6. Electronics Design¶

This week was awesome! I worked on designing a PCB board.
A hero shot!

Group Assignment:¶

You can find more details on our lab site: TechWorks - Electronics Design

Key Takeaways from the Group Assignment¶

Revisiting fundamental electronics concepts helped reinforce my understanding of voltage, current, power, resistors, capacitors, transistors, inductors, diodes, and voltage dividers.

Hands-on experience with measurement equipment, such as the multimeter, oscilloscope, and power supply, provided practical insights into circuit testing and troubleshooting.

Testing Measurement Equipment¶

Multimeter and Clamp Meter¶

A multimeter is a measuring instrument that can measure multiple electrical properties. A typical multimeter can measure voltage, resistance, and current, which allows it to function as a voltmeter, ohmmeter, and ammeter.

A clamp meter is an electrical testing tool used to measure current (amperage) in a circuit without directly connecting to it. Unlike a traditional multimeter, which requires inserting probes into the circuit, a clamp meter has clamp jaws that can be placed around a conductor to measure the magnetic field generated by the flowing current.

I personally worked with the clamp meter to: - Test various resistor values and potentiometers.

Fixed Resistor:

Resistors in Series:

Potentiometer:

Checked the voltage divider.

Logic Analyzer¶

We explored the use of a logic analyzer to capture and analyze digital signals. During this process, I: - Used the Saleae software to visualize and interpret logic signals.
- Tested and analyzed a blinking LED signal from an Arduino Uno.
- Analyzed serial communication (UART) using the Arduino’s Serial.print() function.
- Captured I2C communication between an Arduino and an Adafruit OLED display.

These experiments enhanced my understanding of how to effectively use clamp meters and logic analyzers for troubleshooting and verifying circuit performance.

Individual Assignment:¶

Altium Designer¶

I used Altium Designer to create a PCB board for the XIAO RP2040 and SMD LEDs. Below are the steps I followed:

1️⃣ Creating a New Design Project¶

Open Altium Designer and create a new project using the Create Project dialog.
Select File » New » Project from the main menu.

2️⃣ Adding a Schematic Sheet¶

Right-click on the project entry in the Projects panel.
Select Add New to Project » Schematic from the context menu.
A blank schematic sheet named Sheet1.SchDoc will open.

📌 Important: Ensure that the units are set to mm. There are two ways to do this:
- Click on mm in the Properties panel (if visible).
- If the Properties panel is not visible, go to Tools » Document Options, then select mm.

3️⃣ Adding a PCB Sheet¶

Right-click on the project entry in the Projects panel.
Select Add New to Project » PCB from the context menu.
A blank PCB sheet named PCB1.PcbDoc will open.

📌 Tip: You can switch to mm units by pressing the “Q” key.

4️⃣ Creating Custom Component Libraries¶

To organize my work efficiently, I created my own component libraries:

Add a new integrated library:
Navigate to File » New » Integrated Library.

Add Schematic & PCB Libraries:
Right-click on the integrated library and select Add New to Project » Schematic Library.
Repeat the process for PCB Library.

📌 Reminder: Ensure that the units match your main project (mm) before saving the library files.

5️⃣ Component Installation Process¶

I installed various components using websites like JLCPCB and Snap Magic to obtain the required symbols, footprints, and 3D models.

These processes were done for the XIAO RP2040, LED1206, and resistor1206.

Installing the component

First, I installed the XIAO RP2040 component.

XIAO RP2040 Installation

Extracting the Installed Library

Then, I opened the installed library by dragging and dropping it and chose to extract the library.

Extract Library

Copying the Schematic and PCB

After that, I copied its schematic and PCB and pasted them into the library I had just initialized.

Schematic Library
Copy Schematic

Verifying Design IDs

I made sure that the design ID in the schematic sheet matched the one in the PCB sheet.

How to add a footprint

Add Footprint 1

Compiling the Library

Once the footprint was added, I compiled the library to use it later from the component panel.

Compile Library 1
Compile Library 2

Successfully Placing the Components

Finally, I successfully placed the XIAO RP2040 and the other components from my libraries.

Place Component

6️⃣ The Schematic Design¶

After placing the components, an issue occurred.

That was due to the same name of the resistors and LEDs, so I changed the designator for each.

I added a direct LED with the 5V of the XIAO just to make sure everything is going to be good after the production process.

7️⃣ Converting the Schematic Design into PCB¶

First, I checked that my schematic design didn’t contain any errors.
I updated the PCB document.

The PCB is ready.

First, I needed to delete the test sheet to be able to modify the PCB without errors.

After that, I rearranged the components in a way I liked and made it more organized, ensuring that the traces didn’t touch each other, as well as placing lines between the components.

I also placed vias for grounding.

After resizing the board by pressing the “1” key from the keyboard and choosing Edit Board Shape from the Design tab, I then activated the bottom layer, selected Polygon Pour from the Place tab, and drew a rectangle on the board to make it all ground without the traces.