CHAPTER 1

OVERVIEW OF PCB
Introduction
What is PCB?
PCB stands for Printed Circuit Board . It gives mechanical support to the
components and conducts by electrical means with the help of copper lines on a
non conductive pallet.
It can support surface mounted devices and socket devices.

Fig 1 Shows a simple PCB

(i)
(ii)
(iii)

Types of PCB
PCBs can be classified as
Single Layer PCB - It has single conducting layer on the substrate.
Double layer PCB - It has two conducting layers.
Multi Layer PCB - It has more than two conducting layers
Materials

(i)
(ii)
(iii)

The basic materials are

Resin they are the laminates for the board
Reinforcement This provides mechanical strength
Copper Clad It is formed after the copper foli is placed on the reinforcement

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CHAPTER 2
INSTALLATION OF gEDA SOFTWARE
Introduction
Before we talk about installation we will have a small note about the software
gEDA is combined from two acronyms GPL and EDA
gEDA is a project started to provide open softwares under General
Public License.
EDA stands for Electronic Design Automation
gEDA is mostly oriented towards PCB designing
Two major components with gEDA are gsche(for circuit Schematic) and
PCB designer(for PCB art layout)
Platforms
All applications and in the gEDA suite can compile and run on Linux an also
Unix based systems
For MAC and Windows we need a support software which provides a base for
operating
Here we use VMware as the support for WINDOWS through which the Linux
based operating system Ubuntu handles the compiling and running of the gEDA
software
Illustrative steps or Running Ubuntu Through VMware
Note : Before Installing Ubuntu it is necessary to install ADOBE DISTILLER
Step 1: Open the rar file(if given so in .rar format) Ubuntu.rar and select for
Extract files hereoption

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Step 2: After extrcation check the folder Image-Ubuntu

Steps for Installing VMware

Step 1: Open VMware.exe under EFY >soft binding

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Step 2: Select Home in the VMware player tool box

Step 3: Select Open a Virtual Machine

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Step 4: Select Ubuntu_efy.vmx after opening Open a Virtual Machine

Step 5: Select ubuntu_efy in the VM Player dialogue box.

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Step 6: Select Play Virtual Machine

Step 7: Select I copied it in the dialogue box that appears

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Step 8: The player will ask for password ,type EFY123

CHAPTER 3
SOFTWARE REALIALIZATION OF PCB LAYOUTS
Introduction
Having seen the basics of PCB and steps for installing the software utilized
in our University ,you will be keen to know how to work with the software and
how to build your own PCB
Coming sections will be very crisp in providing you with very basic
knowledge on working with the software. As we know Interest Drives a Human
Being , once you learn the software basics am sure, that you will be very much
interested in practicing various types of circuit, and developing your own PCB and
inturn you can develop your own project kits for Final Year projects and Mini
Projects.
So, before learning the software it is highly recommended that students
undertand the basic circuit designing and must try getting the outputs in lab so that
it will be easier to design the circuits in PCB
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There are two main application inside gEDA they are (i) gschem used to
design ghe schematic and (ii) PCB designer used to get the layout used in
schematic
Schematic :
You are probably very familiar with various schematic symbols and
diagrams.
Aschematic is merely a collection of electronic symbols connected together
with virtual wires.
A schematic symbol is a simplified representation of a real-world
component.
A schematic diagram shows such representations of real-world components
and a simplified map of how they are connected together
Schematic symbols come in all sizes and shapes. They can be as simple as stick
figures or as complicated as a work of art, but they all have a few common
features. These features are summarized below:

1) Each symbol contains a graphic, or drawing, that represents the part or

There are two methods for obtaining the PCB layout
1) We can first design the circuit in gschem application and import it to PCB designer
application
2) We can directly get the layout from the PCB designer application.
Drawing the schematic in gschem
Step 1 : After typing the password following window will appear select gEDA
schematic as shown

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An window will appear as below named untitled_1.sch

Note: all the files must be with extension .sch eg., xxx.sch

(i)
(ii)

This is where the schematic has to be drawn for any given circuit and the same has
to be imported to the PCB designer application using appropriate steps . Overview
of the steps are illustrated below
Picking the components
Connecting the components
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(iii)
(iv)
(v)
(vi)
(vii)

