on and starting up a board design in the Cadence tool set: Allegro PCB SI® (APCBSI) (formerly SpecctraQuest® ), and the accompanying modules of APCBSI:

• Model Integrity® (MI) for SPICE to IBIS model conversion
• SigXplorer® (SX) for topology signal integrity simulation
• ConstraintManager® (CM) for guiding CAD layout with design constraints
• SpecctraQuest® ) (SQ) for routed net signal integrity simulation
• EMControl® (EMC) for rule checking of bypassing, routing, etc.
• Specctra Router Interface® (SPIF) for CAD to simulation interaction
• SigWave® (SW) for post-simulation analysis
• EMISim® (EMIS) for simulating EMI and lowering emissions

2. Resources: Web Information, Tutorials and Help
EDA sites, textbooks, tutorials, ISO procedures, help and more

3. Transmission Line Topology and Termination Design
Lecture and lab: Theory and applications of transmission lines and drivers using SX topology editor

4. Time Domain and Frequency Domain
Lecture and lab: Theory and applications of time and frequency signals using SX, SW and the timing spreadsheet

5. Ground Bounce & Power Integrity
Lecture and lab: Theory and applications of ground and power supply impedance using SQ, EMControl, Power Integrity and SPICE

6. Crosstalk and EMI
Lecture and lab: Theory and applications of mutual coupling and EMI radiation using SQ and EMIS

7. Reports and Waveforms
Lecture and lab: Reports and waveforms to analyze results using SW and SigNoise

8. Measures of Signal Quality
Lecture and lab: Measurements of signal integrity to judge quality and set design constraints using reports and waveforms

9. Changing Property Values and Simulation Preferences
Lecture and lab: Changing "what-if" conditions in your simulations using SX & SQ. Exploring your design space and developing design constraints.

10. Simulating Variation and Setting Constraints
Lecture and lab: Sources of models: Interpreting and modifying an IBIS model using the library and model editing tools.

11. Other Models and Simulators
A tour of SPICE and other models: model verification, connector models, logic family choices, etc.

12. SPICE to IBIS
Creating an IBIS model from scratch from a SPICE model using Model Integrity

13. Board Setup and Manipulation: Placement, Routing, etc.
Lecture and lab: manipulating and viewing the physical layout, topology and transmission line structure using SQ, SPIF and Allegro

14. Design Flow, Constraint Management, DRCs, etc.
Lecture and lab: The process of implementing and adjusting your design using constraint management, DRCs and working with the CAD department

15. Verification and Capturing Lessons Learned
Lecture and lab: The process of verifying your design and learning from experience using the ISO process

16. System Design
Lecture and lab: Multi-board design and production variables using design links, techfiles, BOMs, batch simulations, spreadsheets and more

17. Electromagnetic Modeling and Simulation
Lecture and lab: Power integrity, S-Parameters, convolution, Laplace and other transforms, conducted and radiated emissions, and probabilistic design.

18. Advanced Topics
Lecture and Lab: High-speed source-synchronous serial busses operating in the multi-gigabit range: eye-diagrams, pre/de-emphasis, macromodels, and equation based AMS-VHDL models.