Data Sheet

PCB Layout

151

Power Planes and Slots

If you switch back to the layout tab we will continue the layout phase of the project. To minimize

track impedance we are going to place a power plane covering the entire board.

Placing Power Planes

This is actually the easiest type of power plane to place and is available in all levels of the

professional software. Start by invoking the power plane generator command from the Tools

Opening the Power Plane Generator from the Tools menu

From the resulting dialogue form select the GND=POWER net, keeping the layer as bottom

copper and setting the boundary style to be T10. This is the trace style in which the inner and

outer boundaries of the zone are drawn and also determines the thinnest section of copper by

which the power plane can make a connection. Setting this larger will prevent the copper

flowing through small gaps (e.g. between pins) but making it smaller means that connectivity

may be made only by thin sections of copper.

We can leave the clearance between the power plane and the board edge at the default value.