Several months ago, I wrote an article about my observations on the accessibility options for a mid-tier PCB design tool.

The responses and comments on LinkedIn were shocking and confirmed what I’d been hearing online and offline for the past 3-4 years. I’ll put the full article link below, but the engagement and comments alone tell the story, mid-tier designers are frustrated. Here’s a quick snapshot of the amount of engagement on the topic:

In the comments, designers shared stories about rising software costs, changing licensing models, and choosing different tools for different applications. Many expressed feeling caught between capable open-source tools like KiCad and the big three commercial PCB design tools from Altium, Siemens, and Cadence.

They had a lot to say and shared interesting insights. Many were thinking about how to access professional tools with business models that better reflect how many engineers work today. Several, understandably, defended their favorite tool. Others were less sure and considering their options, but were aggravated by the choices, or lack thereof. In all cases, designers were clearly happy to have a voice and have the conversation.

The Profession Has Changed

Think about today’s PCB design community. Not every engineer works for a large enterprise. Today’s landscape includes independent contractors, consultants, hardware startups, small design firms, and highly specialized engineering teams. It’s a much more distributed profession than it was twenty years ago, even more so post-COVID.

Many companies need advanced PCB design capabilities for a few critical projects each year, but traditional enterprise licensing doesn’t fit their needs or budgets.

That naturally begs the question: Shouldn’t professional PCB software be packaged and licensed differently, too?

I don’t think there’s a single right answer, and judging from the conversations in my LinkedIn thread that followed my last article, most of you don’t either. What most can agree upon is that any tool is only as good as a skilled designer who uses it:

A Fortune 100 engineering organization has radically different needs than an independent contract designer or a startup building its first product. Different engineers have different workflows, needs, budgets, and business realities.

For this reason, I’ve been encouraged to see EDA companies beginning to rethink how professional tools are packaged, licensed, and delivered. One recent example came from Siemens.

Not long ago, I learned Siemens is now offering Xpedition Standard for $299 per month with no annual contract and the flexibility to cancel at any time. You can also use tokens to gain access to advanced capabilities for short-term use, and only when you need them.

In fact, it was a podcast I recorded with David Haboud of Siemens, a former colleague from my Altium days, that got me thinking more deeply about this topic and helped inspire my original article on the shrinking mid-tier. Because Siemens is our podcast sponsor, I work closely with their team and interview their SMEs 4 times per year. Those conversations have given me a front-row seat to their thinking about the future of PCB design and how they can make professional tools more accessible to a broader range of engineers.

A Different Way of Thinking About Access

However, it wasn’t simply a new pricing tier that caught my attention. To me, seems like a move toward better accessibility and flexibility. It also resonates with one of the key themes I covered in my earlier article: the need for professional tools that better fit the realities of today’s engineering community.

For consultants, startups, and smaller engineering organizations, that flexibility can make professional tools much more attainable. More importantly, for organizations that require it, users can continue to keep their design environment and data on-premises to help secure their intellectual property.

From what I can tell, other EDA vendors may be moving in a similar direction, but honestly, I still find the overall licensing landscape a bit foggy. For instance, can someone help me understand Altium Develop? To be fully transparent, I have the least familiarity with Cadence and its EDA ecosystem beyond the basics. However, due to my current work with the Siemens team, I have a clearer understanding of what they’re trying to accomplish.

Siemens is asking an important question: How do you make professional PCB design technology more accessible without compromising the capabilities that engineers expect? Whether they’ve found the perfect answer is for the market to decide. But I appreciate that they’re asking the question. Here are a few scenarios that come to mind:

• For an independent design contractor, this model could mean adopting a professional PCB platform for the duration of a customer engagement without signing a long-term agreement.

• For a startup, it lowers the financial barrier to getting started while preserving a path to grow into more advanced capabilities over time.

• For a smaller engineering team, it provides an option to evaluate professional PCB technology over time without making an enterprise-sized commitment on day one.

• If you have just a few projects a year, you can use a professional tool and turn advanced capabilities on and off exactly when you need them, so you’re not paying a premium for features you rarely or never use.

If you find yourself in a similar situation, it certainly presents an interesting option worth exploring. In all of this, what I find compelling is the broader trend and what it could mean for professional engineers who don’t want or need a one-size-fits-all solution.

Every designer has distinct business realities and faces varied requirements. Conversely, every EDA vendor needs to balance innovation, profitability, and customer expectations. It’s not a simple problem to solve, or we would have done it already. But when companies genuinely respond to the way engineers work today by creating more flexible ways to access professional tools, maybe we’re finally beginning to adjust the way we think about modern designers and the way we offer professional PCB design software. Only time will tell, but for now, I’m pleased to see it’s a move in the right direction.

With all this said, I’m far more interested in your perspective as a professional PCB designer than hearing the sound of my own voice. So let me know what you’re seeing these days. Is the industry making real progress, or is there still a significant gap between what designers need and what the market is providing?

PS: Siemens has provided this free 30-day trial for our EEcosystem Community Members. If you do give it a test drive, please share your insights in the comments section below so we can continue to learn together.

Stay curious and keep growing!

