We have 2 traces, 1(noted in white on the diagram) and 2 coming out of the voltage regulator(U1). Trace 2 connects to VCC(routing via R8) of my main chip on the right hand side(noted by the bolt of lightning) The main chip is a ESP32-WROOM.
The capacitors connected via Trace 1(C6, C3,C2,C1), are meant to be helping to stabilise the VCC supply mentioned above. Since these are connected to Trace 1, instead of Trace 2, will they behave the same regardless, or should the VCC pin, be connected to Trace 1 instead of Trace 2?
Regularly every regulator and every other IC should have their own capacitors which should be as close to their “owner” as possible, meaning that because you have room to move them they should almost touch their corresponding IC pins, or as close as is practical for working on them. The trace from the IC pins should first go to the capacitor pin, the smallest value capacitor first if there are several. Only after that to other component’s pins or vias/traces which lead to other components.
The WROOM datasheet shows section 7. Peripheral Schematics which has “C1” and “C2” which should be as close to the pin 2 as possible. The regulator should have its own for input and output pins (C5 and C6 in your schematic). Your C1 and C2 don’t do their job well for the IC now, and C5 and C6 should also be closer to the regulator.
Sorry if this continous string of links bothers someone, but I’m reading and learning at the same time. I found still one 2-part article which explains decoupling capacitors pretty well and understandably and probably gives enough information to decide what you should do:
in short: don’t take risks with 0.1µF capacitors. The larger ones aren’t so critical. The 0.1µF of the WROOM VCC pin capacitor looks pretty much useless - I would say it’s wrong, not just suboptimal.
It is not important if connected to trace 1 or to trace 2.
Important is how long is the way from IC VCC pin to capacitor (0.1uF not 22uF) and then from second capacitor pin to IC GND pin. The shorter the better.
