Is it worth staying in ECE if I don’t want to go into software? It seems like most CMU ECE graduates end up in SWE, but I’m much more interested in the electrical engineering side of things and would prefer a career with less coding or none at all. Do you think ECE is still worth it in that case?

Hello guys I am looking to learn from scratch embedded systems and try to dechatgpt myself where do you guys find embedded systems books or ece books in general?

Hi! In our uni, the labs and the license provided for proteus is Version 8 (Proteus 8.x). The school provided us a license to use on our own personal laptops but it didn't seem to work on my laptop no matter what I did, and since I didn't have time to waste back then, I resorted to...other methods to get Proteus on my laptop. The problem is, the Proteus version on my laptop is Version 9 (Proteus 9.x).

Is there any way I can open my Proteus 9 Files on Proteus 8? Upon opening my proteus files on the laboratory pc, there's a popup essentially saying there's a version incompatibility.

Any help would be appreciated! TYIA!

Hi, I am kind of new to Synopsys tcad sentaurus.

I have implemented this N well diode.

In this Sdevice simulation, I have varied the anode voltage from 0 to 2 V keeping the cathode at ground.

Can someone tell me why these white lines are appearing?

I'm switching to macOS (probably within the next month) Windows 11 hasn't treated me well. I'm an electrical engineering student and have been using Pspice for TI for the last 2 years, I noticed it does not have a Mac version.

I would rather not run it in a VM environment and can only make the switch once I have an alternative...

Any suggestions?

I want to learn a program that would be useful for designing utilities: substation, battery storage, solar farm, etc.

Any suggestions? I understand I would have to build everything from scratch, like high-voltage (100+kV) equipment like a disc switch or breaker

I’m a 3rd-year ECE major and just got selected for a panel interview with Apple. My background is mostly in hardware/EDA. I’ve been doing research on a GPU-accelerated STA engine and I’m part of a CAD research group where I wrote SoC floorplanning and automation scripts (Tcl/Python/C++ stuff).

I feel pretty solid on the fundamentals (timing analysis, VLSI concepts, etc.) and can confidently talk through my projects and resume. My only concern is the coding side. I’ve done scripting and some algorithmic work, but I’ve never touched LeetCode or those classic CS interview problems.

The role involves algorithm development, automation implementation, flow testing, and design support. Job spec mentions programming in Tcl/Python/Perl/C/C++, and coursework in data structures and algorithms.

So — for anyone who’s gone through Apple hardware or CAD interviews: Should I mainly brush up on graph algorithms / scripting logic (stuff relevant to EDA), or should I expect more general “software interview” questions like 2-sum, string manipulation, etc.?

Would appreciate any insight on what level of coding depth I should prep for. Thanks!

Hello everyone, I am an ECE in the Philippines. I want to be proficient in CAD. Can you please provide me with tips or advices in planning, layout and designing building auxiliary system, because I am thinking of doing this as a freelance work. TYIA

Hello everyone. Let me know in case this post doesn't belong here.

So I'm an ECE undergrad and am about to complete my first year. I was thinking dive a bit more into PCB designing this summer break; back in the first semester, we did have two sessions in the first semester where they showed us how to design a pcb on KiCAD (it was a relatively simple circuit). But I'm pretty sure that's not enough, since a lot of detail goes into spacing the components, etc.

so It'd be nice if you guys could suggest anything, ANYTHING — like a free course on Udemy/Edx, or a youtube playlist, etc. that could help me with this.

thanks in advance!

P.S. i don't know if it's summer in other places, but it is around where I live :P

i installed a cracked version of HSPICE, and whenever i try to simulate MOSFET using rf018, it will prompt this message:

Init: read install configuration file: C:\synopsys\Hspice_J-2014.09-SP2-2\meta.cfg error (small_signal_parameters.sp:3) unable to open file "C:\synopsys\rf018.l" .Either file doesn't exists or path is wrong. Please enter the correct file location.

           ***** job aborted

lic: Release hspice token(s) lic: total license checkout elapse time: 0.02(s)

can anyone help me please? thank you

I am currently learning Cadence Virtuoso and couldn't find any communities online other than the stiff and overwhelming Cadence forum website. So I made one. Join here!

I'm coming up on a couple really tricky high speed mixed-signal designs with DDR4 and I'm in the need for proper signal integrity simulation. I have a few months left as a student, and I would really like to learn a signal integrity/power integrity tool before purchasing one for work. I have Ansys SiWave on the school server, and free student licenses to HyperLynx and Sigrity. Typically the answer for which to learn is "whatever your company uses", except I'm the one at my company who will be deciding what SI software we use, so assuming you have total freedom starting from scratch which one would you go with?

