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The list will be endless, unless you are more specific,what kinda design you will be doing and ur future designs.
Here are the CAD Tools in order of popularity (Number of Seats installed) and design complexity -
Mentor Expedition
Cadence Allegro
Zuken CR5000
Mentor Board Station
Mentor PADS Layout
@ltium Designer
Zuken CADSTAR
@ltium P-CAD
OrCAD Layout
Electronics Workbench Ultiboard
Intercept Pantheon
Pulsonix
CADInt
Eagle
Some idiot pencil pusher/manager makes the decision to buy a particluar
system based on how many free lunches he gets from the sales person.
This idiot manager will never use the system.
when one start to learning and use a cad-cam pcb it's difficult to change it with another cad because ther's low compatibility of source files with other cad, the result is that in a life of pcb-designer there is space only for 2-5 cad pcb, and when start with a product-line go on with them.
It depends on what type of applications you want to release in a PCB
is full Digital or Mixed signal or RF circuit are their in your design?
What is the budget?
Who is going to use is a new layout engineer or experienced engg.?
what frequency? do you do complete module design ?
Any other cad or simulation tools interface etc?
Do you need circuit co-simulation, electromagnetic simulation or SI analysis on the PCB...etc...
based on above factots you have
1. Cadence- Allegro, APD, OrCAD
2. Mentor graphics-Boardstation, PADS, PowerPCB,
3. Zuken-CADStar, Visula,
4. AutoCAD
5. AWR Microwave Office,
6. Protel
7. Intercept Pantheon
It depends on what type of applications you want to release in a PCB
is full Digital or Mixed signal or RF circuit are their in your design?
What is the budget?
Who is going to use is a new layout engineer or experienced engg.?
what frequency? do you do complete module design ?
Any other cad or simulation tools interface etc?
Do you need circuit co-simulation, electromagnetic simulation or SI analysis on the PCB...etc...
based on above factots you have
1. Cadence- Allegro, APD, OrCAD
2. Mentor graphics-Boardstation, PADS, PowerPCB,
3. Zuken-CADStar, Visula,
4. AutoCAD
5. AWR Microwave Office,
6. P*otel
7. Intercept Pantheon
it all dependson your pocket and requirements. No point buying an expensive all in one tool which you never use. look into your requiremetns and go through the demo version and then decide
i have used orcad and protel from early versions , but as the result i am using protel for about 7 years. its the most professional and reliable for autorouting. orcad has no word for saying versus to protel.
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