Printed Circuit Board Schematic and Layout Design

Oct 29, 2026

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Application note on printed circuit board (PCB) schematic creation and layout design using CAD tools. It outlines PCB background and emphasizes that each PCB can be unique, then provides a practical workflow for drawing circuit schematics, adding components from libraries, wiring and labeling nodes, and switching from schematic to a board file. It further covers component placement, trace routing with configurable width and direction, and copper pour via polygon fill to support manufacturable PCB layouts.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryTechnology

FormatPDF

Pages13

Reading Time33 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Objective

Implementation

Results

Recommendations & Conclusion

References

Printed Circuit Board Schematic and Layout Design Li-Shian Chen April 2nd 2010 Executive Summary Printed circuit boards are widely used on almost every electronic product, due to the fact that it has advantages such as large scale with low price manufacturing, high quality, and space saving for the project. Table of Contents 1. Introduction…………………………………………………………………page 3 2. Objective …………………………………………………………………page 3 3. Implementation ……………………………………………………………page 4 4. Results………………………………………………………………………page11 5. Recommendations & Conclusion ………………………………………page 11 6. References …………………………………………………………………page 12 1. Instruction Printed circuit board, also know as PCB, are highly use in all kinds of electronic designs in industries. PCB’s history begins with “printed wired” in 1903 to multi-layer in 1980s. PCB is usually coated in a color of green, blue, or red with solder mask. The conducting layouts are typically made with copper foil. Currently, there are no standard PCB. Each PCB is unique and has its own function for the product. The PCB designer will use computer-aided design software to design the [board. Figure1. is](board. Figure1. is) an example of a final version 2 layer PCB. Figure1 .– Two Layer Printed Circuit Board with solder mask 2. Objective The purpose of this application note is to instruct how to use CAD software tool. This document will explain how to draw the schematic of the circuits, design the printed circuit board layout of the project for the PCB manufacturing. 3. Implementation There are lots of free CAD software available online for designer to download such as Orcad, Cadence, ExpressPCB, etc. For this document, I will use Eagle CAD software as an example to do a simple design demonstrate. Step1 . Open the software and create a new project. Inside the project create anew schematic file. Figure2 . Step2. Add the components from the library (Figure3b.) to the schematic window (Figure 3a.) . If some of the components are not in the library, user can download online and add into the library folder or the designer can design their own components. Figure3a.–Add components by clicking the “Add” button on the left hand side toolbar and use “Move” button to place components on the desire position Figure3b.– Components library will pop-up after the user click the “Add” button Step3 . Connect all the wire to the components (Figure4.) . In order to do that, we click the “Wire” button and connect the components node by node and if we have more than 1 connection, we can label nodes on the schematic by clicking the“Junction” button. Figure4 .–Wire all components Step4 . Create a board file ( .brd) (Figure5b.) by clicking File􀃆Switch to board (Figure5a.) . Figure5a.– Create board file Figure5.– Open the board file (.brd) by clicking the “Board” button on top of the schematic file Step5. Position all the components to the desire place (Figure6.) . Use the“Move” button we did in Step2 . Figure3a. and place on the desire position. Figure6 .– Place components on the desire position Step6. Route all the traces (Figure7.) . Click the route button and route the component like we wire components in the schematic file. Figure7.– Route all the trace (1.27mm wide) by clicking the “Route” button on the tool bar. We also can change the trace direction by click right button on the mouse Step7 . Copper pour Figure8.– Click the “Polygon” button and line on the edge of the board for top and bottom layer 4. Results After complete the PCB design, the designer can submit the .sch file (schematic file) and .brd (PCB layout file) to the PCB manufacture for the quote and order. Figure9.– Schematic file (.sch) of Microphone Pre-Amp for SAiNT preject

FAQs

What is the document’s main purpose?

It instructs how to use CAD software to draw the circuit schematic and design the PCB layout for manufacturing.

Which CAD tool is used as an example in the implementation steps?

Eagle CAD is used as the example to demonstrate a simple PCB design process.

What files does the designer submit after completing the PCB design?

The designer submits the .sch schematic file and the .brd PCB layout file to the PCB manufacturer for quotation and ordering.

Oct 29, 2026

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