Different net(s) (labels) classes for power association?

Hello,

I’m creating my first pcb with cad software.
I’m almost ready with my schematic for the pcb editor.
Question: I’v never tried the pcb editor but i’ve watched some video’s. I’ll create a pcb with 5VDC usb c power supply but some parts only need 20mA while the traces for power suply for the microcontroller and the usb c connector need to be able to handle 80 to 100mA. I won’t use the same (to wide) traces for all power ‘nets’.
I’ll create a 4 layer pcb. top: signals, second: ground, third: +5V, fourth: signals
In the scematic editor; do i create/use different power symbols for the 20mA traces and the 80-100mA traces? I suppose that similar power symbols automaticly get connected to each other on the pcb (the same like using net labels?).

thx!

It’s a bit difficult to give good advise here because you have not given enough information about the complexity of your project. I assume it’s a fairly simple uC board with “full speed” (12Mbps) USB and a bunch of other smaller stuff. Such projects are quite often done on 2 layer PCB’s, but it’s a tradeoff. 2 layer PCB’s have lower costs, but 4 layer PCB’s are easier to route and generally also have a higher resolution (which is also a part of the cost increase) With a 4 layer board you may be able to reduce the overall size of the PCB which makes the cost difference even smaller.

Concerning track width. KiCad has the Calculator Tools in the project manager, and a 0.2mm wide (narrow) track can handle 750mA without overheating (Assuming 35um copper thickness) As a result, the current handling capability of tracks only is an issue with really high current tracks. But there are few advantages to using wider tracks for power distribution:

  • The tracks won’t vaporize as easily during accidental shorts.
  • Wider tracks have a lower voltage drop.
  • Wider tracks have less heating, it improves efficiency a tiny bit.
  • Wider tracks are easy to recognize as power distribution, which is handy during prototyping.
  • Wider tracks have lower impedance (less inductance).
  • “Distributed capacitance” can be an advantage if power planes are combined with a GND plane, but this is a bit nitpicking for most designs.

The most common approach for power distribution is to use relatively wide tracks. Somewhere between 1mm (good for 2.3A) and 3 mm (Max 5A). So as long as you stay below 2A there is little need to think very hard about power distribution (Although decoupling capacitors and "excessive track length) is to be avoided. With analog designs even small voltage drops can be important).
There is also no need to reduce track size just because the power goes only to an IC that needs maximum of 10mA. Unless PCB area is really a problem, it’s much more common and easier to just route all power with the same track width. The easiest approach is to put all power net into a single netclass with your chosen track width, and this is good enough for all (simple) designs.

If you really want to work with different track widths the simplest approach is to set the netclass width to the narrow tracks, and then just use wider tracks for the biggest part of the routing. If you always want to work with the netclass widths you have to split the net with Net Ties.

That’s a decent start, and used to be the most common approach. When you get into higher speed designs, then the GND plane becomes more important, and in modern times it is very common to see both inner layers reserved for GND planes. The GND plane is about the most important part of any (Especially digital) PCB design. As a hobbyist you can compromise here, but if you want to conform to EMC regulations (and also make your design more robust) Then at least one continuous GND plane is mandatory. Small interruptions can not be avoided, but do not make any interruption in your GND plane that is bigger then around 5mm. So do not make a long row of via’s, but spread the via’s around, or make small clusters of (up to around 4) via’s.

In KiCad, power symbols work as global labels. Power symbols also connect to labels with the same name. But you wrote “similar”, and that’s not true. Labels are case sensitive, change a dash into an underscore and it’s a different label.

I’m sorry for the long answer. I doubled up a lot of things but my mid is a bit fuzzy again at the moment, and it’s the best I can do.

Thx for the elaborate text!
µC is a Atmega328p-au. Usb c is power only. Programming via ICSP pins.
Why i’m asking these questions? Because in a KiCad 9 tutorial video the guy used 6 mills for all the nets in the schematic editor. I’v looked it up and Copilot AI came up with at least 10 mils (0.2mm) for 20mA. So maybe it’s common practice to widen the traces in the pcb design when needed.
I don’t have the privileges to post screenshots but the project contains a UART, I²C and ICSP header, two mini relays, some optocouplers, transistor array, leds, resistors, caps, screw terminators, and some other small stuff. The board needs to be a specific size (around 150x80mm) with specific holes and the parts as much as possible surface mounted.
Thx!

Atmega328 with some surrounding stuff is a pretty typical low speed uC board, It does need some attention for proper routing, but it does not need anything fancy (such as differential pair, length (delay) matching etc).

10mil is 0.254mm. I tend to use a comparable track width, because it is a very conservative track width, and it is compatible with all of the cheap PCB pooling services from around the world without giving much thought to it. But in general, narrower tracks are better because it reduces capacitive coupling. This reduces power consumption and improves signal integrity. For a 4 layer PCB, I think using 4 mil tracks is common, but you should check with your PCB manufacturer. Most PCB manufacturers recommend to use a a wider track then the minimum they quote to improve reliability.

How much thought have you given to the consideration of 2 or 4 layers? I guess that 2 layers would be sufficient, but 4 layers is easier to route and maintain overall signal integrity as I mentioned earlier. So it really mostly is a compromise between development time and PCB cost.

I realy don’t have a clue what the price difference would be between a 2 layer or 4 layer board. But the question remains: In the schematic editor; for example; is it ‘the way to do it’ to make all the net classes 6 mils wide and in the pcb editor widen some traces to 10 mils for 20mA and the for the 100mA traces 40 mils?
Can i see the estimated manufacturing cost if i send the files to the pcb manufacturer (so before i pay anything)?

The difference between 6mil and 10mil is really to small to bother with. In my previous post I already wrote that a 0.2mm track can handle 750mA.

To keep it simple, I recommend to create two net classes. One for signals, and that can be somewhere between 0.15 and 0.4mm and one for power, which can be somewhere between 1 and 3mm. That is a very simple and straightforward method, and plenty good to start with.

Yes, for quite a lot of PCB manufacturers you can upload a set of Gerber files to get an instant price quote. It is also quite common that you click a bit around on a website of a PCB manufacturer to set the main properties of your PCB (Size, number of layers, silkscreen colors, extra’s such as HASL or gold plating) and then get a direct quote based on those settings.

The biggest PCB manufacturers who sponsor KiCad are:

https://www.pcbway.com/

https://e-teknet.com/PCBPromotion.php

You can also have a look at: https://pcbshopper.com/ It is a website that can give you quotes from several different PCB manufacturers at once.

And last, I guess it’s worth mentioning JLCPCB too. It’s a very big Chinese factory and probably one of the cheapest, but watch out with shipping costs. The default fast shipping can easily be more expensive than a small PCB order.