ELEN 405

Lab 1: Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Layout

Electrical Engineering Senior Design Laboratory
Lab Objectives:
The objective of this lab is to teach the student how do design a printed circuit
board (PCB) using the Altium DXP 2004 PCB design software. The lab will cover
designing schematics, creating schematic and PCB libraries, and designing PCBs. A
circuit schematic will be given to the student for PCB layout.
Overview:
When a circuit is designed in industry for production, it is usually placed on a
printed circuit board (PCB). A well designed PCB provides many advantages to
industrial and commercial products, a few of which are listed below:
• Mass producible
• Maintain circuit integrity/High longevity
• Easy to repair/replace
• Signal noise reduction
These advantages, however, are not just achieved by creating a PCB. The electrical
components and circuit traces must be laid out in such a way that the advantages are
gained. An example of this is within laying out circuit traces. The longer a circuit trace
is the more resistance and inductance it can have. Other considerations for PCB layout
will be mentioned further in the lab.
The design process for creating a PCB using the Protel 2004 DXP software
involves three major steps; the creation of a schematic document, a PCB document, and
the libraries that will communicate between the two. The following sections will provide
a step-by-step guide for each step.
Protel 2004 DXP
To begin the PCB design process, open the Protel 2004 DXP software and create
a project database. The program is found under Programs
Electrical Apps

Altium. To do this, when Protel opens select the following starting with the top menu:
File
New
PCB Project
Protel will then create a project database where all of the project files created will be
referenced to. The screen capture below shows the project database on the left hand side
of the screen. The database is empty, so the next step of the project is to add the project
files that will be necessary to design the PCB. The four files that are needed are:
• Schematic (schematic with all parts/wiring)
• PCB (pcb board)
• Schematic Library (for drawing your own schematic parts)
• PCB Library (for drawing your own PCB footprints)

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To include each of these files, right click in the area beneath the “No Documents Added”
folder and select “Add New to Project”. Under this submenu choose each of the
documents as seen above. The resulting page should look as follows:

After this save the project by right clicking on the PCB_Project1.PrjPCB file and choose
the “Save Project As. . .” option. When the save dialogue box appears it will show a file
from the project. Rename and save this file in the H:\ drive of the computer. After the
first file is saved it will ask to save another file from the project, and it will continue

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doing this until all the files that were created are saved (Five in all for this case). Make
sure to save each file in the same location, it will make it easier to locate all the files. For
the design example, all the files have been given the name Design Example. From this
point, the circuit shown in the figure below will be used as an example for the step-by-
step PCB layout process. The circuit will take some input and AND it with a clock signal
coming from a crystal oscillator. The output of the AND gate is then sent through and
inverting amplifier and then sent to a signal processing black box (1 input 1 output) in
which the output is the desired signal to be used.

Figure 1: Sample Circuit

Schematic Layout
All PCB projects for ELEN 405 must have a schematic diagram. The schematic
diagram will make troubleshooting a circuit much easier, and it will make the PCB layout
easier as well. The first thing that needs to be accomplished is placing the parts in the
schematic diagram. To do this click on the button on the top menu that looks like and
AND gate or choose this path: Place
Part. A dialogue box will pop up that looks like
this:

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Click on the button that has the three periods on it (next to the button that says History…)
and another dialogue box should open up. This box contains all the component library
information that is stored within the project database. Currently, there are only a few
schematic libraries, including miscellaneous devices, miscellaneous connectors, and the
schematic library that was created at the beginning of the design process.

In order to import more schematic libraries, click on the button with the three
periods next to the find button and it will open up another dialogue box. At the bottom of
this box, click on the “Add Library…” button and it will bring up the screen below.

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Each folder contains different device families from different companies. When a device
family library file is chosen, it will appear the screen below, showing that the library was
added to the project. To get to this screen the open file window must be closed. For
example, a logic gate library was chosen from TI to incorporate an AND gate used for the
design example.

When this window is closed, the library that was selected will appear, and all the parts of
the library will show in the list on the left hand side of the window. The right hand side
of the window shows the selected part’s schematic and PCB footprint.

