Electronics and Computer Systems Engineering

Creating a 4 layer PCB

FROM THE PROJECT TAB IN THE BOTTOM LEFT CORNER, CLICK THE ‘FILES’ TAB AND
CLICK THE UPWARD FACING ARROWS UNTIL YOU CAN SEE
NEW FROM TEMPLATE
SELECT PCB BOARD WIZARD

YOU WILL GET A VERY FRIENDLY WIZARD SCREEN, CLICK NEXT TO CONTINUE

CHOOSE THE BOARD UNITS AS IMPERIAL

NOTE: YOU ARE NOT STUCK WITH THE CHOICE OF UNITS THAT YOU CHOOSE HERE. THE UNITS SPECIFIED ARE ONLY USED
FOR THE PCB WIZARD
THERE ARE MANY PREDEFINED TEMPLATES FOR EXOTIC DESIGNS OR STANDARD PCB COMPUTER INTERFACE FORMS, SUCH AS
AT BUS, PCI BUS, EUROCARD, AND MANY OTHERS.

CHOOSE CUSTOM (AT THE TOP)

LEAVE THE DEFAULT SETTINGS (RECTANGULAR, 5000 MILS X 4000 MILS )

THE DIMENSIONS OF THE BOARD WILL BE ON A GENERIC, INFORMATION LAYER (MECHANICAL LAYER) WHICH IS USED TO
GIVE INFORMATION TO THE BOARD HOUSE.

2
WE WANT TO HAVE A FOUR LAYER BOARD. THIS IS TWO SIGNAL LAYERS (TOP OF BOARD, BOTTOM OF BOARD ) AND TWO
INTERNAL PLANE LAYERS (INTERNAL 1 WILL BE FOR GND AND INTERNAL 2 FOR VCC), MAKE THIS CHANGE
DO YOU REMEMBER WHAT A POWER PLANE IS ? HOW DOES IT DIFFER FROM A SIGNAL LAYER? (HINT: YOU CAN HAVE
SIGNAL LAYERS INTERNAL OR EXTERNAL, AND YOU CAN HAVE POWER PLANES INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL)

MAKE SURE THE HOLE TYPE IS SET ON THRUHOLE VIAS ONLY

DO YOU REMEMBER WHAT A VIA IS ??

OUR BOARD CONTAINS MOSTLY SURFACE MOUNT COMPONENTS, SO CHECK THIS OPTION
CHOOSE THAT BOTH SIDES OF THE BOARD CAN CONTAIN COMPONENTS.
NOTE: THESE SETTINGS REALLY DON’T MATTER. THEY EXIST FOR THE AUTOROUTER WHICH WE WILL NOT BE USING

CHANGE TRACK SIZE (10MILS) AND TRACE CLEARANCE (8 MILS)

WHAT IS THE METRIC LENGTH OF 8 MILS ????
CHANGE THE MINIMUM VIA HOLE SIZE TO 15 MILS, AND THE MIN. VIA WIDTH TO 30 MILS

3
NOTE: ALWAYS BE SURE YOUR SETTINGS CAN BE FABRICATED AT A REASONABLE PRICE BEFORE SETTING THESE VALUES

THE WIZARD IS NOW COMPLETE AND YOUR PCB IS CREATED BASED ON THE VALUES YOU HAVE GIVEN.

4
SELECT THE INTERNAL PLANE 1 LAYER FROM THE LAYERS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE WINDOW

RIGHT CLICK ON THE BOARD AND SELECT PROPERTIES. FROM THE DIALOG DROP DOWN SELECT GND.

DO THE SAME FOR INTERNAL LAYER 2 BUT SELECT VCC INSTEAD.

THIS HAS CREATED A 4 LAYER BOARD USING THE BOARD WIZARD. FROM HERE YOU CAN CONTINUE WITH UPDATING THE PCB
FROM THE SCHEMATIC ETC.

