Computer Aided Design of Printed Circuit Boards

The initial motivation for photoplotting artwork was increasing accuracy requirements. Photoplotting requires translating a design to digital form before creating the artwork. Present CAD and interactive graphics systems are making increased use of this data base to generate a larger percentage of the documentation required to manufacture a PC board. Computer aided manufacturing such as numerically controlled drilling and component insertion is another feature of today's CAD systems. Future systems will not only increase the merger of CAD/CAM, but also address the ordering of components, cost analysis and many other associated functions in the design and manufacturing of PCB's. Every company producing PCB's should be able to evaluate interactive graphics and determine if and when CAD would be cost‐effective.