CAD/CAM/CAE : electronic design automation, 1992 - Archive Server

4-4 CAD/CAM/CAE—Electronic Design AutDmation Applications
Signal Layers
One way of gauging the complexity of board design is to examine the
number of sigrial layers per board. Indeed, the number of signal layers
per board are anticipated to increase 47 percent during the next five
years, as shown in Figure 4-5. On average. North American designers
create more complex printed circuit boards, followed by Europe, then
Japan. The relative simplicity of Japanese board complexity is due to
the low cost, high manufacturability needs of its consumer goods
focus.
Clock Frequencies
Clock frequency is also a signpost to the complexity in board design.
In 1991, the mean highest digital clock frequency of North American
boards was 104 MHz. Dataquest anticipates with the coming wave of
+100 MHz microprocessors, mean speeds will triple during the next
few years.
Device Usage
The total number of components used per board will also decrease in
the coming years. Dataquest research indicates that the average
number of components per board will decrease 10 percent in North
America—from a mean of 77 components today to 70 in the next
generation of designs. Japanese engineers forecast a less rapid decrease
in component usage, and European engineers appear to be an
Figure 4-5
Average Number of Printed Circuit Board Signal Layers
Average Number of Signal Layers
8-
6-
4-
2-
1991 ' 1992 '
-•- North America
Source: Dataquest (November 1992)
1993
—•- Japan
" 1994 ' 1995
—*— Europe
G£00247a
November 30, 1992 ©1992 Dataquest Incorporated CCAM-EDA-UW-9201