Introduction
The purpose of this guide is to serve as a beginner-friendly walkthrough on how to create a PCB for Northeastern Electric Racing using Altium Designer. As a demo, I’ll be walking through step-by-step as I do the layout for a custom Raspberry Pi Debug Probe. Not to be confused with a Raspberry pi computer, this probe is used to flash a microcontroller over USB. In our 22A vehicle, we’ll be embedding this circuit into our Telemetry Processing Unit (TPU)
Step 1 - Verify Schematics + Components
So - you’ve finished up a circuit schematic. Great! Now it’s time to turn it into a PCB!
~ But wait ~
First, make sure that:
Your design has been reviewed! - all schematics need a design review before being turned into a layout. Trust us - it’s no fun to have to change your design in the middle of layout.
You’ve addressed all the concerns from design review - make sure that you’ve thoroughly responded to all feedback in your review document.
Step 2 - Set up Layer Stackup
Step 3 - Place Components
Step 4 - Route Components
Step 5 - Generate Deliverables
Step 6 - Order the Board and components
Summary
Shortcuts used in this tutorial: