YOU HAVE THE PASSION, PADS GIVES YOU THE CONFIDENCE

Transcription

1 YOU HAVE THE PASSION, PADS GIVES YOU THE CONFIDENCE A Guide for Translating Altium to PADS Standard

2 SECTIONS INTRODUCTION AND GETTING STARTED CONVERT ALTIUM LAYOUT TO PADS LAYOUT AND GENERATE PCB LIBRARY IMPORT ALTIUM SCHEMATIC INTO PADS DX DESIGNER NETLIST SCHEMATIC SYNC PADS DX DESIGNER NETLIST SCHEMATIC AND PADS LAYOUT APPENDICES WHAT'S NEXT 2

3 MIGRATING FROM ALTIUM DESIGNER TO PADS STANDARD PADS solves the PCB design problems that other desktop tools can't. The challenges of electronic product design have changed a lot over the years, and they will continue to change well into the future. As an engineer or PCB designer using Altium, you know those issues very well. You also know where your current tools could do more. Think about the design challenges you re faced with today. Can you be sure your products will function as designed without spending a lot of time and money on prototypes and respins? Can you ensure right-first-time design without simulation? Can layers of buried commands provide easy access to design-specific tasks? Only PADS provides engineers and small teams with a product creation platform optimized for component selection, signal and power integrity, electronics cooling, form and fit, PCB layout, and manufacturing. OUR HISTORY Our goal of bringing superior PCB design technology to individual engineers has never changed. From the earliest days of PCB design automation, PADS has led the market: First PCB layout tool to focus on ease of use First to implement advanced auto-placement tools in a ready-to-use integrated PCB desktop design solution First on Windows NT First to implement conditional rules First any-angle autorouter First to implement high-speed geometric checking First to recognize the importance of powerful, easy-to-use signal analysis First to introduce advanced packaging capabilities First Computer Integrated Design (CID) platform for software development 3

4 YOUR FUTURE But PADS isn t about history. It s about helping innovators like you create the very best electronic products possible. With the PADS Product Creation Platform, engineers and small teams can solve the problems of modern-day PCB design at incredibly affordable prices. With PADS you can: Reduce validation and debug cycles for PCBs that use DDR memory Discover unexpected or unpredictable SI and EMC issues prior to fabrication Combine automatic and interactive routing to route dense and highly constrained boards up to 30X faster than with manual routing alone Improve product reliability and circuit performance by solving crosstalk, termination, timing, and other common SI problems before layout Prevent IC malfunctions and optimize power delivery networks (PDNs) using quick voltage-drop simulation and analysis of power supply rails Model and resolve conduction, convection, and radiation issues before fabrication to ensure product reliability Avoid production delays by using more than 100 fabrication and assembly analyses to detect and resolve issues before they get to manufacturing Fit complex electronics into their enclosures using collaborative ECAD-MCAD methodologies that work with any MCAD tool. GETTING STARTED Use the steps in this guide to bring Altium Designer projects into PADS Standard or PADS Standard Plus. Included are instructions for creating a central library, translating cells into that library, creating a new project in PADS, importing your schematic, running the translator, and packaging and synchronizing your design. Online training for PADS Standard, including 30 days free access to select topics, will fast-track your learning curve and have you up and running fast. We hope you ll enjoy working with PADS as much as we enjoy developing scalable, productcreation technology for innovators, designers, and engineers like you. Contact a PADS Product Creation specialist to learn more. 4