5
ADDING NEW INTERNAL LAYERS TO A EXISTING DESIGN.

WITH YOUR PCB DOCUMENT OPEN, RIGHT CLICK ON ANY OF THE LAYERS ALONG THE BOTTOM AND SELECT "LAYER STACK
MANAGER"

WITH THE LAYER STACK MANAGER OPEN SELECT THE "PREPREG" LAYER

THEN CLICK THE ADD PLANE BUTTON.

THIS WILL ADD INTERNAL LAYER 1.
CLICK THE ADD PLANE BUTTON AGAIN AND INTERNAL LAYER 2 WILL BE ADDED. (NOTE PREPREG MUST BE SELECTED FOR THIS
TO WORK).

6
SEELECT AND DOUBLE CLICK ON INTERNAL LAYER 1 (NO NET) AND SELECT GND FROM THE DROP DOWN LIST IN THE DILAOG
BOX.

DO THE SAME FOR INTERNAL LAYER 2 (NO NET) BUT SELECT VCC THIS TIME.

YOU HAVE NOW ADDED 2 NEW INTERNAL LAYERS TO YOUR BOARD.

SELECT OK THEN OK AGAIN TO THE IMPEDANCE CONFIGURATION CHANGED DIALOG.

 IF YOU BOARD WAS ALREADY ROUTED YOU SHOULD FIND THAT ALL THE THOUGH HOLE VCC AND GND
CONNECTIONS ARE NOW CONNECTED TO THE INTERNAL PLANES. ALL OTHER THOUGH HOLES AND VIAS WILL BE
ISOLATED FROM THE PLANES.
OR
 IF YOUR BOARD IS UNROUTED YOU CAN NOW RUN AUTO ROUTE. YOU SHOULD FIND THAT ALL THE THOUGH HOLE
VCC AND GND CONNECTIONS ARE NOW CONNECTED TO THE INTERNAL PLANES. ALL OTHER THOUGH HOLES AND
VIAS WILL BE ISOLATED FROM THE PLANES.

7
COMPARING PCB AND SCHEMATIC - DO THEY MATCH?

THIS IS A VERY EASY CHECK TO

MAKE.

WITH YOU PCB OPEN SELECT

DESIGN - UPDATE SCHEMATICS IN
"YOUR_PROJECT.PRJPCB"

IF EVERYTHING MATCHES YOU

SHOULD SEE SOMETHING LIKE THIS.

CLICK YES TO HAVE A LOOK AT WHAT THE DIFFERENCE IS.

IN THIS CASE THE DIFFERENCE IS THAT THE SCHEMATIC HAS A ROOM LIKED TO IT BUT WE DELETED THE ROOM FROM THE PCB
WHEN WE FIRST UPDATED THE PCB FROM THE SCHEMATIC.

8
IF YOU GET OTHER DIFFERENCES THEY MAY BE DUE TO CHANGING A FOOTPRINT OR DESIGNATOR ON THE PCB WITHOUT BACK
ANNOTATION. CHANGE RESISTOR R11 ON YOUR PCB TO R22 (DOUBLE CLICK ON IT AND CHANGE THE DESIGNATOR).

RUN THE UPDATE SCHEMATICS IN

"YOUR_PROJECT.PRJPCB" AGAIN.

NOW WE HAVE 2 DIFFERENCES. ONE OF WHICH IT

SAYS CAN BE RESOLVED WITH A ECO
(ENGINEERING CHANGE ORDER).

CLICK YES.

IF YOU LOOK AT THE CHANGE ORDER IT SHOWS THE DIFFERENCE OF R11 ON THE SCHEMATIC CHANGES TO R22 ON THE PCB.
THE AFFECTED DOCUMENT IS THE SCHEMATIC.

SELECT VALIDATE THEN EXECUTE CHANGES AND R11 WILL BE CHANGED ON THE SCHEMATIC TO R22. PCB AND SCHEMATICS
WILL NOW MATCH.