Printed circuit board layout with MultiSim and Ultiboard

The basic circuit – components and interconnections – is laid out in MultiSim. The process is very
similar to the schematic layout procedure in PSPICE, with a few differences. (Some are better and some
are worse than PSPICE). Once the circuit schematic is completed, you can perform SPICE simulations
and/or begin the layout process in Ultiboard.

We will pick up the basics of using MultiSim and Ultiboard using a specific example – the simple
Altoids amp that many of you have built on perfboard as part of Audio Club. (To see the complete
circuit, see the schematic at the bottom of page 16.)

MultiSim and Ultiboard are Windows-only programs. All of the departmental Windows machines have
fully licensed versions installed. You can also install a limited-time student version on your own
computer. The trial period should be long enough to get you through the end of the semester. If you are
Mac user (like me), you are not totally out of luck. I use Boot Camp on my laptop to boot into
Windows.

There are many other PCB tools available. Eagle is a popular option – it is cross-platform and there is a
free (but limited) version. KiCad is another free, multi-platform layout tool. In the future, we might
develop tutorials for these other programs. However, because we need to start somewhere and because
MuliSim and Ultiboard are fully supported by the department, we will use these initially.

Circuit schematic and component selection

1. Open Multisim by selecting All Programs»NI Multisim 14.0. The main schematic drawing
window opens.


1
2. Select a component

From the menu, select Place»Component. The Select a Component – or Component Browser
(CB) – window appears.













































There are thousands of components available, everything from generic parts to very unique
specialty parts. There are many form factors (footprints) available for the various items – this is
important for the PCB layout process.



The components are collected in various databases. (We will use the Master database for all of
our work here.) Within a database, components are arranged in Groups. Within each group are
Families. From within a particular family, you can choose a specific component to place in the
schematic.



Note: The toolbar near the top of the window has many clickable icons that will open the CB
with with a particular family chosen. Use these as short-cuts once you become more adept with
MulitSim.


2
3. Choose the op amp

The first part we will place is the dual op amp used in the Altoids amp — the TL072 from Texas
Instruments. Choose the Analog group. From the options, choose the OPAMP family. There
are many op amps available. You can scroll through until you find the specific one or you can
use the search box at the top of the component column. If you search for TL072, you see that
here are still many options! Most of the options relate to different packages or specification
details. If you plan to do SPICE simulations only, it probably isn’t important which TL072
option you use. However, if you are working towards a PCB layout, you need to pay attention to
the package type (footprint). In this case, we are interested in a through-hole PCB design, so we
will want a DIP (dual in-line) package. Choose the TL072ACP option, which comes in a
standard DIP 8 package that is typical for dual op amps.










3
4. Place the op amp.

The TL072 chip has two op amps in one package, labeled A and B – you can use either or both in
the schematic. For simulations, it may not matter which you select, but for a PCB layout, it is
important to be specific about which amp you use.



When you are returned to the drawing window, you
are presented with a small dialog box that allows you
to pick the particular op amp. Choose A initially. The
dialog box disappears and the cursor will have a
“ghosted” view of the op amp attached to it. Move
the cursor to a spot in the schematic space and click to
place the op amp. (It can be moved later, if needed.)





The little “A or B” dialog for choosing op amps re-
appears. Our stereo amp has two channels, so select
“B” for for U1 and place the second op amp in the
drawing window. (Don’t choose either A or B in the
“new” line – that will create a second TL072 chip.)
Once the second op amp has been placed, you will
be presented with the “A or B” dialog one more
time. Since we are done with op amps, click cancel
and you are returned to the CB window. (In
MultiSim, you are always returned to the
Component Browser, under the assumption that you will want to place more components.) To
leave the CB and return to the schematic, click “Close”. You can always get back to the CB by
using the Place menu.


4
5. DC voltage sources

The op amps will need power supplies, and we can add those now. Use the Place->component
menu item bring up the CB. Choose the Sources group and select the POWER_SOURCES
family. In the component list column, select the DC_POWER component. Click OK to close
the CB and return to the schematic window.









































Place the source off the to the right side somewhere. Back in the CB, select a second DC source.
Place the second DC source near the first.




5
6. Ground 

This might be a good time to add the first ground connections. Go back to the CB. The ground
symbol is also in the Sources group, part of the POWER_SOURCES family.











































Put the ground somewhere near the voltage sources. Note that we will be adding many ground
symbols into the circuit later. You can always go back to the CB each time, but copy-and-paste
works well, too.








































6
7. Resistors

Back in the component browser, select a 1-kΩ resistor. Resistors are in the Basic group and have
their own family. You choose the specific resistor value from ridiculously long list. (The value
can be changed later, if needed.) Also, be sure to pick a footprint for the resistor. For this
tutorial, use the one labeled RES1300-700x250. Drop the resistor into the schematic somewhere
near the op amps.







































After adding the first resistor, add three more 1-kΩ resistors. Then add two 15-kΩ resistors and
two 100-kΩ resistors for the feedback networks. 







