System for Computer-Aided Design of Printed Circuit Boards

摘要

A general purpose system for interactive computer-aided design of printed circuit boards is described. Included are details for encoding a circuit diagram in the computer, the placement of electronic component packages, the determination of a link/wire list and the routing of this list to obtain a wire layout. Design documentation in the form of component schedules and layout drawings are produced so that artwork can be generated on a Gerber drafting machine. A feature of the system is the method by which the routers find different size wire-paths on successive grids of increasing resolution. The use of this method approximately halves the routing time and increases the link connection rate by over 15%.