Judy Warner
Founder, The Engineering EEcosystem

Previous Article: PCB Design Unrest: Bridg

ing the Gap with a Professional Mid-Tier Design Tool

Join The Engineering EEcosystem today for high-quality free engineering resources, like our FREE online Masterclasses with Eric Bogatin, podcasts featuring expert engineers, articles, and free downloadable content.

This hit close to home for me. I’ve known and served many of these engineers during my years as Altium’s Head of Community Engagement. In fairness to Altium, the company was acquired by Renesas in 2024 and is now under new leadership. It is also worth noting that the peak of the social media unrest rose sharply in the wake of that acquisition. Sadly, many otherwise strong companies have encountered similar turbulence following a buyout. We’ve yet to see how this will all shake out in the long run.

As I scrolled through the threads, plenty of designers still defended the value of Altium Designer as a high-quality tool, along with the game-changing collaboration capabilities of Altium 365. But one particular comment stood out to me in the din of these debates:

“The mid-tier is dead. KiCad for basics, but nothing pro without breaking the bank.”

To me, that comment cuts right to the heart of what so many designers are feeling. As far as I can tell, this creates a monumental problem that impacts roughly 30% of PCB designers. When you boil it down, this group wants an affordable, professional mid-tier design tool that allows them to choose between cloud-based or on-premise workflows and that works for individuals or small teams.

KiCad has made significant strides in recent years, but as the commenter notes, there is still a sizable gap between open-source tools and enterprise-level platforms. After nearly 30 years of working alongside PCB designers, I can say this with confidence: they do not want anyone messing with their tools. These tools sit at the core of their livelihood, daily workflow, and their ability to create the technologies that move our world forward. So, I found myself wondering who is going to step up and fill this gap.

It turns out Siemens heard the noise and answered the call.

Earlier this year at Microchip Masters, I learned that Siemens had quietly launched two new offerings built on the same foundation as their enterprise tool Xpedition. They use the same file formats and the same data model with no painful migrations.

• PADS Pro Essentials: a true professional tool priced for individual designers and small teams.

• Xpedition Standard: a powerful step-up option for small firms, with collaboration features, constraints management, and access to a shared token pool for HyperLynx and Valor when needed.
  
  Affordable. On-prem or cloud. Your choice. No lectures.

With all this in mind, I invited David Haboud from Siemens to join me on the podcast last week so I could dig deeper and find out what is driving their strategy. He walked me through the token model that keeps costs reasonable, the seamless scaling that preserves years of learned workflow, and how they are capturing decades of expert knowledge to help newer engineers ramp faster.

If you are one of the designers venting in those online threads or quietly dreading your next license renewal, this episode is for you.

Siemens may have just created the mid-tier solution the industry has been asking for. However, I’m interested in your perspective, so please take a listen and let me know what you think.

Listen or watch the full Podcast here

Siemens has offered a free Xpedition trial for our readers and all EEcosystem Community members.

Not a member of The EEcosystem? Join now for more pro engineering content and member-only free resources and online Masterclasses. Click here to join now!

I recently heard from one of our community members, Rok Mih from Slovakia, who shared how much he enjoyed our post about free engineering tools on The EEcosystem website. Rok also recommended that we share another valuable resource with the community, which seemed like a great idea.

This week, we’re highlighting Qucs (Quite Universal Circuit Simulator), a free and open-source circuit simulator that deserves a spot in every engineer’s toolkit.
🔗 https://qucs.sourceforge.net/

What it is
Qucs provides a clean graphical interface for circuit simulation. It supports DC, AC, S-parameter, noise, harmonic balance, and transient analyses. You can capture schematics, run simulations, and view plots and diagrams all in one place. It even supports imported SPICE models, parameterized subcircuits, and several well-known semiconductor device models.

Why I’m Sharing This
Over the years, I’ve worked with many companies that create powerful simulation tools for enterprise engineering teams. (Ansys, Keysight, Simbeor, etc.) These commercial platforms are impressive, used by top design and verification engineers to push the limits of performance. But not every engineer or small company can justify the cost. For independent designers, consultants, and educators, affordable or open-source tools like Qucs provide real opportunities to learn, test ideas, and deliver quality designs without large software investments.

Why You Might Like Qucs

• It’s free and open source.

• It supports multiple types of analysis.

• It allows SPICE model imports and parameter sweeps.

• It’s excellent for learning or teaching circuit theory.

While Qucs is not updated as frequently as commercial tools, it remains a capable and flexible platform for analog, mixed-signal, and RF work.

Ideas to Try

• Run pre-layout verification of analog blocks.

• Experiment with signal integrity using S-parameters.

• Use it for student or team training.

• Explore new concepts or design ideas at no cost.

If you haven’t tried Qucs yet, download it and give it a look. It’s available for Windows, macOS, and Linux.

And as always, I’d love to hear from you:
What free or low-cost tools do you rely on most?
Have you used Qucs before?
What other tools should we feature next?

Thank you, Rok, for your thoughtful suggestion—and thanks to all of you who make this community such a supportive place to learn and grow. If you have ideas to share, such as a useful tool, a potential podcast guest, or a Masterclass topic, please reach out to me at judy@theeecosystem.com or through LinkedIn. Your input directly shapes what we create, so keep those great ideas coming.