Giving value to the component

Selecting the ref_des for the component
Selecting the foot print value fron the PCB designer
Importing the saved schematic in the PCB designer application
Obtaining the layout
Each of the steps would be explained in the below section with appropriate
examples . Students are advised to read carefully and proceed as per the
instructions

Step (i) Picking the components

In the window we can see a tab called .click Add and click on components

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The following window appears after clicking components

As we can see there number of title in the left hand side of the window Viz., Basic
Devices, Connectors, Diodes, Input/Output etc . Under these titles there are
number of components which can be selected and placed
(i)

For example, we will see how to obtain a Resistor

For this we will have to click on Basic Devices under which we can see the
number of components . Below we can see a text box there we can type res
number of resistors will come , and we can choose the required resistor

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OR
(ii)

We can scroll down to find resistor

(iii)

OR
Instead of clicking Basic Devices we can directly type res and choose the
component under Basic Devices

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Similar procedure can be followed to add any components

For capacitor we can type cap the s/w will show the location and the component
and the same can be chosen
For 555 IC we can just type 555 and the component can be chosen
Note: Students are advised to search the components required and to practice
placing the component in the schematic window
So, Once the component in chosen we can directly place on the screen just by
dragging the mouse and placing the component in the window of schematic as
shown

Resistor placed in the schematic window

Step (ii) Adding connections
To add the connections we have click on the Add tab and select the option Net
This will enable the wiring mode so that the components can be connected
After enabling the net mode we can see that all the terminals components will be
highlighted with a small circle indicating the terminal can be connected
Below is shown the wiring

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Resistor wired
Now an completed example will be shown for RC series Circuit
Students are advised to follow the above mentioned steps and try the shown
simple example

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RC series circuit with a connector

What is a Connector?
Connectors are used in PCB to provide supply or to transfer signals from/to the
PCB. Connectors may have any number of pins. Above shown is the two pin
connector
Note: After drawimg the circuit completely we must define all the components
with attributes that are necessary for the component to be imported to the PCB
designer . If the component is not given these attributes those components wont be
seen in PCB layout in PCB designer application after importing. Attributes are
listed below
The three attributes that must be added
Value Tells the specification of the component
ref_des reference description (i.e) giving name to the component
footprint chooses the size of the component
All the three attributes can be done by clicking addAttribute

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Below-Single attribute editor dialogue box

In the text space for name once we click the allow the following options can be
seen

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In the above we can click value and in the text space of value we should type the
required specification of the resistor as shown

The resistor value will be changed to 100E as shown

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Similar step can be for capacitor and connector though connector has no specific
value except for number of pins, which will shown invariably
Step (iv) adding ref_des
Similar steps has to be followed for ref_des
Click addattributechoose refdes under name textenter R1 under the
Value text box as shown

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Similar procedure can be followed for connector and capacitor

And the schematic will look like as shown

Step(v) : Adding footprint

As we know footprint tells the size of the component , this is a very important step.
Foot print allows the software to allocate the required space for each component
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Same procedure has to be followed click AddAttributechoose footprint

under Name text box. Now for adding the Value of the footprint we must
open PCB designer as shown

Select PCB designer

The following window will be open

In the tabs choose WindowsLibrary as shown
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Once clicking the Library a dialogue box will open as shown . In the text
provided we can type res

After typing res choose RES0.25.fp and pres Ctrl+c

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The foot print value will be chosen and that can be pasted in the single attribute
editor dialogue box as shown and click ok

We can see the schematic as follows after doing the similar procedure for other two
components

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Note: Students are advised to choose the footprint for capacitor and connector
using the similar procedure
After completing the process save the file.
What we should note here?
Resistors footprint varies according to the wattage of resistor
RES0.25.fp stands for the foot print of the quarter watt resistor , similarly
0.5.fp stands for half watt resistor
Same holds for capacitor various footprints are available for various sizes of
capacitor and depending on the material used
Same as the above connectors footprint varies for different types of connector and
based on the number of pins
Footprints of the components are same globally

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IMPORTING THE FILE TO PCB DESIGNER and OBATINING THE

LAYOUT
Step (vi and vii)
After saving the file in the gschematic open PCB Designer
To the left hand bottom corner of the PCB Designer window we can see and option
called Route Styles clicking on the opens a dialogue box as shown

