PCB Layout - Introduction

Layout is the method of transferring the circuit that you have created on to a PCB. On a PCB you can’t have connections like that you do in a breadboard. The physical arrangement of the components should be optimum. Why? Because, an improper circuit layout can prove to be a disaster for the designer. If the circuit layout on the board is not optimum it can waste board area, increase power consumption and even render the circuit you assembled as useless. So much care has to given to circuit layout.

There are several tools for creating circuit layouts. One of the popular software is OrCAD. Although this section covers only OrCAD PCB layout and schematic entry, the steps involved are almost same for most of the software.

The major steps in creating a Layout include:

• Creating Schematic
• Creating the actual Layout

OrCAD Capture is the tool used to create schematic. OrCAD Layout is used for creating Layout. We will look into both the tools in the coming sections.