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Join The EEcosystem Community for more Free engineering articles, podcasts, and online Masterclasses from Dr Eric Bogatin https://theeecosystem.com

Stay curious and keep learning!

Judy Warner, Founder of The EEcosystem

One of the best parts of events like this is reconnecting with people who are doing fascinating work. On Tuesday evening, I ran into Caleb Buck, a PCB Design Electronics Engineer at Nidec Aerospace. Caleb was a featured PCB West speaker this year who has designed some impressive boards for high-power systems. His session was titled High-Power PCB Design: Pushing the Limits. I’ve added Caleb to my list of future podcast guests so he can share what he’s learned about tackling tough design challenges in aerospace and other complex applications.

I also caught up with Troy Hopkins, who presented the PCB West session Beyond the Layers: Advanced Techniques for PCB Stack-Up Design. Troy is a talented full-stack hardware engineer who owns Hopfinity Designs where he designs embedded systems. These days, Troy is teaching a lot through PCEA’s CPCD training and Altium’s education programs. He’s one of those rare engineers who loves sharing knowledge as much as he loves designing. I highly recommend connecting with Troy on LinkedIn.

Because PCB West’s exhibition and free sessions all happen in one packed day, it was a very early start and a late finish for me on Wednesday. My first session featured a panel discussing What Users Really Think of Today’s AI. Panelists included Alex Zannos (Pensa), Matt Leary (Newgrange), Farzam Moshtagh (Epoch), and Jackson Schultz (Rainmaker), with moderator Phil Marcoux. It’s clear that while engineers are still very much needed in the loop, AI is making real progress in removing repetitive and time-consuming design tasks.

The keynote that followed, presented by Jackson Schultz of Rainmaker, was one of the most inspiring talks I’ve attended in a while. Rainmaker aspires to tackle global water scarcity through cloud-seeding drones filled with complex PCBs that must operate and hover at freezing altitudes. It was fascinating to see how Shultz highlighted the critical role that PCBs play in enabling a novel technology that has the potential to impact humanity in such a wide-reaching and meaningful way. He also shared the very interesting history of cloud-seeding as a technology, and how Rainmaker is poised to move this technology forward.

At lunch, I met with Agustin Araujo and Stephan Schmidt from Pentalogix, who shared information about their newest version of ViewMate Essentials. It puts design-for-manufacturing power directly in the hands of PCB designers before sending files off to fabrication. Designers can input their fabricator’s custom constraints, which makes for a smoother handoff, shorter lead times, and cost savings. This powerful yet affordable tool continues to be a significant value-add for PCB designers.

Lunch turned out to be perfectly timed, as I was seated where I could wave to a steady parade of familiar faces walking by. I caught up with Mohammad Matin and Rob Telson from Celus, a fast-growing AI company that’s made major progress since last year’s show. Celus is now integrated with Siemens’ PartsQuest Design Enablement technology, and its user base has grown dramatically. ( FYI, Rob invited me to be a guest on the Celus podcast soon, which I’m looking forward to! I will share it with you when it’s available.)

When I finally hit the exhibition floor in the afternoon, I ran into Robert Byrne of AllSpice.io. One of the more mature AI-enabled collaboration platforms in the hardware design space. Their tools continue to set the bar for version control, design reviews, and workflow automation for engineering teams. Unfortunately I missed the sessions led by co-founders Valentina Radner and Kyle Dumont, who presented on how AI and modern DevOps practices are reshaping the future of hardware development. We’ve been partnering with AllSpice at The EEcosystem, and I’m sure you will see them on the podcast soon for updates. So, stay tuned!

Soon after, a spontaneous gathering of longtime industry friends: Joe Fjelstad, Marcy LaRont, Gene Wiener, and Joe O’Neil. Joe Fjelstad, who is a prolific author, columnist, and educator in the field of interconnects, packaging, and flexible circuits (with over 150 patents), shared an apropos quote from Winston Churchill that fit the moment:

“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”
That perfectly sums up the individuals pictured below, and I’m grateful to know each one.

I also ran into Zach Peterson, who now hosts the OnTrack Podcast. I had the privilege to launch and host the OnTrack Podcast during my time at Altium. When I left Altium, he took over hosting the podcast, and in fact, recorded 11 interviews during PCB West, so be sure to check those out when they’re released. I’m sure there will be some interesting insights in these episodes. We snapped a quick photo to acknowledge the past and present of the OnTrack podcast that has now been serving designers for over seven years.

On last week’s EEcosystem Podcast, my guest was David Schild of PCBAA, and it was great to meet him in person at the show. The Printed Circuit Board Association of America, PCBAA, now has more than 70 members and is making great progress in building a secure and resilient PCB supply chain in the U.S. I encourage you to join as a member to grow our industry’s voice on Capitol Hill. Why? Well, their tagline says it best: “Chips Don’t Float!”

One AI-driven company that really stood out this year was Zenode. Co-Founder Collin Stoner was on my radar (and podcast) after PCB West last year. Zenode’s booth was buzzing with their new Titans of Electronics trading cards which were packs of AI-generated collector cards featuring past legends of the history of electronics. But they were also printing the cards on demand to everyone who visited their booth, which created a lot of fun and buzz. They surprised me with a framed version of an AI image I had created and posted on LinkedIn just before PCB West. It now sits proudly on my desk. Thank you, Colin, Brandon, and Graeme! Zenode has made big strides since last year’s show and will be featured on an upcoming podcast soon.