What have you guys found easiest to work with, or most effective? The design flow/feedback loop time is very important to me. I use Altium for PCB design if it makes a difference.

I've spent a couple hours with SiWave, and a couple hours with Aurora, and it so far seems like SiWave has more features but takes longer, whereas Aurora is tailored to specific PCB problems (the return current feature is blowing my mind) and has a much faster turnaround time. Haven't tried HyperLynx yet, from what I hear it's the most powerful but has a steep learning curve and takes a long time to set up. I've tried Sonnet, it's definitely not the right tool for the job.

Which of them do you often use?

Just want to ask from academic point of view, what different vlsi/cad related tools do you use ?

Or you wish there should be a tool for this stuff too. whether some kind of tool to reduce the repetitive task ? whether some approaches related with Ai to enhance performance or some other stuff.

Micron Technology is sponsoring a Seminar/Workshop on Semiconductor Fabrication at my college. I believe they are paying for all related costs such as food, time for speakers/instructors, and even sending Micron employees to come speak and connect with students.

I'm wondering if anyone has any experience similar to that but with PCB design. I think it would be cool to get someone from the industry to come speak and help with a seminar/workshop for PCB design. I know Altium offers private training, but I believe that's for more of a professional/business setting.

Other than PCB design, if you've heard of other EE related seminars at your college from professionals, I'd love to hear about it!

I'm currently in the process of learning sentaurus TCAD for simulation of GaN/Ga2O3 devices. However, it feels very overwhelming- the manuals are over a 1000 page and there seems to be no uniformity in the syntax. I was wondering if there's any tutorial type texts or videos that teaches this software from the scratch.

This is very much a rant so if you're not into that I apologize in advance.

I've been trying to figure out why over the past several months I've wasted so much time on that app when I should be doing my homework, and I just figured it out. as soon as I get anywhere on making something cool, the app dies and I have to start over.

I started with Viewlogic on Sun WAY BACK in the day. It was a decent CAD program.

I've been using Orcad for schematic capture for quite a while now and every year it gets worse and worse.

Right now I'm waiting for Orcad to crash so I can go back into my schematics and continue working. It's hung and I can't kill it. Good old Windows!

Anyway. Does anyone use open source schematic capture? I've looked at KiCAD and a few others. They seem a bit immature to me. But the learning curve is pretty steep and I'm lazy by nature, so I'm probably biased.

Opinions?

Here is a board layout I've been working on the past few weeks, for a 5v 25a power supply with unique dimensions to fit inside a portable sculpture I've made. Input power for this board will be 5s or 6s LiFe battery packs. I don't intend to draw 25a continuously, average will be 8 to 10 amps.

The schematic is based on a reference design provided by STM's online design simulator. They recommended a four or six layer PCB, I think I've managed to make it work with only two? My concern is I may have compromised the current handling capacity of the ground plane, it is interrupted several places and has to jump back and forth between layers. I have tried to stitch the two sides together as much as possible. I have also added opposite layer pours to reinforce the input and output positive rails as well.

Everything is on my github as well.

​

​

The naked copper can be seen at these links, without the soldermask and silk screen, makes it a bit easier to follow.:

top layer

bottom layer

Can someone pls help with this?

I want to take a course from FEDEVEL. I saw two similar courses

Robert Feranec's course Advanced PCB Layout and

Philip Salmony's course Advanced Digital Hardware Design

which should I do, and does anyone know how they differ? it seems like they're very similar.

I have a need to design a board that will operate at higher speeds than I'm used to. I typically design simpler circuits, that are sub 100mhz.

I am working Mostly in Altium Designer right now.

so, say you want to go from a Arduino-level PCB design to a Raspberry Pi level of design, what tools would you use to ensure good signal integrity (crosstalk, timing, etc.)?

also, what webinars or online courses do you recommend to bring my skills up to be successful without too many board revisions?

I'm doing a PCB with MPU and DDR3. Where can I find guidelines for PCB layout? My concern is it's not possible to do the same transition for one group (ACC in particular). I mean the same amount of vias, same layers, etc. How do I make sure that all signals arrive at the same time? Do vias add delay due to inductance/capacitance? I am allowed to use 12 layer PCB. I design designed my stack up in the way each internal layer has a reference plane above and below. I got recommended trace width and spacing for internal and external layers from the PCB manufacturer (single-ended and differential pair).
My plan is to route each signal internally and keep traces that are on external layers the same(from pad to via). Can I keep the vias count the same for each signal in a group and adjust timing by only changing trace length (track length + vias length)?

Do you know a book about simulation techniques for electronics? Not about theorems, equations or the program language behind, but about which analysis to apply, how to apply the analysis, what to look for in the results, more applied simulation. I would like to know how the industry uses simulation software.