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Once the desired part is selected click “OK” and the next dialog box appears. This
window shows specific information for each part that is selected, including the schematic
library reference for the component, the component designator, the component name, the
PCB footprint, and in this case for multi-package ICs (quad op-amp, hex inverter, etc.)
the part ID. The component designator makes a unique distinction between components
that are placed in the schematic. This is so that when the schematic is imported into a
PCB document, the nets (connections between components) will be properly labeled. In
the screen capture below, the designator for the AND gate is labeled as U?. The U stands
for what type of component is being used and the ‘?’ is where a unique identification
number should be placed. Since this is the first IC that is being used, it will be labeled as
U1. The following list is comprised of some of the component labels that are used in
industry, and that students will be required to use:
• U – Integrated Circuit
• Q – Transistor
• D – Diode
• R – Resistor
• C – Capacitor
• JP – Jumper/Connector
• Y – Crystal
Once a unique identification number has been given, click okay and the schematic
symbol for the part will appear on the sheet. The component can be moved around by the
mouse and rotated using the space bar. Once it has been positioned, click the mouse
button to set it down. After this is done, another component of the same type will appear
for placement. If the component is a part of a multi package IC, it will be given the next
part ID; if it is a discrete component the designation number will increment by one. After
placing the necessary components, press the escape key and it will open the dialogue box
shown below. Different components can now be chosen for placement.

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In the screen capture below, all the components except for the signal processing block,
power, input and output have been placed (The resistors were found in the miscellaneous
devices library).

Since the power and the input are coming from another source and the output is leaving
the board, connectors must be used. A four pin header, as shown below, found in the
miscellaneous connectors library was used for the power. To make the schematic easy to
read, the jumper in this project must have its pins facing the opposite direction. To do
this, the components properties must be changed.

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To get to the component properties, double click on the component and the dialogue box
shown below will appear. In this window the component can be mirrored, its orientation
can be changed, its pins can be edited, a new PCB footprint can be assigned to it, and
other changes can be made. For this component, the “Mirrored” box will be checked.

All the components have now been placed and modified except for the signal
processing block. The circuit is now ready to be connected using place wire tool (circled
and labeled at the top of the screen capture below). Once the place wire tool has been
selected, click on the edge of one of the component pins and drag the mouse in the

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direction the wire is supposed to go. If the wire direction needs to be changed, click the
mouse at the point where the direction will change and drag the mouse in the new
direction. When the wire comes to a connection point (another pin or a wire crossing) a
large red ‘X’ will appear. This ‘X’ is not to be confused with the other red ‘X’s on the
schematic above which are no connects. These are placed on pins of components that are
not connected to anything using the Place No Connect tool circled in the screen capture
above. When three or more components are connected a dot, or node, appears at the
intersection point of the components and/or wires. This is a visual indicator that shows
that devices and crossing wires are connected.

Schematics can become very complicated and component connections can

become very hard to trace when there are many connections that need to be made. To
alleviate this problem ports can be used. A port creates a connection between itself and
another port that has the same label or name. The screen capture above demonstrates the
use of ports to make the schematic easy to read and the component connections easy to
trace. In order to place a port, use the Place Port tool circled in the capture above. Once
a port is placed, the length of the port must be assigned. This is done by moving the
mouse left and right to adjust the port length, and clicking the mouse to set it. After a
port has been placed, it is assigned the name “port.” This can be changed by double
clicking on the port and re-naming it in the dialogue box that appears. If ports that are
supposed to be connected to each other don’t have exactly the same name, they will not
connect (they are case sensitive).
In the next screen capture on the page below, the circuit has been completed (The
creation of the signal processing block will be explained in the next section). There are
two more steps, however, before the schematic can be imported into the PCB document.
The first step is to make sure that power is routed to all the integrated circuits. In the
schematic, the op-amp has pins shown for power (7 and 14), but the AND gate doesn’t.
In order to find out what pins are connected to power and how they can be connected to

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the power input, double click on the AND gate and at the bottom left hand corner of the
component properties window click on the “Edit Pins” button. A dialogue box shown in
the screen capture below shows that pins associated with the ICs power (7 and 14) are
labeled GND and VCC.

