Getting started with kicad 9.0

KiCad - An open source software suite for creating electronics circuit schematics, Printed Circuit Boards (PCB's) and associated part descriptions.

Basic Concepts and Workflow

Main Tasks:
1. Drawing a schematic - A schematic is a symbolic representation of the circuit (which components are used and what connections are made between them).
2. Laying out a circuit board - The board is the physical realization of the schematic with component footprints positioned on the board and copper tracks making the connections described in the schematic.

Kicad tools

• Schematic Editor - Drawing schematics
• PCB Editor - Laying out the board
• Symbol Editor - Editing symbols
• Footprint Editor - Editing footprints

A KiCad project is a folder with a project file, a schematic, a board layout and any other relevant files.

PCB Design Workflow

1. Draw the schematic
2. Create custom symbols if the appropriate ones are not available. (Probably repeat step one?)
3. Select footprints for each component
4. Create custom footprints where necessary
5. Perform the Electrical Rules Check (ERC)
6. Transfer the design information in the schematic to the board editor
7. Place the footprints on the circuit board
8. Draw the copper tracks between components based on the connections as well as other electrical considerations such as crosstalk and track resistance
9. Perform a design rules check (DRC)
10. Generate fabrication outputs

Kicad extensions

.kicad_pro - Project file

.kicad_sch - Schematic file

.kicad_pcb - Board file

Schematic editor basics

Adding Symbols to the schematic

Click the place Symbol button or use the shortcut B.
The choose symbol dialog lists the available symbol libraries and the component symbols contained within them.

Selecting and Moving Objects

To select an item, click on it while the selection tool is active (Ddefault tool when no other tool is active). You can also enter the selection tool by quitting any active tool by pressing esc. It can also be selected in the toolbar.

To add more objects to the selection, use Ctrl + click. To remove an item from the selection use Ctrl + Shift + click.

Drag selection is also possible. The selected items will be the objects that are entirely enclosed by the selection box.

To move selected objects, press M. Rotate - R. Drag -G. For moving unconnected symbols, G and M behave identically, but for symbols with wires attached, G moves the symbol and keeps the wires attached, while M moves the symbol and leaves the wires behind.

Selected objects can also be deleted with the Del key.

Wiring the Schematic

Click the Add Wire button on use the w hotkey. Click and release to start drawing a wire, and finish the drawing the wire by clicking on a symbol pin or double clicking anywhere. Pressing esc will cancel drawing the wire.

You can also hover over an unconnected pin and the mouse cursor will change to indicate that a wire can be drawn from that location. Clicking on the pin will then begin drawing a wire automatically.

It's good practice to also add power and ground symbols to the schematic. The P hotkey can be used to show the Power Symbols dialog.
Labels can also be added for wires. Click on the Place Net Labels button on the right toolbar, type the name and place the label into the schematic. if the wire between the LED and resistor is labelled 'led', another wire with the same label on the schematic page will be shorted to the existing one.

Annotation, Symbol Properties and Footprints