In this final step, you must ensure that the estimations, simulations, board layout, and design all work together and the design meets the following requirements:
- Operates within the limits of the power delivery for both AC ripple and DC tolerance
- Operates within the limits of the maximum current requirement
- Keeps maximum junction temperature within specifications and correlates to thermal simulations
Finally, analyze your design process and correlate the results to apply any lessons learned to your future designs. Following are questions to ask:
- How accurate was the initial estimation?
If your initial estimation was accurate, you can use the same methods for designs with similar applications, and you might be able to transfer the enable and toggle rates.
- How close was the thermal simulation to hardware? What margin was needed? Can
the tolerances be improved? Was enough pressure exerted?
Xilinx recommends between 20 and 50 pound-force per square inch (PSI).
- Overall, was the board design successful? If so, what worked well, and what could have been improved? If not, what needs to be changed to make sure the board is successful the first time?