In order to have these pins connected to the five volt source and ground pins on the
power connector, power ports must be used. A power port acts like a regular port, but
also connects pins that have the same label or name that are not on the schematic. In the
screen capture on the next page, there are two different Place Power Port tools circled at

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the top. One is for ground (GND) connections, and the other is for voltage (VCC)
connection. Once placed, the VCC label can be changed if necessary by double clicking
on the port and re-naming it. The capture shows that the power ports have been placed
on the regular ports associated with +5 Volts and ground.

The second step before importing the schematic into the PCB document is
creating and assigning PCB footprints to the components that either do not contain a PCB
footprint, or have a footprint that needs to be changed based upon the needs of the
designer. This will be explained in the PCB library section of the lab.

Schematic Library
Some components that will be used in circuits that are designed may not be
included the schematic libraries that the Protel 2004 DXP software provides (such as the
signal processing block used in the design example). In order to create a custom
schematic footprint, click on the .SCHLIB tab and under the Tools menu choose New
Component (Shown in the screen capture at the top of the next page). A window will
appear with a prompt to name the component. After naming the component, the footprint
can be created. The first step in laying out the component is to create an outline for the
component. For the signal processing block, a rectangle was chosen to be the outline.
Under the Place menu choose the Rectangle option (shown in the screen capture at the
bottom of the next page). After selecting the option, click on the area on the grid where
the first corner of the rectangle will be placed. Since it is known that the signal
processing block will have four pins associated with it (input, output, 15 volts, and
ground), then the rectangle will be made in such a way that the pins can be evenly spaced
out.

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 In order to place pins on the footprint, click on the Place menu and choose the Pin
option. A pin will appear on the library sheet and can be moved with the mouse until it is
placed on the sheet by clicking the mouse. Each pin will have two identical numbers that
are shown in the screen capture below. These numbers dictate the position of the pad on
the PCB footprint that the pin is associated with (this will be explained in the PCB library
section of the lab). The portion of the pin that makes a connection with the wires and

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other components on the schematic is on the opposite side of where one of the numbers
appears on one side of the pin.

Since the pins are not placed properly, and since the signal processing block will be
associated with a Dual Inline Package (DIP) PCB footprint, the pin positions and labels
must be changed. This can be done in the Pin Properties dialogue box that appears when
double clicking on the pin (Shown below). To ensure that the pins are properly placed
after their properties are changed, un-check the “Visible” box to the right of the
Designator number and make sure that the number of the pin fits inside the rectangle.

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It is essential that the pin numbers match the pin designators, so both numbers must be
changed.
After the component properties have been changed, the resulting footprint is
shown below. The length of each pin has been reduced from 30 to 10. The last thing that

must be done before the footprint is completed is it needs to be assigned a designator and
a comment. To change these, click on the Tools menu and choose the Component
Properties option. Using the conventions described in the section above, change the
Default Designator letter and place a ‘?’ after it. In this case U? was used as the

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default designator. In the Comment section type in manufacturer part number of the
component. In this case, SPB was chosen as the comment. To finish making the
component save the library by clicking on the save icon or choosing the save option
under the file menu. After the component is finished, if more components are needed to
be made, choose the New Component option under the Tools menu and follow the steps
above. In the schematic document the new component can be placed by selecting it from
the library that was created using the Place Part Tool described in the section above.

PCB Library
The final step before importing the schematic document into the PCB document is
creating and assigning PCB footprints to the components that either do not contain a PCB
footprint, or have a footprint that needs to be changed based upon the needs of the
designer. There are two methods of creating PCB footprints; the first is by using the
Component Wizard, and the second is by manually creating the component. The first
method to be discussed is using the wizard to create footprints. In order to begin, the
.PCBLIB file is selected. Then under the Tools menu the New Component option is
selected (Shown in the screen capture at the top of the next page). The Component
Wizard window will then appear (shown at the bottom of the next page).