5 ALTIUM TO PADS STANDARD NETLIST TRANSLATION This document describes the process of translating an Altium Designer design (*.SchDoc and *.PcbDoc files) to PADS VX.2 (PADS DX Designer/PADS Layout Netlist flow) The translation process can be summarized as follows: Ensure that the Altium schematic and layout are synchronized by doing a full roundtrip forward- and back-annotation Convert Altium layout to PADS layout and generate PCB library Import Altium schematic into PADS DX Designer netlist schematic Synchronize PADS DX Designer netlist schematic and PADS Layout The process may include additional manual steps to fix schematic, layout, or library data caused by flow differences between Altium Designer and PADS Standard. The following files are needed for an Altium Design translation: *.PcbDoc, *.SchDoc, *.PrjPcb, *.IntLib PADS Standard VX.2 flow must be installed. If PADSVX.2 is not the active flow, use Start All Programs Mentor Graphics PCB MGC PCB Release Switcher, to configure PADSVX.2 as the active flow. Overview and Background What data do you end up with in the PADS netlist flow: Pads *.PCB file PADS DX Designer schematic project directory A symbol library Decal and part library PADS part (*.pt9) and the decal (*.pd9) files. Symbol property differences between products. 5

6 Configure initial mapping in altium.cnv during Altium to PADS Netlist Schematic Translation (The default configuration will be fine, unless the Altium design uses custom properties.) Altium PADS Netlist Pin Number # Design Item ID DEVICE PCB Footprint Designator PKG_TYPE REFDES Ini settings files for translation alt2pads.ini (Mounting Hole configuration for PADS layout translator for Altium designs) altium.cnv PADS DX Designer Altium translator (Illegal character and property mapping) List of Appendices Appendix A: Translator configuration files and settings Appendix B: Create PADS library from PCB Appendix C: Removing project references to default starter library Appendix D: Importing unlinked Altium Schematic files Appendix E: Common netlist errors 6

7 CONVERT ALTIUM LAYOUT TO PADS LAYOUT AND GENERATE PCB LIBRARY In this step, the Altium PCB layout and PCB library are translated to PADS Standard VX.2. If the Altium Design contains decals/cells with mounting holes, a configuration file must be modified Appendix A: Translator configuration files Invoke Start All Programs PADS VX.2 (32-bit) Translators PADS Layout Translator Under Files to Translate, select Translate designs and Translate libraries Select the Add button. Browse and select the Altium design (.PcbDoc) file and integrated library (.IntLib) Note: If the design-specific Altium PCB library is not available, the PADS decal library must be created from the translated PADS layout. See Appendix B: Create PADS Library from PCB. Browse and select the folders in which to place the translated design and Libraries. For Translation Options, select the Protel/Altium tab Select desired options at the bottom of the menu. None of these are required and all are a matter of choice. 7

8 Select the Translate button. Translation results are displayed in a window and are written to a log file as shown at the bottom of the dialog. The PADS.pcb layout file is created in the designated folder. If library data are translated, PADS part (*.pt9) and the decal (*.pd9) files are created in the designated folder. Review the translator s log file for information about unsupported or conditionally supported Altium items identified in the translation. Close the translator. Open the design in PADS Layout using Start All Programs PADS VX.2 (32-bit) Layout & Routing PADS Layout VX.2. In PADS Layout, run an integrity test (modeless command I ). Type the letter I to bring up the Modeless Command interface and press Enter to run the command. A message is displayed at the bottom of the window. Resolve any errors that are found. If the design-specific Altium PCB library is not available, the PADS decal library must be created from the translated PADS layout. Appendix B: Create PADS Library from PCB 8

9 IMPORT ALTIUM SCHEMATIC INTO PADS DX DESIGNER NETLIST SCHEMATIC With the PADS layout translated, the next step is to translate the Altium schematic into a PADS DX Designer Netlist project. Open PADS DX Designer from All Programs PADS VX.2 Design Entry PADS DX Designer VX.2 Under Tasks on the left side of the dialog, select PADS Netlist. Under Available templates, select your company s custom template. If one does not exist use the PADS template. Note. The PADS template will use the PADS Starter Library. The project will point to a library-specific databook configuration, Special Components file, and border symbol file if you don t intend to use parts from the starter library. Follow Appendix C: Removing project references to default starter library For a guide to create your own project template (standard set of settings for all new designs), see MG Enter a Name for the new project Navigate to the Location where the PADS DX Designer data will be stored Select PADS VX as the Layout tool. Select the Create button. The design will be created and opened. In PADS DX Designer, select File Import Altium. This will open the Protel/Altium translator interface. 9