In the Dialogue Box Edit Style can be chosen to Signal or Power or Skinny or
Fat depending on the line requirement
Line Width : denites the width of the connecting line
Via Hole Size: denotes the sizes of the holes
Via ring Size : denotes the size of the ring
These values can changed to any specific value depending on the requirement
After choosing the required specifications
ClickFile Import Schematicchoose saved file eg.,rc.sch

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Illustrative steps for Importing

The following dialogue box appears choose the file name that you have saved

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The file would be opened as shown

After Importing the file click ConnectsAutoroute all rats nest
Againg click Connects Optimize all rats nest
After competing the schematic will be as below

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The above is the illustrative procedure for the software realization of a very simple
RC series circuit by importing the file from gschmetic
DO Not Forget
We see here that all the components has to be defined with definite footprints ,
value and reference description without which the component will not be imported
into the PCB Designer application
OBTAINING LAYOUT DIRECTLY
Rather going through all the procedures we can directly draw the layout of our
circuit thereby minimizing the time required for drawing the schematic
Because Schematic is always available with us in hand or from any other software
For this open the PCB Designer application
i. As per the requirement change the Routing Styles
ii. hoose the Bottom layer because the print of the circuit will be on the
bootom layer in the single sided PCB
iii.

Click WindowLibrary or use the short cut key I the library of

components will be open

Type the required component and paste it on your PCB designer screen
As an example let us assume we are going to interface a 40 pin 8255 to 8086 .
Components taken
40 Pin DIP
8 diodes
8 resistors
15 pin connector
6pin connector
8 pin connector
3 pin connector
All the components can be taken from the library as mentioned earlier while
adding the Value field for Foot Print

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Place the components as shown

Connectors are shown to indicate the connections from these ports goes to various
places
Port A goes to resistors and diodes
In the left hand bottom corner we can see a button for various functions
Choose Line to the draw layout
Components can be rotated through 0,90,180,270 degree modes by the
button Rotate
Any faults can be deleted thorough the delete button
After drawing the connections the layout will be similar to the shown

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Kindly note that the layer chosen is top. Normally this would be done in bottom
layer . To do this we can select Bottom before starting the schematic
Similar layout is shown below for RC series circuit also

Two connectors are used to give input and to obtain the output.

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CHAPTER 4
CREATION OF FOOT PRINT AND SYMBOL
Creation of footprint
In case if the footprint the device is not present ij the software there are
options to create the footprint in the software and can be saved in the name we
want.
All we have to know is the dimensions of the device for which we have to create
the foot print
Step 1: Open PCB Designer Window

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Step 2: Draw the layer of the device that is to be designed in the PCB designer
application

Step 3: Select the device and click Buffercut selection to buffer

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Step 4: Again Cllick BufferConvert buffer to element

Step 5: click save buffer elements to a file

Step6: save under efy/gaf with a name xxx.fp here as an example it is dual
pin8.fp

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Step 7: Go to main window click test

Step 8: open efy/gaf copy the saved file

Step 9 : save it under usr/share/pcb/gaf

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Step 10: Open PCB designer and the device can be found under library
STEPS FOR SYMBOL CFAETION IN gSCHEMATIC
STEP:1 Open gEDA schematics look into library for a reference
symbol/component , if not available , draw the design as per requirement ;
choose the item to add symbol ( take help from data sheet of the component if
needed).
STEP:2 Save the file with an extension of xxx.sym in gEDA_project.
STEP:3 Choose the item to add symbols
STEP:4 Add pin to the desired location in add palette
STEP:5 In edit. Show/Hide inv text to hide text
STEP:6- Add pin labels to each pin
STEP:7 - Addall the attributes that are done as explained above in previous
chapter
STEP:8 Add device name in add attribute palate
STEP:9 - Add footprint
STEP:10 Choose value/name clear from attribute palette
Open LXTerminal
STEP: 11 Type the following
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sudo mv mv/home/efy/geda
project/sym/mycap.sym/usr/share/gEDA/sym/minicircuts.
Press ENTER
It will ask for the EFY password type EFY123

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CHAPTER 5
HARDWARE REALIZATION OF THE SCHEMATIC DRAWN
Introduction
Having seen how to create the schematic and layout using gschematic nd PCB
designer its now time for us to see how to realize the layout in Hardware and make
the component work
Before realizing the layout in hardware there are few steps to be followed so that
the file has to converted to readable format and must be available for printout
Steps for converting the layout onto readable file
For this we will take the DIP INTERFACING circuit that has been seen in
CHAPTER 3
1. Open PCB designer load layout dip interfcing.The diagram will appear
as below

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2. Click File Export layout dialogue box appears bearing BOM, gcode
..etc select ps(post scale)

3. At the top a link will appear open the link given in main window

4. We can view the ps file

Go the main window and go through the link the for the example is
/home/efy/dip interfcing.ps
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5. And by using adobe distriller the xxx.ps is converted to .xls file for taking
print out.