After a long day on the show floor, I made my way to the Cofactr Happy Hour, where I caught up with Carl Schattke, lead PCB designer at Tesla, along with PCB West speakers Rick Hartley, Susy Webb, and Stephen Chavez of Siemens. It turned into a mini reunion as we shared memories of AltiumLive conferences, where all except for Steph had been speakers. However, Steph is now the Chairman of the PCEA and creates PCB Design content for Siemens.

Later that night, I joined Tomide Adesanmi and the Circuit Mind team at Top Golf. Circuit Mind continues to grow steadily, helping engineers automate schematic capture in powerful new ways. In the past year, they have successfully put their tools in the hands of important enterprise hardware OEMs who are leaning into the AI-enabled schematic capabilities of CircuitMind. At this year’s PCB West they invited me along with about 40 hardware engineers to enjoy both conversation and fun at Top Golf. What a fun way to end my time at PCB West!

My short 2 days in Santa Clara went by in a blur, but I came home with a renewed appreciation for the talent, creativity, generosity, and innovation of this industry. I hope you enjoyed this quick highlight of some of the people, technologies, and ideas shaping our industry today, and I hope you’ll enjoy connecting with the people and companies I connected with at this year’s PCB West.

A big thanks to the entire PCEA team for another outstanding conference and all the tireless work they do to support PCB Design engineers year after year!

AI isn't just hype anymore; it’s starting to reshape how we design and build electronics.

This month, we’re diving into how AI is reshaping schematic design, PCB layout, embedded, and the tools engineers rely on every day.

Judy Warner CEO and Founder,

The EEcosystem

From SpaceX Rockets to Physics-Based AI PCB Design Entrepreneur

In the latest EEcosystem podcast episode, you'll meet Sergiy Nesterenko, CEO of Quilter. We take a deep dive into his origins at Berkley and SpaceX and how that shaped his mindset and trajectory at Quilter, where he is blazing a new frontier of physics-based AI PCB design technology

Watch or Listen Here

Watch the Interview

Exclusive Interview: Siemens + Microchip Partner to unleash AI-enabled workflow

Judy Warner was recently invited by Siemens and Microchip to sit down for an insider chat about their brand-new PartQuest Design Enablement platform, which launched at Microchip Masters 2025. This technology unifies design content, BOM intelligence, collaboration, and customer engagement in one seamless environment

From smarter BOM management to in-browser simulation and AI-powered documentation, this partnership shows how AI is rapidly changing from a buzzword to real engineering applications.

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For five amazing years, I served as Director of Marketing and Head of Community Engagement, working alongside a world-class marketing team. Together, we launched AltiumLive, the OnTrack Podcast, and the OnTrack Newsletter. On the side, I ran our academic outreach program, connecting with engineering students across the globe—and even had the opportunity to cover SpaceX’s Hyperloop competition, overseen by Elon Musk himself.

It was a career highlight I’ll always be grateful for.

But then COVID hit—and like so many, I saw the parts of my role I loved most stripped away. By December 2021, it was time for a change.

I had a dream: to build something new from the pieces I loved best—serving engineers through great content, expert insights, and a vibrant, supportive community. I envisioned a fresh platform where engineers could self-educate, grow professionally, and learn from the industry's top minds. So, I took a deep breath, tapped into my savings, and bootstrapped the launch of The EEcosystem podcast—funded entirely by sponsorships. Honestly, it felt crazy at first. Like most startups, it was exhilarating, terrifying… and deeply personal.

Fast forward to today—and this moment makes it all feel worth it.

If you’re in electronics design, you probably know Dr. Eric Bogatin. He’s one of the world’s most respected signal integrity experts and educators. For years, he’s helped thousands of engineers build better designs with greater confidence by understanding how signals really move through boards and systems. Eric teaches undergrad, graduate and PhD students at the University of Colorado Boulder and brings the rare combo of real-world engineering experience, academic depth, and a gift for clear communication. He’s basically a magical unicorn.

Eric and I have collaborated on many projects over the years—including during my time at Altium. But this year, something special happened: we officially partnered to bring a series of online Masterclasses to The EEcosystem platform.

The first course—Transmission Lines 101—launched May 1. It was originally a $1,000 live online course, but thanks to our generous sponsors, Rohde & Schwarz and Polar Instruments, we’ve made it completely free. The course includes 25 bite-sized modules, and over 1,000 engineers have already registered. Almost 100 have completed it and earned certificates they can use for CEU credits—or simply to demonstrate their commitment to continuous learning.

And now, I’m thrilled to share it with you, our Substack community.
👉 Sign up here for free: https://www.theeecosystem.com/masterclass

At The EEcosystem, our mission is to Educate, Connect, Equip, and Inspire professional engineers. This free Masterclass is one big step toward that goal.

We also host a “weekly-ish” podcast—available on our website, YouTube, or your favorite podcast app—and we’ve got another exciting course from Eric Bogatin coming this August. This next Masterclass is on High-Speed Digital Design. This is an MS-level course Professor Bogatin taught and recorded at CU Boulder in Spring 2025. With over 30 hours of content, it’s structured for self-paced learning and broken into manageable modules you can work through on your own schedule.

