Fix Connections - Script

The 'Fix Connections' script is a modified version of 'Fix Overlaps' which was created by Petar Perisin and can be found at Altium Addons.

Download Script Link:

Fix Connectons v1.0

I will describe in this post how I used the 'Fix Connections'  script on a recent DDR3 design.

As demonstrated in DDR3 Routing Simplified - Part 2  to get accurate length data we need cleanly connected routes in our designs.

I recently reviewed a reference design and noted that 500+ bad connections were found in the design.

Click on images to view

Let's clarify what the difference is for good and bad connections.

This design passed all DRC checks for opens and shorts, so in terms of connectivity there are no bad connections in the design.

However several of the length matched routes had bad connections in the design.  

These less than perfect connections resulted in wrong lengths being reported in the PCB panel for Total Net Lengths and the From -To Lengths.

Enter stage left, this where the 'Fix Connections' script shines.

As shown above 'All Nets' were checked for bad connections, however I wanted to verify the matched length routes in the DDR3 part of the design.

Using the drop down menu in the script I selected the 'DDR' Net Class which included all nets in the DDR3 circuitry and then selected Ok to run the script.

Note in this design there are also other DDR Net Classes that can be selected to focus on a specific data lane or the address and control lines.

By selecting a Net Classes and running the script I was able to easily find and fix the routes in the DDR Net Class.

Because the script remembers the last selected Net Class, I was able to quickly check and fix nets in selected Net Class.

Tip:

To further speed up the process the script was assigned to a custom menu and a hot key.

Conclusion

With a hot key set run the 'Fix Connections' script you can quickly find and clean up routes.

A big thank you to Petar Perisin, his efforts made this script possible.