10 Select the Schematics tab Under Schematics to translate, select Add Browse and select the Altium Designer PrjPcb. Note. The PrjPcb links all the Altium schematic files together. If only.schdoc files are available follow Appendix D: Importing unlinked Altium Schematic files Select Translate attributes Unselect Translate symbols only (without the schematic) Select Create design Library Unselect Create generic symbols Select Use default color scheme Select the Settings tab In the COMPONENT ATTRIBUTES section, set the Property Mapping For more information on specific mappings, refer to the PADS DX Designer Altium translator s specific documentation. The defaults should handle most cases. If any Altium Properties need to be removed, you can enter a blank Value. In this example, Package Information will be removed upon translation. You can also alias any properties. In this example, Package Reference is aliased to Manufacturing_Part_ Number. 10

11 In the CONVERSION section Add a Partition Name to the PartitionName option Note: PartitionName entry must start with an alpha character Toggle on the CollectInstanceCells option Unselect the Normalize Symbols setting Return to the Schematic tab and push Translate. Wait for the translation summary at the end of the translation process. You can review the warnings and errors in the log file saved in the PADS DX Designer project LogFiles folder. At this point, the schematic is translated in PADS DX Designer. Close the Translator. Check Schematic Database Consistency In PADS DX Designer, open Tools Diagnostics. Review the results window for errors. If errors were found, select Click here to fix all errors at the end of the report. Run Diagnostics again to be sure the error was resolved. 11

12 In PADS DX Designer, open Setup Settings Project Symbol Libraries Delete the libraries associated with SDD_Home and only leave Your partition name IndependentLibraries and the root. Library Example: usb_panel IndependentLibraries Double-click on Your partition name IndependentLibraries library to set it as writeable Example: usb_panel IndependentLibraries Two libraries are now configured in the project. Click OK. 12

13 SYNCHRONIZE PADS DX DESIGNER NETLIST SCHEMATIC AND PADS LAYOUT In PADS DX Designer, select Tools PCB Interface Select Create Netlist for Layout Select OK. A netlist named <project name>.asc will be created in the PADS DX Designer project folder. Review any Errors, Failures, or Warnings. If the netlist fails, please review Common issues in Appendix E: Common netlist errors DRC Connectivity Rules are also helpful to run. Tools Verify 13

14 Once the netlist is properly verified, Create a folder called Layout in the PADS DX Designer project folder. Copy the PADS.pcb file into this new Layout folder Open the copied PADS.pcb file in PADS Layout In PADS Layout, open Tools PADS DX Designer Browse to the PADS DX Designer netlist project file and click Connect. The schematic will be opened in PADS DX Designer if it s not already open. The Connect button will change to Disconnect, indicating the connection has been made. Select Compare Designs Carefully compare netlists to catch any connectivity inconsistencies. In some cases, hierarchical port symbols defining connectivity through the Block symbol to the underlying lower connectivity might not be properly defined and could cause an open. 14

15 In the example below, a power net AGND was aliased to an unamed net $1N278 indicating the Tap global signal symbol was disconnected. Upon searching for the net in the schematic, this was confirmed. In PADS DX Designer, you can use search or text search to double-check nets from the compare text file. Once the netlist is verified and you generate the netlist for the last time in PADS DX Designer, select Forward to PCB. The Forward Annotation dialog appears. Select Update PCB Select Parts, Netlist, Attributes Select OK. Forward annotation will begin and the error report will display upon completion. Review this report to ensure there are no errors. If there are errors, the schematic and/ or library must be corrected. Warnings about attribute mismatches can be ignored. This completes the translation. 15

