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.
Lay out one MCU breakout board
Draw a two-layer board with an MCU, regulator, debug connector and LED in KiCad and export Gerbers.
If you can tick all three, move on to the next subject. Ticks are saved in this browser only.