Summary： Proteus is a powerful and well-known Printed Circuit Board Design Suite. It also has pre-installed many libraries that can help you when designing an Arduino shield. In this tutorial, I will show how to use the default library to build a DAC shield.
Proteus is a powerful and well-known Printed Circuit Board Design Suite. It also has pre-installed many libraries that can help you when designing an Arduino shield. In this tutorial, I will show how to use the default library to build a DAC shield.
Step -1
Proteus has the Arduino layout as per default. You can use it by going in File -> New Project -> Select the path and your file's name. After that, you click next.
Step -2
Click “Create a PCB layout from the selected template”, and then select Arduino UNO rev3. After that, click next.
Step -3
After you click next, an Arduino UNO layout will appear.
Step -4
Even though you have the layout, you still have to add the headers in the schematic tab. To do this, go to the Schematic Capture tab, then select the component icon. After that, click on “P.”
Step -5
Then type Arduino on Keywords space. Double click on Arduino-SIL10, SIL8, and SIL6.
Step -6
Now, we will build the circuit below. To do that, follow the same step 1 to add dac MCP4725, 10k resistor, and 10uF capacitor (we will skip a 0.1uF capacitor).
When you select the component, you can choose the element's footprint in the PCB Preview dropdown menu on the right down corner.
Step -7
Now you must follow the sequence of placing the headers. First, select the Arduino-SIL8 component and double click into the schematic area. Second is Arduino-SIL10, then Arduino-SIL6, and Arduino-SIL8 again. After that, place the rest of the components and do the wiring.
Step -8
If you click on the PCB Layout tab, you will see that the connectors are already placed. If you followed the sequence, the connectors are placed correctly. Now you just need to place the other components by selecting them on the Components menu and right-clicking on the location you want to put them.
Step -9
Now we can go either route manually or use the auto-router for creating the traces. The autorouter is under the Tools tab -> Autorouter. The image below shows the autorouter icon.
Step -10
Once the autorouter is done, we can add the power planes. In order to do it, you should go to the power plane icon. Then you select the region that you want to insert a power plane.
The following window will appear. You can set the Net to which the plane will be connected, for example, the Ground of VDD. It is also essential to select the clearance of your plane to avoid bridging.
Once you click OK in the Edit zone window, the power plane will appear in the region you chose. The power plane will respect the board edge as well.
Step -11
To see the 3D view of your shield, you should go on the shown in the figure below. Once you click it, a new tab will appear with your Arduino shield 3D view.
Step -12
To generate the Gerber file, you should go to the Output tab-> Generate Gerber / Excellon Files.
A window will pop-up to inspect your circuit. It will run checks and inform you of any problems that your schematic may have. For example, if you didn’t place any component or if you have any component that is not connected. If every test passes, you just need to click the Close button.
The CADCAM window will appear. You can select which layer will be generated. By default, all layers that you are using will be already set. You can choose rotation and the format Gerber X2 or RS274X.
After you click OK in the CADCAM window, the Gerber viewer will appear.
You will find all the Gerber files in the same folder where your project file is located.
I hope this tutorial would be helpful for you. I will be happy to answer any questions if you may have.