16 APPENDIX A: TRANSLATOR CONFIGURATION FILES alt2pads.ini (PADS Layout Translator) This file is located: C:\MentorGraphics\PADSVX.2\SDD_HOME\Programs\alt2pads.ini. This file is currently not accessible via GUI and must be manually edited. If the file does not exist, open the PADS Layout Translator and close it to generate the ini file. In PADS Layout, no specific design object designation exists for mounting holes. Mounting holes (marked in the alt2pads.ini) are translated as unused pins and "Pin number" name will start with the PinNumberPrefix entry in the alt2pads.ini file. [Protel Mounting Holes] DECAL_NAME1="PIN_NUMBER1",PIN_NUMBER2" DECAL_NAME2="PIN_NUMBER1",PIN_NUMBER2" Altium.cnv (Symbol & Schematic Translator: Protel/Altium Designer to PADS DX Designer Integrated This file is located C:\MentorGraphics\PADSVX.2\SDD_HOME\standard\cnv\altium_ dx.cnv and can be changed with the GUI. Illegal characters: To minimize the risk of problems, the recommended character set for all object names (identifiers) is A-Z, a-z, 0-9 and _ (underscore). These characters can be used consistently for all names without any problem. Using other characters increases the chance of encountering a problem due to various character restrictions in downstream tools, windows/linux file names, SQL, parsing data with regular expressions, passing the names in command line arguments, and accessing and modifying objects via automation. Symbol partitions need to start with an alpha character Nets and Global power/ground Tap Symbols can use + and For an official list of non-supported character sets please review: PADS Library Tools Process Guide (Library, Object, and Library Partition Limitations) PADS Schematic Design Reference Manual (Illegal Characters in Name Identifiers) PADS Layout User's Guide and Reference Manual (Illegal Characters in Netnames and Part Names) 16

17 APPENDIX B: CREATE PADS LIBRARY FROM PCB (IF NECESSARY) Create PADS Library from PCB (if necessary) PADS library data are required for the creation of the PADS Central Library. If the Altium PCB design-specific library (.Pcblib) was not available for layout translation, the library data must be derived from PADS layout. If the.pcblib was translated, skip this step. Open the translated PADS Layout if not already opened. Select File Library. The Library Manager dialog appears. Select Create New Library Specify a library name and location and select Save. In this example, the library is created in the Project Directory under a new folder but it can be placed anywhere. 17

18 Close the Library Manager dialog. Select all design-specific decals in Project Explorer as shown below. (Use CRTL Shift ). Keeping the selection in Explorer, move the cursor to the layout area, right-click on empty space, and select Save to Library. The following dialog appears. Select all Part Types and Decals. For the Part Type Library and Decal Library, select the new library created in the previous step. In the example, the library USB_Panel is selected for both. Click OK to confirm. The tool generates decal (.pd9) and part type (.pt9) files in the library folder. Exit PADS Layout. 18

19 APPENDIX C: REMOVING PROJECT REFERENCES TO DEFAULT STARTER LIBRARY If no company-specific project template is available and you intend not to use any parts from the starter library: Select Create to start a new project using the PADS Netlist template In Setup Settings Project: Rename the Special Components and Border Symbols. In this example, the SL prefix was removed. 19

20 In Setup Settings PADS Databook: Delete the databook configuration file pointer In Setup Settings Symbol Libraries. Remove all libraries except the project root library * 20

21 APPENDIX D: IMPORTING UNLINKED ALTIUM SCHEMATIC FILES Altium handles schematics differently than PADS DX Designer. With Altium, each schematic sheet is stored as a separate file and sheets are bound together by a project (.PrjPcb) file. PADS DX Designer organizes schematics with multiple sheets as a single file. To convert a multiple-sheet schematic design that doesn t include a.prjpcb file, select just the first Altium schematic sheet (.SchDoc) and translate it. Then, keeping the PADS DX Designer project opened, select and translate each additional sheet independently. When importing a multiple-sheet schematic (more than one.schdoc) that does not have a project file (PrjPcb), all of the schematic sheets will become individual blocks by default. It is best to convert each block into a schematic sheet, particularly for a multiple-sheet, nonhierarchical schematic (as in the example below). Start with the highest-numbered sheet and work your way back to sheet 1. The last sheet imported will become the root schematic sheet. Right-click on the last sheet imported and select Set as Root to set up the board. In this example it is the PAGE_1 block. Right-click and rename the board and schematic items. 21