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 In order to create the PCB footprint using the wizard, the Next > button should be
selected. If Cancel is selected, then the manual process of making footprints will begin.
After clicking on the Next > button, a window will open that will have a list of footprints
the wizard can make (shown in the screen capture on the top of the next page). To
demonstrate the wizard a Dual Inline Package (DIP) will be chosen.

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 When the DIP option has been selected and the next button has been clicked, the
wizard will go to another screen shown below that will ask for the dimensions of the pads
and holes for the component. The pad is area that solder will be applied to connect the
component to the circuit board. The hole is where the lead of the component goes
through the PCB. For DIPs, a 45 mil (1 mil = 1/1000th of an inch) hole and a 75 mil wide
pad is an optimal choice.

Once the pad and hole sizes have been chosen, the next screen (shown at the top of the
page below) in the wizard will ask for the distance between each hole of the DIP. For

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standard ICs (op-amps, logic, etc) the distance of spacing between the columns of pins is
300 mil and between rows of pins it is 100 mil.

After the spacing has been set, the wizard will ask for the width of the outline of the
component (shown below). The component outline uses a trace on the top overlay layer
of the PCB. The color of this layer is yellow and the purpose of this layer will be
discussed later in this section. The width of this outline should remain at the default of
10 mil.

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 The next portion of the wizard asks how many pins the DIP has (shown below).
Since the footprint being made is for the signal processing block, the number of pins
required is four. Once the number of pins has been selected then the wizard goes to the
final step and prompts the user to name the component (shown at the bottom of this
page).

After the wizard has completed the created footprint will appear shown in the
screen capture at the top of the next page. Once the footprint has been completed and the
library has been saved, then it can be applied to a schematic component.

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 Once a component has been created, to create another component, choose the
New Component option under the Tools menu. When the wizard appears click the cancel
button to create a footprint manually. When the wizard has been cancelled, the screen
shown below should appear.

The first step in creating a PCB footprint manually is placing pads. For this
design example a power connector will be made. Using the Place Pad tool (circled at the
top of the screen shot on the top of the next page), a pad will appear on the screen which
can be moved around until placed on the grid by clicking the mouse. The first pad is

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placed at the origin ((0,0) (coordinates circled shown in the bottom left-hand corner of
the screen below)) to make it easier to place the other pads. The connector being used
has a distance of 100 mil in-between the middle of each pin, so each of the pads are
spaced 100mil apart. One trick to measuring the distance between holes of a component
is to place the component on a breadboard. The distance of spacing between the middle
of two holes on a breadboard is exactly 100 mil.

When the first pad was placed, it had a number associated (designator) with it, in
this case zero. Looking at the schematic it is known that the first pin is marked as a 1,

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therefore the pad that is associated to it must be a 1. The pad designator can be changed
in the Pad properties window which is accessed by double clicking on the pad. The pad
shape, size, and hole size can also be changed. When making component footprints, it is
good to have the first pin marked by a different shape that way when components are
placed on a PCB it is easy to orient them correctly.

Once the pads have been placed and edited (shown above) the last portion of the
component layout is drawing the outline of the component. To create the outline click
the top overlay layer tab circled at the bottom of the screen below and then click on the

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place Line tool circle at the top of the screen. Using the mouse draw the outline around
the component that matches the physical outline of the component, clicking the mouse to
change directions. Once the outline is complete, rename the component using the
Component Properties option under the Tools menu and save the library. The component
is now ready to be assigned to a schematic component.

To assign a PCB footprint to a schematic component, open up the .SCHDOC file and
double click on the component that needs the footprint. Click the Add button circled in
the screen capture below and a window will pop up in the middle called Add New Model.

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Make sure that the pull down menu is set to footprint then click OK. On the next window
that pops up, click the “Browse…” button at the top of the screen (shown directly below).
This will automatically open up the PCB library that was created (shown at the bottom of
this screen). Click on the PCB footprint that is desired to be used and then click OK.

