Questions relating to the routing of printed circuit boards (PCBs) which involves the placement of tracks on the board. It may be performed manually however many PCB CAD programs provide an autorouter to assist in the process.
19
votes
2answers
472 views
Ground ring — good or bad?
Here are two routings:
Which is better? On one hand, the first is bad because ground ring is one-turn coil, hence induction current will be appear. On other hand, the second is bad because ...
17
votes
7answers
3k views
Why is there such a strong preference for 45 degree angles in PCB routing?
I've always wondered this: every single modern PCB is routed at 45 degree angle increments. Why does the industry prefer this so much? Doesn't any-angle routing offer more flexibility?
One plausible ...
16
votes
8answers
5k views
Solid ground-plane vs Hatched ground-plane
So recently when i was routing a PCB , I came across the option to either fill/pour my ground plane with either solid or hatched copper. I've also noticed that the old arduino duemilanove also had a ...
10
votes
9answers
2k views
Do you layout in mil or mm?
I have been using 10 mil trace with 10 mil spacing. The PCB vendors quote that they like traces down to 7 mil. But then I ran across a PDF showing how to fan out a QFP to get all the signals ...
10
votes
1answer
193 views
GPS Design Review (RF Input)
I've designed a PCB in Eagle to host a GPS Receiver module and a GPS patch antenna. The RF input to the module is specified as a 50Ω unbalanced (coaxial) RF input. I used this calculator to calculate ...
9
votes
6answers
1k views
Finding air wires in Eagle
I am almost done routing a board. However, is telling me that there is still one more wire. I have looked but I just can't seem to find it. Is there a to make Eagle tell me where it is?
9
votes
2answers
310 views
Does pin order matter at all for this RAM?
I am trying to route a pic32 chip to a 128kB SRAM chip and having a bit of a hard time getting all 17 address lines and all 8 data lines connected. I am trying to tie the first 16 address pins to ...
7
votes
1answer
648 views
My 12 MHz crystal does not oscillate
I am having trouble with a board I have had fabricated. The processor is an NXP LPC1788 Cortex-M3.
I am using a 12 MHz external crystal to clock the processor as recommended in the datasheet.
...
7
votes
2answers
620 views
Is it normal to have a rats-nest of VCC/GND traces under an IC?
I'm attempting to route a simple board, the first I've done in 15 years since I routed a 12V linear power supply in the equivalent of mspaint. This board consists mainly of an LPC2387, which is an ...
6
votes
2answers
605 views
Sharing an oscillator between two ICs
I have a microcontroller and an FPGA on the same board. If they're both going to run at the same clock speed, can I just use one oscillator to clock them both? There seems like there is something I ...
6
votes
4answers
2k views
Changing all via and routing sizes at once (Altium Designer, PCB Design)
I have a completed PCB design drawn by Altium Designer. I want to increase via sizes. But there are too much of them, and changing all of them one by one will be a very long and bothersome work. Is ...
5
votes
3answers
267 views
Does there exist an IC that allows on-the-fly routing of signals?
Do there exist ICs with N input pins and N output pins which, either via EEPROM setting or via on-the-fly control by a microcontroller, allow one to route each of the N inputs to ANY of the N outputs?
...
5
votes
3answers
315 views
How to join 3 traces is a PCB?
Usually I route my PCBs never making a 90º turn as best practices recommends, but sometimes there are points were 3 traces must intercept, if I always do 45º turns, in this intersection will be a 90º ...
4
votes
6answers
1k views
Using TopoR with EagleCad
I just learnt of TopoR routing software. It routes PCB traces without grids, with curves and arcs for reduced trace length and vias.
http://www.toporouter.com/
But its not a complete PCB routing ...
4
votes
2answers
139 views
Creating a high-current bus on a PCB
I'm planning a custom power-distribution / fuse-board for in-car application, but that requires carrying high currents (50A+ @12v*) on a PCB trace. Since I'd like to keep the board cost, and physical ...