22 Open Setup Settings Navigator Sheets. Set Display Sheets option to Always. This makes the first sheet visible in the Navigator which is used to copy/paste the sheets. Go to Setup Settings Advanced. Turn on the Preserve Packaging info on Copy switch. Turn off Unique names on copy. Select the OK button 22

23 Expand the next block to show the sheet name Right-click and change the sheet name from 1 to 2 Right-click the sheet named 2 and copy and paste the sheet into the board schematic. Repeat this process until every schematic sheet is renamed and moved into the board schematic. Right-click and delete the blocks. 23

24 APPENDIX E: COMMON NETLIST ERRORS Common errors PCB Symbol [symbol] missing for hetero device Double-check that the root symbol directory exists. In some cases, the translator was unable to resolve the Hetero part definition. Please review the following Technote about hetero symbols. Overview of the different Hetero Symbols in PADS DX Designer Netlist, including examples: technote&id=mg PCB Illegal length of property Error 6051: (Duplicate Pin Number) Symbol may have been treated improperly as a hetero device. Verify pin mapping; you may need to edit symbol properties and replace the symbol instances to remove Pin Order property. Error PCB-6076 Missing property Missing DEVICE property Missing PKG_TYPE property Missing # property Usually this is a result of hierarchical block symbols and the underlying connectivity not being translated correctly. Instead of using the PRJPCB, use the hierarchical root schematic. Warning The net on the indicated pin is not connected to any other pins and so it cannot be routed by a layout system without additional connection information. Verify the connectivity; perhaps a global power Tap Symbol or net connection is disconnected. 24

25 WHAT S NEXT? Congratulations on making the move to PADS Standard! Now that you ve translated your design files into PADS, it s time to take advantage of everything the PADS design flow has to offer. Many resources are available to get you started and help you along the way. Free training! On-demand training includes a FREE 30-day subscription to online videos and hands-on lab exercises. Start your course within minutes of completing your registration! Instructor-led training is available in our training centers or through our Live Online remote program. Private training, at your site or ours, is available by request. Community Join PADS customers, technical experts from the PADS product team, and others in this open, global community. Have an idea for a product enhancement? Influence the product development process by submitting an enhancement idea, or voting and commenting on ideas submitted by others in the Mentor Ideas for PADS area. Need technical support? Our SupportNet website offers rapid, secure self-service access to Service Request management, release/patch downloads, Knowledge Base access, license reports, and more. PADS Standard videos PADS Standard datasheets Want to talk? Contact a PADS Product Creation specialist in your area. We d love to hear from you! 25

26 This document is for information and instruction purposes. Mentor Graphics reserves the right to make changes in specifications and other information contained in this publication without prior notice, and the reader should, in all cases, consult Mentor Graphics to determine whether any changes have been made. MENTOR GRAPHICS MAKES NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND WITH REGARD TO THIS MATERIAL INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. MENTOR GRAPHICS SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOST PROFITS) ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THIS PUBLICATION OR THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN IT, EVEN IF MENTOR GRAPHICS CORPORATION HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES Mentor Graphics Corporation All Rights Reserved 8005 S.W. Boeckman Road, Wilsonville, Oregon Telephone: Toll-Free Telephone: Website: SupportNet: TRADEMARKS: The trademarks, logos and service marks (Marks) used herein are the property of Mentor Graphics Corporation or other third parties. No one is permitted to use these Marks without the prior written consent of Mentor Graphics or the respective third-party owner. The use herein of a third-party Mark is not an attempt to indicate Mentor Graphics as a source of a product, but is intended to indicate a product from, or associated with. 26