After this is done, the PCB footprint should appear at the bottom of the PCB Model
window and its name should appear at the top (shown in the screen capture at the top of
the next page). Click the OK button at the bottom of this window and at the bottom of

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the Component Properties window to go back to the Schematic and the process is
complete.

PCB Layout
The final step in creating a PCB is the laying out the PCB. To begin open the
.SCHDOC file and under the “Design” menu choose the “Update PCB Document” option
as shown below.

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After this option has been chosen, a window will appear that looks like the one shown
below. This window describes all the placement changes of components and nets from
the schematic document to the PCB document. To ensure that all the changes are valid,
click the “Validate Changes” button on the bottom left-hand side of the window.

If all the changes that are made are valid, then green circles with checks in the middle
will appear, as seen below. If there are errors, then a red circle with an ‘X’ will appear.
Most of these errors are caused by not having a proper footprint associated with a
schematic component.

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Once all the changes are validated and okay, click on the “Execute Changes” button next
to the “Validate Changes” one. Protel will then add all the changes made to the
.PCBDOC file and open it up (shown below).

Once all the changes have been executed, click the close button on the window. In order
to see all the components that have been placed, click on the Zoom Fit button (located
underneath the Project menu option at the top) and it will zoom out and show everything
that has been done to the PCB document. The black rectangle shown on the screen is the
actual area where the PCB can be created. In order to begin working on the PCB, move

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All the components by clicking and holding the mouse button inside the purple box with
all the components located in it and drag it inside the black rectangle and zoom in on the
area (see screen capture below). Once this is done, make sure the purple box is selected
(as shown below) and delete it.

Now all the components should appear as below. The thin white lines that are barely
visible from the pads of the components are the nets of the circuit that are supposed to be
connected together. The next step in the process is to change the position of each
component such that the size of the PCB is minimized, the components are easy to route

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(placing down traces to connect the nets), and that trace length is minimized. There is no
specific process for adjusting the components; the best way is using the small white lines
to minimize the complexity of routing the traces. To rotate a component, click and hold
down the mouse button on the component and press the space bar. An example of a
component layout scheme is shown below. The keep-out layer insures that no
components overlap each other. If there was any overlapping, the components would
turn green indicating an error.

If any extra components need to be added to the PCB, go back to the schematic document

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and add the components in. In the case of the design example, a bypass capacitor for the
op-amp was left out. Once this is done, click on the “Design” menu and choose the
“Update PCB Document” option. Validate and Execute the changes using the steps
shown above. The components that were placed before updating the PCB should remain
in the same place, but the new components will appear elsewhere. Click the Zoom Fit
button to find the new components and move them to the PCB. Then delete the green
rectangle shown in the screen below. The components will all appear green until the

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rectangle is deleted. Once everything is placed properly (as seen in the screen capture at
the bottom of the previous page) a set of design rules must be established. These rules
govern clearance between objects, routing width, copper plane topology, and more.

The rules only rules that will be necessary for ELEN 405 are as follows: electrical
clearance, routing width, and polygon connect style. In order to edit/add rules, select the
“rules” option under the “Design” menu. A screen should appear like the one seen
below.

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 The first rule that will be modified is the electrical clearance rule. This rule
governs the amount of distance that is allowed between any two non-connected pads or
traces. Under the Electrical “folder” on the left-hand side of the PCB Rules and
Constraints Editor window, expand the Clearance “folder.” Choose the Clearance option
and the screen below should appear. At the bottom of the window on the right hand side
in the Constraints box, change the minimum clearance from 10 mil to 20 mil.

The next rule to be modified is the routing width. The routing width governs how
thick a trace will be. The thicker the trace is, the more current it can handle. The

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The recommended width for routing traces for signals is 30 mil. Expand the Width
“folder” under the Routing “folder” and choose the Width option and the screen at the
bottom of the page above should appear. Change the “Preferred Size” of both the bottom
and top layer to 30 mil and the max width to something greater than the preferred width
(both of which are at the bottom of the right-hand side of the screen).

