Electrical Engineering

Questions tagged [routing]

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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.

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45 views

A bus routing puzzle, does it ring a bell?

I am breaking my head over a puzzling bus routing puzzle, and I wonder if this sort of problem rings a bell. I have 4 memory cell ports, let's call them EE, OE, EO, and OO, that are being mapped to 4 ...
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2answers
70 views

4 layer PCB, mixed signal, multiple different voltages

For a mixed signal PCB with DACs, ADCs, MCUs and multiple analog opamp circuits. With +/-15V to power the opamps, 3.3V for all the digital stuff and a couple reference voltage rails (1.5V and 3V). Can ...
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30 views

Is it necessary to remove ground on all layers when using isolated DIO

So, I am using uptocouplers and digital isolators for a project connected to a microcontroller GPIO. I removed the ground (ground plane cutouts) under the load side of the components, is it necessary ...
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2answers
59 views

Routing decoupling capacitors to a micro-controller

I'm attempting to design and make a Keyboard PCB and have stumbled onto a question I can't seem to find online (probably because I'm not searching for the right thing/lack of info) When routing ...
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1answer
19 views

Why is it suggested to keep 2cm between the chip and the remote antenna in TESEO-LIV3F?

I am reading the TESEO-LIV3F hardware reference manual. In the remote antenna subsection (9.3, page 24), it explicitly suggest to keep a couple of centimeters between the chip and the remote antenna. ...
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1answer
36 views

Routing 5 differential pairs over a short distance with limited space

I have 5 differential pairs (4-lane MIPI-DSI) going from left (SOM header) to right (FPC connector). As you can see on the right, for each lane, the signals end on opposite ends of the FPC connector. ...
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1answer
83 views

50 ohm Dummy Load With 50dB Attenuator

I am designing a 50 ohm 10 watts dummy load for 100-1000MHz frequency range. The signal strength should not exceed -10dBm. The load must be able to dissipate 5 watts minimum, that is +37dBm. The ...
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1answer
62 views

USB Type C swap A/B rows for easier routing

I'm routing a USB-C receptacle on a carrier board for a System on Module. The location and orientation of the receptacle and the SoM headers are dictated by the design of the device. I noticed that ...
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24 views

Autorouter not working between board regions

I created a default Altium 20 two layers PCB and I divided it in two regions with a split line. I am able to hand route the tracks with no problems. Anyway, in these conditions the autorouter is not ...
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1answer
67 views

How many multiplexers is too much?

This is a general question. I have a specific task that I am working on. For this task, my solution requires around 300 multiplexers with all of them 16 inputs and 16 bits per input, and a single ...
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0answers
72 views

JLC2313 stackup with DDR3 fly-by

I’m building a simple SBC based on Allwinner A33 for my undergraduate final project, includes two x8 DDR3 chips. I’m going with 6 layers JLC2313 Stackup 1.2mm thickness (cost reasons). It’s my first ...
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1answer
51 views

Is there a term for something like a “routing scheme”?

I would like to know if there is any common term to describe the routing of devices to conceptually understand the setup. E.g. something that explains how the devices are connected to each other on a "...
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1answer
66 views

Step-up layout - Is important trace order?

I am adding step-up to my PCB and I wonder if I have to make trace order like in this design. I mean if input voltage has to go first through power inductor, then capacitor and finally step-up ...
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7answers
5k views

Autoroute or not?

I made a fairly complex circuit (at least for my level). After spending a few hours trying to manually autoroute, I had like only 5% finished, and every time run into obstacles of not being able to ...
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1answer
149 views

Is it better to route Ethernet on the top layer, or to use vias?

I'm making a circuit board with Ethernet (PoE if that makes a difference) coming in through an M12 connector, passing through magnetics and a PHY and going to a micro. I've always heard that there are ...
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2answers
65 views

Parallel power traces with PWM and unwanted EMI

I'm in the process of designing a PCB for an RGB LED light source that will allow me to dim each color channel separately using PWM. To help manage the thermal output of the LEDs I'm trying to use an ...
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3answers
50 views

How to route and solder TO-263AB packages?

