Roadmap / Hardware
PCB Design
Even with the right circuit, bad placement and routing give you a dead board.
Goal Take a design from schematic to Gerbers in KiCad and order the board.
- 01Drawing schematics
KiCad symbols, net labels and hierarchical sheets for a readable schematic.
- 02Placement strategy
Separate power, high-speed and analog areas, and fix connector positions first.
- 03Trace width and current
Choosing width from copper thickness and allowed temperature rise.
- 04Ground and power planes
Design ground by thinking about where return current flows.
- 05Decoupling placement
Capacitors close to pins, vias short. Placement alone changes the noise.
- 06High-speed signals and impedance
Differential routing and impedance matching for USB and Ethernet.
- 07EMC basics
Habits that keep a board from emitting or picking up noise.
- 08Gerbers and ordering
DRC, Gerber and drill files, BOM and placement files for manufacturing.