The last rule that needs to be modified is the polygon connect style. This rule
dictates how a pad will connect to a polygon of copper that is created (polygons are
explained further in this section). Under the Plane “folder” expand the “Polygon Connect
Style Folder” and choose the PolygonConnect option. On the right-hand side of the
window in the constraints box change the Connect Style from Relief Connect to Direct
Connect in the pull down menu.
There is one more rule that needs to be added. This rule is another clearance
constraint rule, but it will be for a specific object. The object that this clearance rule will
be governing is a polygon. Under the Electrical “folder”, right click on the “Clearance”
folder and choose the “New Rule…” option (shown in the screen capture at the top of the
next page). The clearance rule box should now appear. Change the name of the rule at
the top of the rule box to Polygon. Directly beneath the name there is a box called
“Where the First object matches.” In this box, select the “Advanced (Query)” button as
shown in the figure at the bottom of the next page.

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In the box to the right of “Where the First object matches” called “Full Query” type in
(InPolygon) as seen in the screen capture at the top of the page below. This states that for
any object that is a polygon there must be a minimum clearance between it and all other
objects. Finally change the Minimum Clearance to 40mil. Now all the rules are
established and routing can begin. There are two layers which can be used for routing
traces, the top and bottom layer. The colors of these layers are red and blue respectively.

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To begin routing, select the desired routing layer by clicking on one of the tabs circles at
the bottom of the screen below and then select the Interactive Routing tool circled in
black at the top of the screen shown below. In order to switch layers, routing must be
stopped by hitting the Esc key and the new layer can then be selected. Examples of top
and bottom layer traces are circled in green in the screen capture below. To route a trace
between two pads click on the center of a pad once and move the mouse to change the
trace length. To change directions, click the mouse and move it to the desired
destination. Once the trace has reached the desired pad click on the middle of the pad to

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ensure that the connection has been made, then hit Esc to end the trace. When laying out
traces, directional changes that make 45° angles are the best to use as opposed to changes
that make 90° angles (shown below). This is due to the fact that the current flowing
through a 90° angle will cause distortion and introduce noise into the signal that is being
transmitted.

When routing a trace from square pads always route it from the side of the pad and not
the corner (as shown below). A trace can enter and exit a circular pad, however, from
any angle. Traces that go to normal pads (grey colored pad) can enter the pad as a top

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layer trace and exit as a bottom layer trace as shown in the screen capture at the bottom of
the page above. Surface mount pads, however, can only be routed from the top or bottom
layer. These pads are either all red or all blue.

When routing power to an IC that has a bypass capacitor route the power through the
capacitor first and then to the IC as shown above. When routing a situation may arise in
which the net that you are trying to connect has no direct path (see screen capture below).
In this case a via needs to be placed to switch from one layer to another.

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To place a via, select the Place Via tool (circled in the screen capture below) and place
the via on top of the trace that needs to change layers. Then change the layer and finish
routing the net on the new layer. An example of a via is also shown below.

If a via is placed on the PCB without being placed on a trace, then it will have no net
associated with it and it will be impossible to connect a trace to it because of the design
rules. In order to assign a net to a via, double click on the via and a window will pop up
as shown in the screen capture below. Once the desired net is selected from the pull-
down menu in the window, then the via will be ready for routing. The via hole and pad

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size can also be changed from this menu.
Once all the nets have been routed, one of the last steps in designing the PCB is to
check to make sure all the traces are correct, and all the nets are indeed connected. At the
bottom of the left-hand side of the Protel 2004 DXP program window, there is a tab
called PCB (circled in the screen capture below). Once it is selected a new menu will
appear on the left-hand side of the screen. Under the Net Classes box, highlight All Nets
(as shown in the screen capture below). This will then show all the nets that are a part of
the circuit in a box called Nets underneath the All Nets box. Each individual net can then
be selected, and Protel will highlight all the pads and traces associated with that net and
zoom in around it. Carefully check each net to make sure they are all connected. The
screen capture below shows an example of a completed net. Once all the nets have been
checked, click on the clear button above the Net Classes box that is circled in the screen
capture. This will allow the user to access all the nets again.

