When designing a circuit board, it sometimes seems like getting to the final design is going to be a long and arduous journey for the PCB design process. Even for basic tasks like micromanaging copper and solder, trying to get the circuit board printed after all, or solving more specific design problems like through-hole technology or layout design with vias, pads, and more. For any signal integrity issues, you’ll want to make sure you have the proper design software.
If you have been doing this for decades, you don’t need me to tell you how valuable it is to know your design software so that your printed plates are well designed. Designing tracks for the location of the routing and copper or managing the necessary layer for the welds can become complicated tasks when we do not have a precise and reliable integration, from the capture of schematics to the composition.
10 Steps for Design a PCB Circuit Board:
 Step 1: Create the schematic.
Whether you are generating your printed circuit board design from a template or creating a board from scratch, starting with the schematic is probably the best idea for the PCB design process. Your schematic is similar to the blueprints for your new device and it is important to understand what is shown on your schematic. First, your schematic shows you:
- What components are used in the design?
- How the components are connected.
- The relationships between groups of components in different schematics.
This last point is quite important since complex designs can use hierarchical schematics. You can achieve good organization on your new board by taking a hierarchical approach to design and placing different circuit blocks on different schematics.
 Step 2: Create a blank PCB layout.
After you’ve created your schematic, you will need to use PBC Designer’s schematic capture tool to begin creating your PCB layout. But first, you will have to create a blank PCB document. When
 Step 3: Capture schematics: link your PCB.
All the tools for PCB design process designers work in a unified design environment, in which schematics, PCBs, and BOMs are interrelated and accessible simultaneously.
 Step 4: Design the PCB stack.
When you transfer the information from the schematic to the PcbDoc, the component footprints are displayed along with the specified board schematic in the PCB design process. Before placing the components, you should define the composition of the PCB (such as shape and layer stacking) with Layer Stackup Manager, as shown below.
If you’re new to the world of PCB design, most current designs feature a four-layer board in FR4, although you can define the number of layers you want in Designer. You can also use the library of stacking materials and choose from a range of different laminates and materials unique to your board.
If you’re working in a high-speed/high-frequency PCB design, use the built-in impedance profiler to ensure onboard impedance control. The Impedance Profiling Tool employs Simberian’s built-in electromagnetic field solver to match the geometry of the tracks to the target impedance value.
 Step 5: Define the design rules and DFM requirements.
The number of PCB layout rule categories is vast, and you may not have to use all of these available rules for every layout.
The rules you use, especially those related to manufacturing, should conform to the specifications and tolerances of your PCB manufacturer’s equipment. The advanced PCB SMT design process, such as impedance controlled designs and certain high-speed/high-frequency designs, may require very specific design rules that must be adhered to for the product to function properly. Always check these design rules in your component datasheets.
The designer will treat your custom design rules as built-in design rules. As you place components, tracks, tracks, and drill holes, the Designer’s unified layout engine automatically checks to see if your layout follows these rules and indicates with a visual mark if any have been violated.
 Step 6: place the components
The designer offers great flexibility and allows you to quickly place components on your circuit board. You can place the components automatically or manually. You can also combine both options to take advantage of the auto location speed and ensure your board is designed following good component placement guidelines. An additional advanced feature of this latest version of Designer is the ability to distribute components into groups.
 Step 7: Insert the drill holes.
Before routing the tracks, it is advisable to place the drill holes (assembly and tracks). If your design is complicated, you may need to modify at least the location of some tracks while routing the tracks. You can easily do this from the ‘Properties’ dialog, shown below.
 Your preferences here should be guided by your PCB manufacturer’s Design-for-Fabrication (DFM) specifications. If you have already defined the DFM requirements of your PCB according to the design rules (see Step 5), the Designer will automatically check these rules when you place vias, drill holes, pads, and tracks in your design.
 Step 8: Route the tracks.
Once the components and other mechanical elements are in place, you can proceed to route the tracks. Make sure the routing guidelines you use are appropriate and take advantage of Designer tools to simplify the process by highlighting networks and color-coding the route routing, as shown below.
Designer includes many important tools that make the routing experience easier and more productive. You will be able to access powerful automatic routing and interaction tools. These tools will work on multiple networks simultaneously, facilitating the joint routing of a large number of tracks.
 Step 9: Add tags and identifiers.
Once the composition of the circuit board is verified, you can add labels, identifiers, markers, logos, or other images to your board. It is recommended to use reference identifiers for the components, as they will facilitate the assembly of the PCB for the PCB design process. Additionally, polarity indicators, pin 1 indicator, and other labels useful for identifying components and their orientation are included. When it comes to logos and images, it’s best to check with your PCB manufacturer and make sure the fonts you use are easy to read.
 Step 10: Generate the design files.
Before generating deliveries for the manufacturer, it is always a good idea to verify the composition of the printed circuit board using a Design Rules Check (DRC). The designer does this automatically as you place components and route your design, but it never hurts to run another DRC manually. Once the plate is checked, you will have the deliveries ready for the manufacturer.
Once the board has passed the final DRC, it is time to generate the design files for the manufacturer. The design files should include all the information and data necessary to build your board, such as notes or special requirements necessary so that the manufacturer is clear about what you want. For most manufacturers, you will be able to use a series of Gerber files, as shown below; however, some prefer other CAD file formats.
By following these steps, the process for creating a comprehensive design is as simple as a count of ten. Using a systematic approach like this ensures that all aspects of your design are inherently taken into account during the process, with minimal need to retrace your steps.
PCBASIC Designer is an advanced PCB design and development package that incorporates many tools that simplify the most complicated design tasks. The functionalities and options that we have seen here are a minimum sample of everything that it includes. You can explore these and other options with free trials. For more information on designing circuit boards with a Designer, contact a PCB design expert. And keep learning by listening to the podcast.