Am working on making a PCB and i was using RFP30N06LE MOSFET on my breadboard circuit, now that am making a PCB i want to use the other variation RF1S30N06LESM of the same component. which as you can ...
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4answers
149 views

Freerouter doesn't want to route to inside an FPGA

Prefacing this by saying I'm entirely new to designing electronics for a PCB and I've only worked with breadboards before, so if there's more that I'm doing wrong in my project besides just the PCB ...
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1answer
244 views

Routing strategy - 24-bit RGB display on a 4 layer PCB

I'm routing traces between a microcontroller and a TFT display (24-bit RGB, clock frequency at 18 MHz).The stackup is: L1 - Signal L2 - GND (solid layer) L3 - PWR (solid 3.3V in the region of ...
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3answers
325 views

Should internal signal layers of a PCB have a ground pour?

I see a lot of discussion about using copper pours on the outer layers of a multi-layer PCB, as well as a single continuous ground plane on a multi-layer board, but there isn't a lot of information ...
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3answers
97 views

How are Circuitboards with Multiple CMOS Chips Routed?

For my school side project i'm building a digital clock from 40xx series chips. I'm at 11 IC's now, taking up two regular sized breadboards. While I could simply solder this all onto solderable ...
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1answer
56 views

Is there a rule of thumb for choosing polygon width?

I am currently using the same width as the smallest wire inside the polygon, is this too small?
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1answer
65 views

How to connect power to multiple pins on a microcontroller?

I'm creating board with basic MCU STM32F334K8T6. STM32 have three VCC pins. Each of them needs to be fed. Two options: Connect them to each other. Connect all power lines at one point. To use the ...
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1answer
67 views

Is this wiring between two USB-C connectors (receptacle) valid?

I am working on a small (hobby) device that does passthrough of USB-C connection (signals are untouched, only power/gnd are used in the device). To simplify assembly I put both receptacles on the top ...
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1answer
57 views

EAGLE. Differential pair routing. Width of the track changes after first change of direction

I try to route differential pair of tracks. When I click the mouse to change the direction it also changes the width
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4answers
168 views

PCB routing mismatches the schematic

I have design a board on Kicad and now trying to route the tracks. However there is something I don't understand. Different pins on a microcontroller are connected to 3.3V power source through a ...
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0answers
48 views

Quadrax routing on a PCB

When connecting twisted pair wires to a printed circuit board, I hope I am right in thinking that differential pair routing is used on the board in either a stripline or a microstrip configuration to ...
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0answers
127 views

Why does Altium say this net is uncoupled?

I have some differential pairs in Alitum. They require impedance matching to 100R, which is easy enough. Putting the numbers into Saturn PCB Toolkit V7.08, it works out that I want a conductor width ...
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1answer
550 views

Can I swap TX+ and TX- (and RX+ and RX- ) using ethernet magnetics?

I am building ethernet connectors and a switch into a product. There is a requirement to include PoE which I haven't done before. This has required the use of a new magnetics chip to expose the two ...
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1answer
452 views

PCB Routing of CANH and CANL

Continuation from an earlier question: Current Consumption of CANbus (CANH and CANL) I understand how to specify my power supply for multiple CAN transceivers but I am now wondering about the details ...
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3answers
155 views

PCB routing around capacitors “snake style” possible electric disadvantages?

Is there any reason not to route the +12V and GND lines in a snaking pattern as shown with C7 + C11? From instinct I'd always route caps in parallel to power and gnd rails. Top left near D1 is the ...
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1answer
34 views

When placing a new line it doesn't get assigned a net, how to fix it in Altium?

I had this working well before, but now, every time i'm placing a new line from a component, it never gets assigned the net. In the Net field it is always "No Net", which forces me to manually place ...
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2answers
1k views

2 layers pcb : ground plane at bottom layer, what to put on top?

Disclaimer: I'm designing a simple arduino based board, so I'm maybe over-complicating things, but I'd still like to do the board well. I've carefully this answer : Decoupling caps, PCB layout, ...
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1answer
49 views

Ondulatory routing in Raspberry Pi [duplicate]

I bought a Raspberry Pi and I noticed some of the routings are not straight lines but instead they make a funny ondulatory shape (see picture at the right and bottom of the processor). I'm not sure ...
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2answers
276 views

Routing long usb 2.0 high speed traces: microstrip or stripline?