The screen capture at the top of the next page shows an example of a net that hasn’t been
fully connected.
After all the nets have been completed, then the PCB is finished and ready to be
manufactured. There are however a few extra items that can be added to the PCB to
improve its performance and functionality. The first item that can be added is the
addition of a ground plane to the PCB. The ground plane will connect all of the
components connected to ground with a large area of copper. This will reduce the
resistance between the ground of each component and reduce the level of noise that the
circuit may be susceptible to. To create a ground plane, select the Place Polygon Plane
tool from the top menu that is circled in the screen capture at the bottom of next page. A
window should appear like the one that is on the same screen capture. In order to ensure
that the plane is going to be made of solid copper, make the grid size equivalent to the
track width. Next set the Layer option to bottom layer and the Connect to Net option to

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GND. Also make sure that the boxes labeled “Pour Over Same Net” and “Remove Dead
Copper” are checked.

The “Pour Over Same Net” option will make sure that the polygon covers any traces that
have already been made for the net selected. The “Remove Dead Copper” option will
ensure that any part of the polygon plane that is created and doesn’t actually connect to
another part of the net or a pin on the net will not exist. After all these options are
chosen, click the OK button. The PCB document will then come back and be in the

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mode for routing. Route a trace all around the PCB as shown in the screen capture
below, making sure that it returns to the point where it began.

Once the polygon has been completed, it will fill itself in, as shown below. The design
rule constrains make sure that the plane does not create any short circuits with other
traces and pads on the bottom layer that don’t belong to the GND net.

The second extra item(s) that can be added are mounting holes. These holes will
allow the PCB to be mounted to a case or structure using risers. This will greatly reduce,
if not eliminate, the risk of short circuiting the PCB against a metal case or structure.

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Using the Place Pad tool circled at the top of the screen capture below, place pads
everywhere there needs to be a mounting hole. In the case of the design example the
pads needed to be placed at the four corners of the PCB (as shown below). When the
pads are first placed, they have no net associated with them, so if they touch any trace or
polygon then they will turn green.

The next step in creating the mounting holes is to change the size of the hole and pads.
Double click on the pad to open the Pad properties window (as shown below). A proper
mounting hole should not have a pad associated with it. To make this happen

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make the pad size the same as the hole size.
The next item is mandatory for all ELEN 405 students. In order for the
Instrument Room (111A) technicians to cut out a PCB, a top layer trace must be made
around the outline of the board. For the board outline is alright if the trace makes 90°
angles as shown below.

The last extra item that can be added to a PCB is text. By selecting the Text tool
(circled at the top of the screen capture shown below), a sting of text can be added to any
layer that is selected. To change the text, double click on the string and rename it.

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The screen capture above has text sting labeled “Design Example” placed on the top
layer. When finished, show the completed PCB layout to the TA.

Design Considerations
When designing a printed circuit board, there are many things that need to be
taken into account to improve the quality of the design. There are also tricks to use to
decrease the amount of time spent working on the design. A few of these are listed
below:
• Breadboards can be used to measure the size of components, the distance between
two holes on a breadboard is 100mil
• Always use a 0.1µF polyester film or tantalum capacitor to the supply of each IC,
it will reduce the amount of noise that the signal incurs from the power supply
• Plenty of clearance between traces is vital so the traces don’t arc. For every
100V, make sure there is 1 mm of space between traces
• Make trace lengths as short as possible, the longer the trace is and the more turns
it makes, the higher its resistance and inductance will be
• Make mounting holes for each PCB, it will help keep the circuit from shorting
from any kind of metal contact it makes with a surface
• Allow plenty of time to design a PCB, it takes many hours to figure out the best
way to place components and route traces. Components and traces may have to
be moved during the middle of the design for optimization. I spent 8 hours
working on just moving components and laying out traces on one PCB

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