FAQs

General FAQs

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS Expand

Hard disk space: 100MB -Minimum 4GB RAM -64 bit Windows 7.x, 8.x, or 10.x

UNIX? IS LINUX SUPPORTED? MAC OS? Expand

Nope.

ARE FLOATING LICENSES SUPPORTED? Expand

Yes, using Flexera FlexNet Licensing.

WHAT PCB INTERFACES ARE AVAILABLE? Expand

Currently, Z-planner imports and exports the HyperLynx format (.STK, .FFS), as well as IPC-2581 and ODB++ formats.

We’re working on interfaces to Keysight ADS, Sigrity Speed2000, Simberian Simbeor and SiSoft.

WHAT KIND OF FIELD SOLVER DOES Z-PLANNER USE? Expand

Z-planner uses Mentor Graphics’ time-tested HyperLynx® 2D field solver.

ARE TRAPEZOIDAL TRACES SUPPORTED? Expand

Yes, under Settings.

IS FREQUENCY CONSIDERED? Expand

Yes, dielectric constant (Dk), dissipation factor (Df), are interpolated from material tables that vary with frequency. Loss, too, is frequency dependent.

IS COPPER ROUGHNESS CONSIDERED? Expand

Yes. At high frequencies, current increasingly flows through the perimeter of a signal conductor. This is referred to as the “skin effect.” The depth at which the current flows is called “skin depth,” and is typically denoted by d (um). As frequency increases, skin depth gets progressively smaller. As skin depth approaches the surface roughness of the copper, they must be considered together when simulating signal attenuation. There are several ways to measure copper roughness, but the most commonly-available parameter is Rz (um), so Z-planner utilizes this parameter rather than other alternative roughness measures to simulate copper roughness loss as a function of frequency.