I'm tweaking the design of my usb-audio device to pass the usb high speed eye pattern test. Due to the positioning of key components, the design features quite long d- d+ traces, 139mm (5.47") to be ...
6
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1answer
528 views

What are the advantages and disadvantages of Manhattan-Style routing?

Manhattan-Style routing being the use of expressly east-west planes and north-south planes, using a via and changing planes when a signal changes direction. Comparing to freestyle routing, which lets ...
2
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1answer
209 views

Traces over ground plane [duplicate]

Sometimes it cannot be avoided to run traces over a ground plane (bottom layer) in a two layer PCB. I have two questions regarding this: In the (simplified) example below, what is preferred? To use ...
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2answers
1k views

How to import PCB 3D model (step file) designed in MCAD software in Altium and place PCB footprints, and route it?

I have my PCB board from Mechanical Design software as a Step file. Now, I want to import it into Altium Designer and place PCB footprints, and do the routing etc. I am looking for some guidelines or ...
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1answer
54 views

Some questions to cleanup my first PCB

I'm trying to create my first PCB after having too many problems wire-soldering every single wire. I learnt KiCAD yesterday and so far it seems like a very good application. For creating the scheme,...
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2answers
761 views

USB-C Connector: How to route signals

I'm having trouble understanding how to route the signals out of the Molex 1054500101 Type-C USB connector - specifically the B1-B12 pins. The distance between row A and row B is only 0.5mm, too ...
2
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2answers
273 views

USB Routing: Switching layers during routing

I'm working on a standard 4 layer board that involves USB 3.0. I have to route the SS TX/RX pairs as well as D+/D- pairs across a 2.8" PCB. I have found multiple calculators that provide me the ...
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2answers
233 views

How important is it to track from centre of pad in PCB routing?

When reading through the review comments of a PCB, there was one which raised some questions for me: "Aim to route tracks out of pad centres and in line with the pad, not exiting at an angle." I ...
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2answers
273 views

Does it matter if differential pairs have no reference plane or cross reference planes?

More specifically, does it matter on a PCB if routing differential pairs if they cross reference planes? Do they need a reference plane? Is there even a reference plane with a differential pair? I ...
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2answers
214 views

PCB Stack up 4 layer Micro vias, Stacked Vias and Buried Vias

I am designing a 4 layer board in which I HAVE to use blind and buried vias. This is a very dense board with (SOLID COPPER ON LAYER 4, No exceptions ) I am planning to use 1.) 1-2 microvia and 2-3 ...
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1answer
175 views

Does it matter how I cross a 2 MHz SPI clock signal on a two layer board?

Background Currently I am working on a breakout board which allows me to connect a number of external boards (analog and mixed signal) to an Arduino Micro, using a variety of connectors. The ...
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72 views

Unrouted Nets Error in Altium 18!

So, I use Altium 18 and I was checking the Board information for my PCB. Under Nets, it showed total of 24 Nets and 0 Unrouted Nets. During my checks I found one of the nets was unconnected, yet the ...
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40 views

Altium: Stitching vias applying for multiple nets in multiple channels

I'm tryint to add stitching vias to my multichannel project. I have 5 nets for via stitching to be applied on each channel and 3 channels in the project. So 15 nets in total. Looks not too much to ...
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0answers
591 views

Altium Designer: Copy room format does not modify polygon net name

I have a multichannel PCB with channels named U1, U2 and U3. I'm trying to copy the format of one channel to other two: component placement, routing, polygons. In the first place I was facing that ...
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1answer
50 views

Filter power supply for video signals

I'm drawing a board with an MCU (running at 32 MHz), some serials and an analog video section (mux and amplifiers). I kept the video section physically separated from the digital one: i.e. it's placed ...
7
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1answer
835 views

Best layer stack strategy for a 6 layer PCB with mostly SMD components

I am doing a design in a 6 layer PCB where both sides are populated. 95% of the components are SMD. The design is not "High Frequency" in terms of signal speeds....the fastest thing here is a MCU with ...

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