We invite you to subscribe to our Substack. Explore TheEEcosystem.com. Tap into our free tools, resources, and member-only benefits. As our community grows, so do the opportunities to bring you world-class engineering content—thanks to the generous support of our sponsors.

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Enjoy the Masterclass—and thank you for being part of The EEcosystem!

Warmly,
Judy
Founder & Host, The EEcosystem

I’ve known Gerry for over a decade and have always appreciated how he brings clarity to the often-murky space between PCB layout and fabrication. With more than 25 years of experience preparing fabrication files, Gerry has become a trusted authority on all things DFM.

Early in my career, I spent 16 years selling PCB fabrication services. I worked closely with designers, engineering teams, and manufacturing managers–constantly bridging the gap between design engineers and front-end engineering teams at board shops. Over time, it became crystal clear that a successful PCB design didn’t just rely on the designer, but equally on the skill, DFM expertise, and communication of the fabricator’s front-end engineer. That perspective sharpened my ability to recognize real DFM talent—and Gerry stood out from the start. He’s been my go-to expert ever since.

So today, I’d like to (re)introduce you to Gerry and pass along the top DFM lessons I’ve learned from his decades of experience. I hope these insights help your next design handoff go more smoothly—and help you avoid costly delays or respins.

Subscribe now

Top Seven DFM Tips I’ve Learned from Gerry

Here’s a concise list of DFM best practices Gerry consistently emphasizes:

1. “Control what you can control.”
This is Gerry’s cornerstone principle. Don’t leave critical manufacturing decisions—like stackup, padstack specs, or impedance targets—to the fabricator. The clearer and more intentional you are, the better your outcomes.

2. Don’t assume your fabricator knows your intent.
Designers often assume their fab house will “get what I mean.” They won’t. Be explicit—especially around impedance control, materials, and via structures. When possible, include supporting data.

3. Communicate early and often.
Working on a high-speed or complex board? Reach out to your fabricator before finalizing your design. A 15-minute call could save you days—or even weeks—of production delays.

4. Avoid Gerber-only packages.
Gerbers alone are risky. Provide a full data package with intelligent formats like ODB++ or IPC-2581, plus fab drawings, netlists, and material specs to avoid misinterpretation.

5. Don’t recycle old fab notes.
Copying fab notes from previous designs without reviewing them is a common mistake. Always update notes to reflect the current design and manufacturing requirements.

6. Be realistic with annular ring and drill tolerances.
Just because it passes in CAD doesn’t mean it will work in the shop. Account for drill wander and registration tolerances when defining via and pad sizes.

7. Know your fabricator’s capabilities.
Not all shops are built for HDI, flex, or RF boards. Match your design to your fabricator’s strengths—and if you’re unsure, ask early.

Why This Matters

As Gerry often says: “A design isn’t successful until it’s built, tested, and shipped—without drama.” And that success starts long before your board hits the fab floor.

Too often, designs are delayed or rejected because critical data was missing, assumptions were made, or documentation was unclear. The fix? Start thinking like a manufacturing partner, not just a designer.

📚 More DFM Content from Gerry and Summit Interconnect

Want to go deeper? Here are more expert-level resources authored or presented by Gerry that will sharpen your DFM instincts:

• 📘 The Key to First-Pass Success in PCB Design
  How early designer-fabricator collaboration improves yield and minimizes redesigns.
  
  📘 Reliability Challenges of Microvias Placed Over Epoxy-Filled and Cap-Plated Vias
  A deep dive into HDI design risks and long-term reliability strategies.
  
  📘 Removing Non-Functional Pads and Routing Conductors
  Best practices for spacing, IPC compliance, and avoiding field failures.
  
  🎓 Browse Summit’s Full Library of Technical Blogs and Webinars
  Stay current with the latest best practices in PCB manufacturing.

DFM in Action: Podcast Conversations with Gerry Partida

During my time at Altium as host of the OnTrack Podcast, Gerry joined me in our San Diego offices to record three episodes focused entirely on DFM. If you’ve ever struggled with what happens after you release your files to your CM or fabricator, these are a must-listen:

• 🎧 Gerry Partida on Wrap Plating and Why It Matters
  

• 🎧 From CAD to PCB: The Data You Give Me and What I Actually Do With It
  

• 🎧 Why Protect Vias? The Case for Tenting, Masking, and More

💡 Final Thought

If you’re a layout engineer, hardware designer, or someone who regularly interfaces with your CM or fabricator, you owe it to yourself to learn from experts like Gerry Partida. His practical wisdom has saved more than a few projects and reputations.

And when in doubt, do what I do: Contact Gerry!

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Subscribe to The EEcosystem for expert insights, engineering best practices, and behind-the-scenes stories from industry leaders like Gerry Partida. And share it with a friend!

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"Why don’t the boards you send me match the careful simulations I made before fabrication?"

It’s a fair question that deserves an answer—but as I’m sure you know, it’s not a simple one to answer!

