This is an old revision of the document!
Table of Contents
PCB Footprint Guide
- Stuart Brorson's footprint footprint guide
- The PCB FAQ: pcb_tips.
- The PCB Quick-Reference has info on footprints
- PCB Footprint Naming Conventions : read this to learn how to name your footprint files.
Footprint basics
- There are two types of footprints: M4 and NEWLIB.
- The best tools for creating footprints are PCB (wysiwyg), TEXT EDITOR (fast, accurate), SCRIPTING (powerful).
- For drawing footprints in PCB, refer to:
- For writing footprints in text, refer to: “ Footprint Creation for the Open-Source Layout Program “PCB” written and maintained by Stuart Brorson
- For Scripting footprints:
- Other things you may find helpful: calculator, paper+pencil, datasheets, calipers, spreadsheet.
PCB Footprint FAQ
What is the Footprint naming Convention ?
Can I have two pads/pins with the same pin-number?
“Yes, totally. This is how you create oval shaped copper around pins, or funny shaped pads (e.g. square at one end and round at the other) by overlapping two or more pads.”
How do I make an oval shaped pad around a footprint pin?
Simply add a pad on top of your pin and give them the same pin-number. If the soldermask is kept off both pins, and they overlap, they should appear as one pin on your board.
How do I make a 2-sided pad?
“Odd as it sounds, this can be necessary for some edge connectors. … but how do you do it???”
Edge Connectors
What are some references for making surface mount pads and footprints?
pcb_tips covers a lot of Footprint material. This page and that page need to be reconciled!
Sharing PCB Footprints
Popular Sources of Footprints
* The place to share symbols and footprints is gedasymbols.org
* You can find many PCB footprints at John Luciani's footprint page
* You can share gEDA footprints at Open Circuits.