7


A comment about resistor footprint notation



The clip below is from the we site “http://www.resistorguide.com/resistor-sizes-and-packages/".


We see that a standard 1/4-W resistor is about 6.5 mm long and 2.5 mm wide, and we would like
to choose a footprint that matches this size (at least approximately). The clip below is from the
web site “http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/E81C051F276C5BE0862579E2006975D5" and
explains the naming convention used in MultiSim for passive, through-hole components.






































8
 Thus we see that the resistor footprint denoted RES1300-700x250 corresponds to a resistor 7mm
long by 2.5 mm wide, which is about right. The spacing between the through-holes where the
leads will be soldered is 13 mm, which corresponds to about 5 “holes” in a standard perfboard or
solder-less breadboard that has 0.1-inch hole spacing. (5 “holes” = 0.5 inches ≈ 12.5 mm.) This
also sounds about right. If you are using bigger (i.e. higher power) resistors, you would will
need to use correspondingly bigger footprints.


8. Capacitors

Now, add two 0.1-µF capacitors for the input filters. Capacitors are also in the Basic group and
have their own family. As with the resistors, you choose the specific value from the long, long
list. Choose the capr250-500x250x550 footprint. Then add two 100-µF capacitors (footprint
cappr750-1600x3150). These are the power supply bypass capacitors.








































































9
 





































Regarding capacitor footprint and sizing:



The footprint notation for capacitors is similar to that for resistors with a couple of differences.
First the capacitors include a “height” in addition to width and length, so that some definitions
will have three dimensions. Typical ceramic and polymer capacitors will have this sort of
notation and the dimensions will be quite small. (Recall the tiny caps in your 201 kits.) Typical
electrolytic capacitors have a cylindrical shape with both leads coming out of one end (known as
the “radial” configuration) and will usually be physically much larger than ceramic or polymer
caps. Radial capacitors will probably be mounted so that they are standing “upright”. The
cylindrical shape would be denoted by a diameter and a height, and the lead separation will
probably be smaller than the diameter. Electrolytic capacitors can also be configured to have one
lead coming out each end (the axial configuration), in which case the assumption would be that
they will be “lying down” like a resistor. In that case, the lead separation will be much larger
than the other dimensions. The axial configuration is less common than the radial, because
“laying down” takes up more board area than “standing up”.



It is important to measure the dimensions of the capacitors (and inductors) that you plan to use in
a circuit so that you can choose the correct footprint.



Finally, you can get some indication of the shape of the footprint by clicking the “Detail report”
button in the upper right portion of the CB window. It will give you some information about the
footprint and a drawing of the basic shape, although it is often difficult to discern the details of
the figures because the graphics are not very good.


10
9. LEDs

Add two red LEDs for the power supply indicators. (If you prefer, you can use other colors, but
the color makes no difference in either simulations or PCB layout.)


11
10. Input Signal sources

Add two sinusoidal voltage sources to serve as inputs to the amplifiers.






12
11. Add more grounds

Using the Component Browser or copy-and-paste in the schematic window, add seven more
ground symbols.


































12. Re-arrange components, re-naming components, changing values


Everything needed for a simulation is in place. Before wiring components together, it is
probably worthwhile to spend a few minutes to re-arrange components so that the circuit will be
more tidy. By selecting and dragging, you can move the components anywhere within the
schematic window. Also, the orientation of components can be changed by right-clicking and
selecting the appropriate menu items – rotate 90° (CW or CCW), flip horizontally, flip vertically.
You can change component names or values by double-clicking on the name and then entering a
new name in the resulting dialog box.







Spend a couple of
minutes to re-arrange
and re-name the
components as shown at
right. (Or put them in
whatever sort of pattern
you prefer.) 


13
13. Wiring the circuit

Interconnects can be completed at any time. We have waited until all the components were in
place before wiring, but you can wire in each component as it is added. There is a Wire item in
the Place menu, but it’s not necessary to use that. When you move the cursor near the end of a
component connector, MultiSim “assumes” that you want to form interconnects and switches
into wiring mode automatically. To wire the capacitor to the non-inverting terminal of op amp A,
move the mouse to end of the right-hand capacitor lead, click on it, drag the wire to the op amp
terminal, and click again to connect it.

























Wire the remaining connections in the same manner. Leave the DC voltage source connection
off for the time being. Note the changed names for many components and the changed voltages
on the DC sources.



Note that you cannot connect a second wire to a component connector. For instance, resistor RA
above cannot be connected directly to the non-inverting input of the op amp or the right-hand
terminal of the capacitor. The resistor must be connected to the wire running between the op
amp and the capacitor. See the figure below. This is an annoying aspect of MultiSim, but
usually you can draw the interconnects in a way the works around this “feature”.




14
14. Power supply connections

It would seem that all that is remains is to run connections from the power supplies to the op
amps and other points in the circuit. However, to keep things tidy in the circuit diagram, we will
use virtual connectors. These can be used to connect any two nodes in a circuit, but are
especially useful for power supplies.



