Often designers are asked to apply existing CAD tools to emerging technologies that can leave the typical CAD designer scratching his head. High Density Interconnect (HDI) MCM technology from General Electric pushes the Board Station tool suite in adhering to correct-by-construction methods and in creating manufacturing tools. How can some of the more esoteric features in Board Station be adapted to these exotic designs, in particular, HDI?

This tutorial will provide an overview of the HDI MCM technology and highlight the Mentor design features not commonly used in PCB design. These features include: layer specific design rules, blind vias, vias with multiple drills, single-layer blind pins on three different layers, sheet_dielectric layers, milled cavities, extensive use of keepout regions and one-way_regions. It will also touch on how manufacturing requirements and data extraction influenced rules for geometry construction and module layout.

Bio:
Robert Marks has provided system and software support for Mentor Graphics CAD/CAE workstations at RCA, GE, Martin Marietta, and Lockheed Martin in Moorestown, NJ since 1985. He has provided Board Station support since version 5.3 and was an alpha/beta tester for Board Station V8.0. Robert has worked closely with GE Corporate Research since 1991 in developing HDI design techniques on Hybrid Station. He has intergrated commercial and custom software to develop a process from design to manufacturing and has written a Board Station user's guide for HDI design. Robert has a BS Physics degree and a MS Computer & Electronic Engineering degree.