Bert and I discussed this very topic of his recent article on the EEcosytem podcast earlier this year, as he was preparing his paper for DesignCon. And while I don’t claim to have the deep technical expertise of people like Bert Simonovich, Eric Bogatin, Steve Sandler, Heidi Barnes, or John Coonrod, I’ve had the good fortune to learn from many of them over the years. Between my time hosting the OnTrack Podcast at Altium and now building The EEcosystem, I’ve been a student of some of the industry’s best.

So, I thought this would be a good week to revisit this common question and share what I’ve learned from the experts about why your simulations often don’t measure up—and how you can close the gap between expectation and reality.

1. The Problem with Perfect Models

Most signal integrity tools assume ideal conditions—pristine transmission lines, isotropic materials, flawless layer registration, and perfectly controlled impedance. But the real world doesn’t work that way.

As Bert says, “Simulation is only as good as the assumptions and models behind it.”

2. Anisotropy Is Real (and Often Ignored)

A lot of engineers plug a single dielectric constant (Dk) into their simulation, but materials like FR-4 and even high-performance laminates like Rogers or Megtron have directional properties. That’s called anisotropy, and it means the Dk in the XY plane isn’t the same as in the Z-axis. Your signals are taking different paths—and seeing different effective speeds—than your simulation assumes.

3. Manufacturing Tolerances Add Up

Even when simulations are carefully constructed, fabrication throws in real-world variability:

• Etch width variation

• Resin content shifts

• Copper roughness

• Glass weave skew

• Press-out thickness inconsistencies

At GHz frequencies and above, these small differences have big effects—and simulations rarely model them accurately unless you build that complexity in. (Hint: add D coupons to your panels and use the measured results to inform your future simulations.

4. Return Path Assumptions Are Often Wrong

Professor Eric Bogatin has said it countless times:

“If you don’t control the return path, you don’t control the signal.”

Simulators often assume an ideal return path—smooth and uninterrupted. But vias, cutouts, layer transitions, and power/ground plane swaps can all introduce impedance discontinuities, reflections, and noise coupling. If you’re not modeling the return path explicitly, your simulation will lie to you.

5. Tool Defaults That Sacrifice Accuracy for Speed

Most EDA tools prioritize convenience. Default solver settings, mesh densities, or auto-imported S-parameters might look fine on the surface, but under the hood, they can skip over important physics. Fast results aren’t helpful if they’re wrong. And nothing replaces good engineering judgment built over time. See Rule #9: Always anticipate what you expect the measurement will be (before you start hitting buttons!)

How to Make Your Simulations Tell the Truth

Here’s what leading experts recommend:

Use Measured S-Parameters When Possible

Leverage measured S-parameters for interconnects whenever they’re available—whether from a VNA or a trusted vendor. Then, validate the data for:

• Causality

• Passivity

• Reciprocity

If those aren’t true, your results won’t be either.

NOTE: I worked with Eric on a Keysight Masterclass called How to Read S-Parameters Like a Book. I’ll let you know when it is published on Keysight Learn.

Ask Your EMS or Fabricator for Real Stackup Data

Don’t rely on datasheet Dk at 1 MHz or assume standard layer thicknesses. Partner with your fabricator to get:

• Actual dielectric thicknesses

• Frequency-dependent Dk and Df

• Copper weights and profiles

• Resin content and weave style

You’ll be amazed at how much this improves simulation correlation.

Include Real Loss Mechanisms

Ideal transmission lines just don’t cut it. Add in:

• Conductor losses (consider Huray roughness models—better yet, Bert Simoniviches’ improved Cannonball-Huray Model).

• Dielectric losses (frequency-dependent)

• Via stub effects and connector discontinuities

Lossy modeling might take longer, but it’s worth the fidelity.

Validate with TDR and VNA Measurements

Before you send out additional prototypes, correlate simulation results with:

• TDR (Time Domain Reflectometry) for impedance and reflections

• VNA (Vector Network Analyzer) for S-parameters

If the real-world measurement disagrees with the simulation, it’s time to revisit your assumptions, not your board layout (yet).

Model Return Paths Explicitly

Include reference plane changes, via stitching, decoupling capacitor positions, and any likely path discontinuities. Assume nothing. Model everything.

📚 Want to Dive Deeper? Start Here:

📖 Books

• Signal and Power Integrity—Simplified by Eric Bogatin

• High-Speed Digital Design: A Handbook of Black Magic by Howard Johnson & Martin Graham

• Signal Integrity in Practice—by Donald Telian

📄 Articles & Papers

• “Avoiding Garbage-In-Garbage-Out (GIGO) with Field Solvers” — Bert Simonivich, Signal Integrity Journal

• How Interconnects Work: Modeling Conductor Loss and Dispersion — Yuriy Schlepnev, Signal Integrity Journal

• Signal Integrity and Layout: Learning to Partner— Donald Telian, Signal Integrity Journal

🌐 Online Resources

• Signal Integrity Journal

• Keysight Application Notes

• The EEcosystem Masterclass: Transmission Lines 101 – Our foundational video series with Dr. Eric Bogatin

Subscribe now

💬 Final Thoughts

Simulations are a critical part of modern design—but they’re not infallible. They’re only as good as your assumptions, models, and data inputs. The great news is: you don’t need to be a Ph.D. or a field solver ninja to get better results. With accurate material data, solid measurement practices, and a little mentorship from the legends in our industry, you can make your simulations far more predictive—and a lot less painful.