Steps For Hardware Realization

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Get the copper Clad

File and cut the clad for smoothness
Wash the clad in water and scrub using the scrubber for removing dirt
Fold the circuit on the clad such that the lines must be facing the copper
Iron the clad by this means we are transferring the circuit to the copper
plate
6. Wait for few seconds and carefully remove the paper
7. If there are any lines that are damaged draw those lines using permanent
marker
8. Put the Clad in Ferric chloride solution for few minutes till the
surrounding copper is removed and only the conducting layer is present
9. Drill holes at the required places
10.Place the components, solder and test the circuit .

EXAMPLE : VOLATGE REGULAR CIRCUIT

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Note: PCB DESIGNING USING TWO TECHNIQUES

Two techniques used to design Printed Circuit Board (PCB) those are,
a. Schematic to PCB layout design
b. Direct lay out design
1.1Schematic to lay out design
In this technique initially the schematic representation of the PCB circuit is
drawn after that the schematic representation is converted in to PCB layout.
The steps involved to draw a schematic diagram of PCB circuit:
STEP1:
create the symbols for all the components of the circuit. The symbols
available in Add component (ac-short cut key) in schematic window.
STEP 2:
Connect those components using virtual wire as per the circuit diagram.
Make sure that after completing your circuit there will not be any red dots
(red dot represents the virtual wire is not connected properly with
components) re connect it properly.
STEP 3:
Assign the values and reference description (refdes) of each component by
double clicking the component. Values represents the value of the
components (example:- for a component resister the value would be
10K,20k etc.) and refdes represents the reference description of the
component(example:- for a component resister refdes is R1,R2,etc.) note:
the reference description should not be the same for components.
STEP 4:
Assign the foot print for the each component of the circuit diagram (foot
prints shows the plot and size of the component) each components has its
own foot print example:-for resister foot print name is Res 0.25.fp (quarter
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watt resisters normally used) for capacitors foot print name is CAPC.FP.
The steps involved in selecting a footprint for component is to be
Step:
Double click on the component select foot print open PCB designer
Search and choose foot print (desktop) Copy(ctrl+c) the
footprint(ctrl+v)in sch. Window

Now the foot print has created for the component. The foot print shall be
created for all the components of the circuit diagram.
STEP 5: save this schematic in desk top. Now the schematic capture is
completed for the circuit.

The schematic diagram of the bridge rectifier by using the above procedure
is

SCHEMATIC TO LAYOUT;
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The procedure for importing the schematic to lay out is

Open PCB designer (desktop) file Import schematic select
file connects Auto Route all rats
After the above procedure the layout of the bridge rectifier from the
schematic will be,

Make all the wires to blue in colour (single sided PCB).for that select the
wire go to view and click on move to current layer then it will changed in to
bottom layer(blue in colour)
PRINTING THE LAYOUT
To print the lay out the below procedure is needed . this procedure is same for
documentation also
File Export layout click PS select PCB print.lay out remove auto
mirror Document saved in same folder
By using the Adobe distiller we can open the pdf document in operating system of
windows .now it is ready for printing.
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The lay out which we have to print is to be,

The above is the lay out which is to be printed in PCB.

We can use the above figure (from documentation).for the reference to place
components.
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DIRECT METHOD FOR LAY OUT DESIGN:

The following steps are needed for the direct method of lay out design
PCB design window library select foot print of the components directly
arrange the component in PCB design window change the route style (line
width) Pick the line symbol connect the components select bottom (single
sided PCB) Save layout.
Note: line width in general 1.55 mm, board size is depends on circuit and customer
requirement.
After completing the above procedure of direct method of PCB design, the layout
(bridge rectifier) will be

After this the same documentation and printing procedure .the lay out(from the
document) is to be printed as

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