Electronic part selection and library creation made simple

Not long ago, a PCB engineer would download a components datasheet and start building library elements in their PCB design environment. The library tools in many PCB design systems can be tedious to use, and it’s up to the engineer building the symbols and footprints to comply to any standards, whether those be industry (IPC) or company.

An error at any step in creating the library elements can significantly affect your design, possibly in the electrical performance (if you enter incorrect model information or values) or manufacturing (if footprint pin size/spacing is wrong). Today there are other, more efficient ways to add parts to your PCB design. Let’s look at the traditional approach vs. what is available today with PADS Professional Premium.

1. The traditional approach

A time consuming, and critical part of the electronic product design process is building all the library elements for the parts of your design, both schematic symbols and footprints. This historically takes many hours. The symbol would be drawn, then all the properties associated with the part would have to be manually entered into a part definition. The footprint would then be created. Any mistake along the way could potentially affect the manufacturability of the final board. Many companies employ dedicated CAD Librarians to handle this work.

2. The new approach

With PADS Professional Premium, part selection and library creation are made simple. You start by searching for the part in PartQuest Essential, where over 1 billion parts have downloadable symbols and footprints, all built to IPC standards.  Parts can be easily dragged-and-dropped directly into your work area to start designing with immediately. Once downloaded, you can easily modify the symbol and footprint to meet any unique requirements your company may have. If the part you need is not there, you have three options.