If you've ever been burned by a simulation mismatch, I'd love to hear about it. What’s the worst “simulation looked great…scope (or VNA) said nope” moment you've had? Share in the comments, or drop me a line. We might feature your insight here in future posts!

Leave a comment

This graduate-level course is designed for engineers who want to deepen their understanding of high-speed design principles and apply them directly to real-world challenges. If you’ve taken Transmission Lines 101, this will be your next step forward.

We’re structuring this Masterclass into four focused courses, with over 30 hours of video content broken into short, digestible lessons. Each course will offer a certification and build upon the last. It will cover everything from foundational principles to advanced signal integrity topics.

Here’s a first look at the course lineup:

High-Speed Design Foundations

• Intro and Overview

• Bandwidth and Models

• R, L, and C Modeling

Single-Ended Transmission Lines & Signal Behavior

• Transmission Lines and Signals

• Reflections, Topology, and Terminations

• Discontinuities

• Crosstalk

Differential Pair Transmission Lines and Signals

• Differential Pairs

• S-Parameters

• Lossy Lines

High-Speed Serial Links

• Eyes and Collapse

• Vias and Discontinuities

We’re deep in the process of building it now and sourcing sponsors who enable us to offer all our Masterclasses free for you!

I’ll keep you posted as we get closer to launch.

Thanks for being part of The EEcosystem. More soon!

Warm Regards,
Judy Warner
Founder, The EEcosystem

Hello Friends,

Yesterday, I recorded a new podcast episode with power integrity guru Steve Sandler, which will be out later this week. During our conversation, he asked if I’d seen the news about the record-breaking 124-layer PCB. I hadn’t—but that question sent me down a fascinating rabbit hole this morning.

OKI Circuit Technology of Japan has officially introduced a 124-layer PCB, marking the highest known commercial stack height for semiconductor test boards to date. (The former record holder was 108 layers.) Even more impressive, they achieved this without exceeding the standard 7.6 mm board thickness (just under ⅓"), which has long been a mechanical and thermal constraint in wafer-level test systems.

This news dropped via All About Circuits in a detailed and insightful article by Luke James (May 9, 2025), and I couldn’t wait to break it down for our EEcosystem community.

Why 124 Layers Is a Big Deal

On paper, jumping from 108 to 124 layers may not sound earth-shattering. But in practice, that’s a 15% increase in routing density—achieved without compromising board thickness, reliability, or signal integrity.

Each additional layer provides critical real estate to:

• Route more signals in less space

• Enhance shielding

• Improve management of differential pairs for bleeding-edge protocols like PCIe Gen6 and CXL 3.0

That level of density is a game-changer in wafer-level HBM testing, where vertical interconnects, power integrity, and crosstalk suppression are make-or-break factors. It’s no wonder this breakthrough caught Steve Sandler’s attention. He works closely with nearly every major semiconductor company on cutting-edge solutions—and he knows a signal integrity milestone when he sees one.

The Secret Sauce: Materials and Precision

This leap didn’t come from a single breakthrough but rather an orchestration of engineering innovations:

• Ultra-thin dielectric layers just 25 µm thick

• Likely use of high-performance, low-loss laminates such as Megtron 7

• Symmetrical stack-ups and controlled impedance within ±5%

• Thermal resilience tested through 1,000+ cycles under MIL-STD-883G

All of this while supporting:

• Frequencies exceeding 112 GHz

• Thermal stress endurance over 80 MPa between copper and FR-4 interfaces

This is rarefied air. We're talking AI accelerators, aerospace, defense, and next-generation telecommunications.

The Reality Check: Cost and Complexity

Of course, pushing the bleeding edge comes at a cost.

According to All About Circuits, these boards:

• Cost approximately $4,800 per square meter

• Require up to 16 weeks to produce

• Deliver yield rates around 65% (compared to 85% for 108-layer builds)

Troubleshooting mid-stack failures often involves destructive cross-sectioning, which further impacts yield and adds complexity.

But someone has to go first.

OKI’s achievement may pave the way for broader industry adoption. The precision engineering that enables 124 layers today could help us deliver similar performance with fewer layers or smarter routing tomorrow—especially as AI-powered EDA tools and additive manufacturing continue to mature.

A Step Toward Scalable Innovation

While Denso still holds the absolute record with 129 layers (set back in 2012), OKI’s board stands out for being commercially viable, thermally reliable, and ready for production—a key distinction in a world where theoretical engineering rarely scales.

So yes, 124 layers is impressive. But the bigger story here is how this breakthrough might accelerate innovation in systems that demand more from every square millimeter of real estate.

Hope you enjoyed today’s read! Stay curious, friends!
Judy Warner

👉 Join The EEcosystem for FREE online Electronics Masterclasses from Eric Bogatin and enjoy all of our member-only benefits

Source: Luke James, “OKI Reaches New Heights With a 124-Layer PCB,” All About Circuits, May 9, 2025.
Read the full article on All About Circuits

Every once in a while, a good engineer and person walks into your life (or returns to your podcast) and reminds you why you love being part of the engineering community.

For me, that’s Eli Hughes.

Eli wears many hats: teacher, embedded systems guru, acoustics nerd, PCB designer, startup partner, guitar player, and the founder of Wavenumber. But above all, he’s someone who knows how to build stuff. Real stuff. The kind of stuff that bridges the gap between the theoretical and a valuable working product.

He likes to call himself a “full-stack hardware engineer,” a phrase that’s stuck with me since the day I first heard it —and one I’ve repeated many times.

In our recent episode of The EEcosystem Podcast, Eli joined me to share how he’s leveraged NXP’s low-cost, open-source Freedom (FRDM) development boards to help engineers—from students to pros—level up, build faster, and learn what matters most: how to think across the entire stack and bring ideas to life.

Why FRDM Boards Matter (And Why You Should Care)

When Eli was teaching at Penn State, he stopped assigning textbooks and started assigning dev kits. Why? Because students who owned the tools treated them differently. They tinkered. They built. And they learned faster.

For under $25, these boards let you:

• Prototype with pro-grade microcontrollers

• Write real firmware in a professional IDE (or VS Code!)

• Use built-in debuggers (just like in industry)

• Integrate Zephyr RTOS and other modern frameworks
  

One of my favorite stories Eli shared during our podcast was about taking these tools to Guatemala, where students used them in a camera-based autonomous car challenge. It was like a one-week engineering bootcamp—and one of those students is now on Eli’s team. Now that’s impact.

From Bone Piles to Production

Whether you're working on an R&D test fixture, simulating digital microphones, prototyping, or just building your next portfolio project, the FRDM platform removes cost as a barrier, and the software stack is as open and powerful as anything I’ve personally heard about.

With all of NXP’s SDKs on GitHub and full support for Zephyr, these tools don’t just help you start projects—they help you finish and ship them.

Quick Takeaways (TL;DR)

• Eli has leveraged FRDM boards as a force multiplier across many engineering roles due to their flexibility, low cost, and being powerful enough for real products.

• You can prototype faster and smarter, with fewer excuses.

• Great for students, pro engineers, and startup founders alike.

• Bonus: they play nice with Arduino and other open-source tools.

• Bottom line: It's never been easier to go from rough idea to working hardware.

🎧 If you haven’t had a chance yet, have a listen to the full conversation with Eli on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or better yet, watch the YouTube version where you can visually see several of Eli’s projects.

To check out the NXP FRDM Dev board website, click here.

Until next time—stay curious, keep growing, and always stay connected to The EEcosystem!

Best wishes,
Judy

PS: Have you use any open-source hardware such as FRDM, Arduino or Raspberry Pi? Tell us about it in the comments, we’d love to hear about it and learn from you!

🎯 “20 Rules of Thumb for Engineers.”

Since we just launched Eric’s Transmission Lines 101 course on The EEcosystem’s Electronics Masterclass platform, it felt like the perfect time to bring this gem back into the spotlight.

In our most recent podcast episode, Eric referenced one of these rules—Rule #9: “Never perform a measurement or simulation without first anticipating the results you expect to see.” But if you know Eric, you know there’s always more. This list is practical, witty, and built from decades of real-world experience. It’s not just about signal integrity—it’s about the mindset of great engineering.

Here’s a quick reference of the full list (originally published in SIJ July 15, 2020). You can read the full article here.

Eric Bogatin’s 20 Rules for Engineers

1. The most common answer to all signal integrity questions is “it depends.”

2. The way to separate myth from reality is by “putting in the numbers.”

3. Beware the “whack-a-mole” effect—fixing one issue may create another.

4. The most important step in fixing a problem is finding the root cause.

5. Apply the Youngman Principle: “If it hurts when you do that—don’t do that.”

6. Sometimes an OK answer now is better than a perfect answer too late.

7. Always follow best design practices when they are free—make them habits.

8. Evaluate “bang for the buck” with virtual prototypes before committing.

9. Never perform a measurement or simulation without first anticipating the results.

10. Don’t believe any measurement or simulation unless it makes sense.

11. Never perform a measurement without a calibration.

12. Document every test setup—you will forget.

13. Know what’s on the other end of every cable.

14. If you can’t draw a schematic of your setup, don’t believe your results.

15. Most oscilloscopes lie—learn how and when.

16. The single biggest problem in measurements is not enough fingers.

17. Most design features don’t matter—identify the few that do.

18. A 10% change in a physical parameter rarely causes a 10% change in performance.

19. Simulation is not the same as reality—but when it disagrees, it tells you something valuable.

20. The goal is not just accurate answers—it’s insight.

These rules are just one example of the thought leadership you’ll find in Signal Integrity Journal. If you haven’t already, 👉 subscribe here—it’s free and well worth your inbox space.

🎓 If Rule #9 resonated with you, you’ll love our Transmission Lines 101 Masterclass.
This on-demand course walks you through the foundations of signal integrity using practical, visual examples—taught by Eric himself.

👉 Register free now: theeecosystem.com/master-classes

📣 Your voice matters:
What topics do you want us to cover next in The EEcosystem Masterclass series? Let us know—your ideas shape what we build.

Stay curious—and keep on learning
Judy Warner