Electronic Design Automation

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What Does Electronic Design Automation Mean?

Electronic design automation (EDA) is a term for a category of software products and processes that help to design electronic systems with the aid of computers. These tools are often used to design circuit boards, processors and other types of complex electronics.

Electronic design automation is also known as electronic computer-aided design.

Techopedia Explains Electronic Design Automation

Electronic design automation tools have largely replaced manual methods for circuit board and semiconductor design techniques. In the past, technicians used tools like a photoplotter to render drawings of circuit boards and electronic components.

Many engineers and others would say that electronic design automation has really improved the construction of electronic components, mainly through universal design techniques that eliminate different kinds of bugs or defects in chips, circuit boards, etc. However, there are still trade-offs – and some experts point to situations where a circuit board might work despite not being transparent to modeling in an electronic design automation system. In general, these tools have standardized and streamlined the creation of circuit boards and chips through automation processes.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert

Margaret is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.