This software aligns with the workflow preferences of most designers, significantly enhancing motherboard design efficiency while minimizing the operator’s testing challenges.
The first-time success rate of board reading ensures reliable functionality. A brief introduction to its features and usage includes:
– Placement of pads, holes, traces, arcs, components, fills, POLYGONs, and text;
– Attribute and grid settings for each element;
– The CTRL key to automatically snap to the grid and element centers;
– The Shift key to perform selection, cut, copy, delete, rotate, mirror, and repeat operations;
– Support for up to 32 layers, with zoom display functionality;
– The ability to set the origin at any location.
**Design Accuracy: 1 mil**
Using its proprietary B2P format, you can import BMP and JPG images, and the resolution of BMP files is automatically detected.
Protel 2.5-2.8 format can be used to manage component library files.
It supports the output of Protel 2.5-2.8 format files.
**New Features in Software (Version 3.0):**
– Added support for setting any blind or buried vias.
– Added the ability to create a component library.
– Added functionality for custom components.
– Added support for vector-based characters.
### PCB Power and Ground Line Processing Technology
In PCB design, handling power and ground lines is crucial to minimize noise interference and ensure product quality.
The following guidelines apply to power and ground line routing:
– Place a decoupling capacitor between the power and ground.
– Increase the width of both power and ground lines as much as possible. Ideally, the ground line should be wider than the power line.
– For digital circuit PCBs, a wide ground line can be used to form a loop, creating a grounding network. This approach is not suitable for analog circuits.
– A large copper area can be used as a ground plane, connected to the ground at unused PCB areas. Alternatively, a multi-layer PCB can allocate a layer each for power and ground.
### Inspection Guidelines
Once the routing design is complete, it’s essential to check if the design adheres to the established rules and whether those rules align with the PCB production process. The following aspects should be verified:
– Ensure the spacing between traces, traces and component pads, traces and vias, and vias and vias is within acceptable limits and meets production standards.
– Verify that the power and ground lines are appropriately sized and tightly coupled (low impedance). Check if there’s additional space available to widen the ground line on the PCB.
– Confirm that optimal measures have been taken for critical signal traces, such as minimizing trace length, adding protection traces, and properly separating input and output lines.
– Verify that analog and digital circuits have independent ground planes.
– Check that added graphics (such as logos or annotations) will not cause signal shorts.
– Adjust any traces that deviate from ideal linearity.
– Ensure that the production line adheres to PCB manufacturing standards, such as ensuring correct soldering resistance, appropriate solder pad sizes, and that character markings are correctly placed.
– For multi-layer boards, reduce the outer frame around the power layer. Copper exposed to the power supply layer could lead to a short circuit.
