PCB designing basics and tools used for it

Akash J
CONFIDENTIAL Jr. Engineer
Overview

What is PCB ?

What are basic steps in PCB designing ?

What are different tools used for PCB designing ?

What is PCB

A printed circuit board (PCB) is the board base for physically supporting and wiring the
surface-mounted and through-hole components.

A basic building block of the PCB is FR-4 ( Flame Retardant ) panel with a thin layer of copper
foil laminated to one or both sides.
woven
fiberglass cloth
PCB thickness varies from 0.2 mm (for single layer board) up to with an epoxy
6.00 mm (for max. 38 layers). resin.

Generally, there is a Ground plane, a Power plane and rest are the signal layers in
multilayer PCB.

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Required input files for designing

Schematic diagram Netlists Datasheets

Silkscreen legend

Trace-routing rules

Board drawing
Bill Of Materials

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What are basic steps in PCB designing

1. Schematic capture
This is the first step in designing PCB. It is mandatory step in any tool, but it can be
done manually or automatically.

Creating a part, if it is not available

in parts library.

Simulation of circuit.

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2. Component placement
Assigning decals to each part. If the part is new then we need to create a decal for that
part according to its data sheet.
Arranging parts according to functionality
and physical shape of board.

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3. Routing & exporting the output file
Creating each route according to design rule and netlists.

Use of layers and planes for efficient

routing with the help of vias.

Can be done manually or auto routing.

Exporting the required layers in Gerber

format or ODB format

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What are the different PCB designing tools

1. Cadence Allegro

Design entry CIS for schematic capture.

Design entry HDL for schematic capture using netlists.
Package designer for creating a part and assigning a decal to it.

PCB router for routing and PCB editor for generating required output format.

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2. Mentor Graphics PADS

PADS logic for schematic capture.

PADS layout for component placement.

PADS router for routing.

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3. Altium PCB designer 4. Mentor Graphics Xpedition

5. Eagle PCB design 6. Dip Trace PCB design software

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Thank you

References

http://www.radio-electronics.com

https://www.mentor.com/blogs

https://www.pads.com

https://www.alitum.com

http://diptrace.com/

https://cadsoft.io/

http://www.electroschematics.com/
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