EAGLE Users Can Design Direct to Sunstone’s Fab

Mulino, Ore. – Sunstone Circuits, the Mulino, Ore.-based printed circuit board (PCB) prototype solutions provider, has released a factory certified add-on that enforces Sunstone’s manufacturing capabilities interactively inside CadSoft’s EAGLE PCB Layout™ tool.

“With the DFM Add-On, EAGLE PCB Layout users can now design with more confidence that their PCB will be manufacturable by Sunstone,” said Terry Heilman, CEO of Sunstone Circuits. “By leveraging the Design Rule Checking (DRC) engine built in to EAGLE and supplying a full complement of Sunstone-specific rules for the EAGLE DRC engine, Sunstone ensures that a designer’s work will conform to our published manufacturing capabilities. We will offer this add-on to EAGLE PCB users as a complimentary service, just another way that Sunstone strives to be the easiest and best PCB solutions provider to do business with, Q2D™: from Quote to Delivery.”

Benefits to users of the DFM Add-On include:

• Reduced costs - helps eliminate design errors early in the design process, minimizing the need for costly corrections later.
• Reduced time - design a PCB more quickly by utilizing an existing rule deck instead of users creating their own.
• Process simplification – relieve pain points in the design process by following a rule deck every step of the way.

Ed Robledo, General Manager for CadSoft USA, EAGLE PCB layout’s US distributor, endorses the DFM Add-On, saying “CadSoft’s DRC engine is the ideal place for industry-leading PCB manufacturing firms to characterize their DFM rules. By making a certified correct version of their manufacturing parameters available to our customers, Sunstone is bringing a uniform DRC environment to all EAGLE users.”

“With the DFM Add-On, our EAGLE customers can verify that their design is in compliance with our DFM guidelines at every step of the design process,” added Nancy Viter, Sunstone Customer Satisfaction Manager. “The Add-On helps solve the historical issue of end users having to write their own interpretation of the fabrication vendor’s rules, a process that often leads to errors that are not discovered until late in the design process, thus making them expensive problems to fix.”

Sunstone’s DFM Add-On for EAGLE PCB Layout can be downloaded from Sunstone’s website at http://www.sunstone.com/pcb-resources/Downloads.aspx, or from the CadSoft USA website at http://www.cadsoft.de/download.htm, in the miscellaneous downloads section.

Best-in-Class Design Options for All PCB Designers

As a part of the Sunstone ECOsystem, DFM Add-Ons help bring a seamless design flow to design and assembly services. The Sunstone ECOsystem represents a strategic resource that will consolidate and improve the PCB prototyping process for designers from concept-to-delivery. The Sunstone ECOsystem integrates the four discrete segments of PCB prototyping:

• Knowledge – PCB designer expertise
• Tools – design packages and software
• Libraries and Parts – Sourcing and tracking of PCB components
• Manufacturing – PCB manufacturing capability and expertise

With DFM Add-Ons and the Sunstone ECOsystem, designers can produce working prototypes in shorter times, fewer turns and with greater access to PCB manufacturing services such as assembly and stenciling. Designers benefit with lower costs and fewer pain points throughout the entire design and manufacture process.