Polar CGen v25 Overview

Polar CGen is a specialized software tool developed by Polar Instruments, a leader in PCB (Printed Circuit Board) design and impedance testing solutions. It serves as an automatic impedance coupon generator for creating controlled impedance test coupons, which are essential for verifying signal integrity in high-speed PCB designs. CGen streamlines the process of generating Gerber files for test structures, reducing manual design time from hours to minutes. It’s particularly useful for engineers working on multilayer PCBs, where precise impedance control is critical to prevent signal degradation.

Key Features of CGen

  • Impedance Coupon Generation: Automatically designs test coupons (small PCB sections) with user-defined impedance structures, such as microstrips, striplines, and edge-coupled pairs.
  • Integration with Polar Ecosystem: Seamlessly imports layer stackup data from Polar’s Speedstack PCB or Speedstack Si tools. It also pulls structures from field solvers like Si8000 and Si9000 for accurate simulations.
  • Variants:
    • CGen PCB: Focuses on basic impedance testing.
    • CGen Si: Builds on CGen PCB with added support for insertion loss coupons, crucial for high-frequency designs (e.g., measuring signal attenuation in rigid-flex PCBs).
  • Customization Options: Users specify layer count, symmetry, layer functions, and add multiple impedance-defined structures. It supports standards like IPC-2141 for coupon layouts.
  • Advanced Capabilities: Includes support for probes like GGB SET2DIL Picoprobe, in-line coupon styles, and enhancements for mixed-layer processing.