OrCAD

OrCAD is simply a great suite of software programs for an electronic design engineer or electronic technician to use in order to create electronic schematics and electronic prints to manufacture printed circuit boards. OrCAD contains lots of advanced features that are simple to use but greatly enhance the power of the programs and your ability to create great schematics!

OrCAD Create is the first program, which is basically a schematic capturing program. OrCAD Create does not simulate the functioning of the electronics, but rather it exports data to be reproduced in another program. This ensures that you have reliable data that can be simulated repeatedly in any other application so that you can make sure everything is completely functional. OrCAD Create's built-in component information system even allows you to link component package data and simulation behavior data with the circuit symbol in the schematic.

You can add more functionality to OrCAD Create through the OrCAD Capture Marketplace. This marketplace allows users to share add-ons and design resources. These can significantly enhance the products that you design.

OrCAD is an entire suite of software products to address all of your electronic designing needs.

The OrCAD Suite also comes with OrCAD EE PSpice, which is a SPICE circuit simulator. This allows you to simulate and verify both analog and mixed-signal circuits. Running this alongside OrCAD Create will enable you to run a complete circuit simulation and verification with schematic entry, native analog, mixed-signal, and analysis engines.

Finally, the suite includes OrCAD PCB Designer. This program allows you to either manually trace PCB tracks or use the auto-router for simplicity. Either way, it will ensure that you have a functioning PCB. It will analyze your boards for you and run design rule checks.

Overall this is a great software suite that any serious electronic design engineer or electronic technician should check out to improve their work skills. OrCAD requires Windows 7 or later to run. You can download a fully functional trial version if you decide you like it. Pricing for individual users starts at $1,340.