1. Speedstack 2014 / CGen 2014 New Features
January Richard Attrill / John Lee

2. Speedstack 2014 – New Copy / Paste Material Properties option
A new option has been introduced to copy existing material properties and then paste them to other multiple selected materials within the stack up.
This provides a method to exchange materials very quickly within the stack (for instance, swapping all prepregs from one type to another.)
This powerful feature will be found especially useful for high layer count stack ups.

3. Speedstack New Copy / Paste Material Properties option (contd)
Copy Material Properties
New ‘Copy / Paste Material Properties’ options.
Paste Material Properties

4. Step 1: Select existing material and Copy Material Properties
Select an existing material, in this case the Prepreg 1080 between layers 1 and 2
Select the Copy Material Properties toolbar option
The Prepreg 1080 properties (attributes) are recorded

5. Step 2: Select materials and Paste Material Properties
Select existing materials, in this example six sheets of prepreg materials (Prepreg 3080 and 1651) between layers 3 and 6
Select the Paste Material Properties toolbar option

6. Step 2: Select materials and Paste Material Properties (cont’d)
Chose which properties you would like to paste to the selected materials. For this example all Property Groups have been selected.
Selecting Apply will update all the selected materials within the stack with the previously recorded material, for this case the Prepreg 1080.

7. Step 3: Review the stack up
Review the stack up changes.
When changing multiple materials simultaneously it is important to review the stack up. It may be necessary to recalculate impedance structures especially if dielectric height and copper thickness parameters have changed.

8. Drill enhancements – new ‘Laser (Stacked)’ option
A new ‘Laser (Stacked)’ option has been introduced that automatically adds stack vias to the stack up in a single operation.
Previously, it was necessary to add each via individually.

9. The completed stack up with stacked laser vias.
Drill enhancements – new ‘Laser (Stacked)’ option (cont’d)
The completed stack up with stacked laser vias.

10. Drill enhancements – now retains properties
The drill properties are now retained between each ‘Add Drill’ operation. This speeds up the process of adding drills, especially when multiple drills of the same type are being added to the stack up.

11. Drill enhancements – new ‘Delete All Drills’ option
Delete all drills on the stack up in a single operation

12. Target thickness – tolerance in percentage or absolute
This option has been enhanced to support both percentage and absolute tolerances

13. Stack Up Wizard – enhancements when in Material Library mode
New symmetrical mode option, enables quick selection of planes and mixed layers
Material selection enhanced.
It is now possible to select multiple sheets of Prepreg that will be placed between each Foil / Core within the stack up
Stack Up Thickness (with and without solder mask) is calculated as soon as materials are chosen from the Material Library. It is now easy to monitor the overall stack up thickness within the Stack Up Wizard option

14. Stack Up Wizard – enhancements when in Material Library mode
This is the 8 layer stack up created by the new wizard

15. Library Mode / Virtual Material Mode
Library Mode – uses real materials to generate stack ups by referencing the Speedstack material library. This method provides an absolute definition of the stack up down to the exact materials used in the build.
Virtual Material Mode – uses ‘virtual’ materials to generate stack ups. This is useful for exploring design options before committing to real materials.

16. Symmetry mode – current mode highlight improved
Symmetry mode on
Symmetry mode off

17. Toolbar options and menu entry enhancements
Materials are now grouped into rigid / flex / other
Rigid Materials
Flex Materials
Other Materials

18. Toolbar options and menu entry enhancements (continued)
All stack up editing options now available when controlled impedance structures already exist on the stack up
Controlled Impedance tab selected
When the Controlled Impedance tab is selected, all stack up editing options are now enabled. Users may now make changes to a stack that has existing structures and then recalculate the structures using the ‘Rebuild and Calculate’ option
‘Rebuild and Calculate’ option

19. CGen: New SPP Coupon Style and Enhancements for SET2DIL

20. The following sequence of slides illustrates the creation of coupons from Speedstack via CGen – the sequence is representative of an actual panel used by Polar for a correlation study.

21. CGen: Stackup exported from Speedstack for a test panel of coupons
6 layer stack used for SPP, SET2DIL and impedance coupons

22. SPP Coupon: Layer 1
Lower structure is single-ended, upper structure is differential

23. SPP Coupon: Layer 1 detail
Lower structure is single-ended, upper structure is differential

24. SPP Coupon: Layer 4
Lower structure is single-ended, upper structure is differential

25. SPP Coupon: New Properties dialog

26. SET2DIL / SET2SEIL Coupon: Layer 1
Lower structure is single-ended, upper structure is differential, reference “thru” structure at bottom-left

27. SET2DIL / SET2SEIL Coupon: Layer 1 detail
Lower structure is single-ended, upper structure is differential, reference “thru” structure at bottom-left

28. SET2DIL / SET2SEIL Coupon: Layer 4
Lower structure is single-ended, upper structure is differential

29. SET2DIL / SET2SEIL Coupon : New Properties dialog

30. Additional loss coupon parameters stored within structure

31. SET2DIL / SET2SEIL Probe Exit and Lead-In traces
It is necessary to maintain a single-ended impedance of 50 Ohms until the traces become a differential pair

32. SET2DIL Trace Widths and Separations
Trace width (W1) and separation (S1) values will typically be imported from Speedstack, but can be manually entered in CGen

33. SET2SEIL Trace Separation
Typically a value of 7x the substrate height to the nearest plane is used for the value here

34. Thank you

35. For more information:
Contact Polar now: Phone
USA / Canada / Mexico Ken Taylor ( 503)
Asia / Pacific
Terence Chew
UK / Europe Neil Chamberlain
Germany / Austria / Switzerland Hermann Reischer