Data exchange format requirements and analysis collaboration in PCB design

The design of a printed circuit board (PCB) is an example of the variety of technologies that have to be combined in a single physical output. Thus the need for collaboration between engineering teams, each of which with their own expertise (e.g. electrical, mechanical, testing and manufacturing) is of paramount importance. This imposes the need to share the electrical design and the PCB layout among different expertise teams that participate in a common electronic product development. The effective collaboration between the various teams can bring tremendous gains during the development phase as well as during the production phase, by increasing product performance and avoiding production issues. However these teams often face the problem that each of these teams are using different tools that do not enable sharing PCB layout data. An overview of the advances in this field is presented in this paper. In the context of a real electronic product manufacturer, this paper presents the PCB data exchange requirements and the analysis of how existing Electronic Computer-Aided Design (ECAD) file formats meet those same requirements. A reflection is made about the challenges that latest developments face. Lastly, future research perspectives are drawn.