From the the Place -> Connectors -> on-page menu item. The on-page connector window will
open. Enter +VS in the connector name field and click OK to close the window. Place the
connector symbol near to the positive terminal of the +9 supply and run a connection between
the two.































Use the Place -> Connectors -> on-page menu item to
open the on-page connector window again. This time,
the already-created +VS connector name shows up in the
window. Select it and click OK. A new virtual
connector, already named +VS appears. Place near the
positive supply terminal of the op amp, and run a wire
from the connector symbol to the op amp supply lead.
MultiSim (and later Ultiboard) treats those points as
being the same node. The virtual connector works very
much like the ground symbol — you can hook it up at
many different points in the circuit, and all of those
points will be treated as being the same node.























15
































Add another +VS connector and attach it to the anode of the upper LED.



Then repeat the entire sequence to create -VS virtual connectors that join the lower terminal of
the negative DC source, the negative supply terminal of the op-amp, and the cathode of the lower
LED.









































The circuit is complete! If we wanted, we could do SPICE simulations of the circuit. However,
we will skip simulations in this tutorial and move directly to the PCB layout process.




16
PCB layout with Ultiboard



To begin the PCB layout, we need to remove the parts of the circuit diagram that are not actually part of
the board. First, we remove the DC power supplies – in the Altoids amp, DC power is supplied by two
9-V batteries, which are not mounted on the board. Secondly, we remove the signal sources – in the real
amp, the input signals come from signal source and are passed to the amplifier through a stereo audio
jack.




1. In place of the power and signal

voltage sources, we will insert
two connectors into the circuit –
one for DC power and one for
the signal inputs. We also add a
third connector for the audio
outputs. The connecters are
simple three-terminal rows of
header pins. Fancier connectors
are possible, but we will keep it
simple for this design. 

















































Header J1 connects to the amp inputs, J2 connects to the outputs, and J3 provides the DC power.




17
 


2. Once the circuit is ready, it can be transferred to Ultiboard for layout. Use the menu item: Transfer
to Ultiboard -> transfer to Ultiboard 14.0. A window showing the Net list that describes the
connections in the circuit shows up. Click OK to import the net list.



The initial view shows a blank board with a default size of 2” x 6” and the components arranged just
above it.


































3. To facilitate manipulation of the various parts of

the circuit, there is a cursor selection menu in the
upper left corner of the program window. This
menu allows you to enable or disable the various
actions that you can do with the mouse.



The icons represent (from left to right),

• enable / disable selecting parts

• enable / disable selecting traces

• enable / disable selecting copper areas

• enable / disable selecting vias

• enable / disable selecting THT (through hole) pads

• enable / disable selecting SMD (surface mount) pads

• enable / disable selecting attributes

• enable / disable selecting other objects.


18
4. Change the board size





Use the cursor selection menu to disable
all actions except “selecting other
objects”. Then use the mouse to double-
click on the yellow board outline. In the
dialog box that appears, change the
board size by first changing the units to
“inches” (from “mils”) and set the size
to 2” x 2”. The board outline will be
reduced accordingly. Close the dialog
box.






















5. Move in the parts


Change the cursor selection menu to
disable everything except “selecting
parts”. Start moving the parts lined at
the top inside the board outline.





The yellow lines represents the
connections between the terminals of
the various components. The network
is known as a “rat’s nest”, for obvious
reasons. At first it is quite a mess. The
goal of the layout will be to arrange the
parts and draw traces (circuit board
connections) between the terminals in
place of the rat’s next “wires”. 






19
6. Ground planes

Generally, it is good practice to use ground planes – continuous metal planes
over both surfaces – to form the ground node of the circuit. 



Along the left side of the PCB window is a list of the various layers in the
PCB. For now, the two most important are Copper Top and Copper Bottom.



To make a ground plane on the top copper layer, select “Copper Top” in the
list – double-click to highlight it in the list. Then any actions we perform
will affect only the top layer.



Under the Place menu, choose the Place power plane item. In the window
that opens, select “Copper Top” and choose net “0”. (0 corresponds to the
ground connection.) Click OK to close the window.































The entire surface of the board will turn bright green, meaning that it is
completely covered in copper, with openings left for the through holes for
the component pins.



All of the bright green makes it hard to see what
is going on. The “copper” can be toggled on
and off using the View—> copper area menu
item.



Once the green is turned off, you should note
that may of the rat’s lines are gone, because the
ground plane provides all of the ground
connections – separate ground traces are not
needed.



After completing the top layer, repeat the
procedure to create a ground plane on the
bottom layer. (The bottom layer is red, to
distinguish it from the top.)

20
 






























7. Arranging the parts on the board


Now comes the real work. You should spend some time to arrange the parts in an efficient manner.
The goal is to keep the traces short and minimize points where wires might cross. When necessary, a
connection can cross from the top copper to the lower copper using a “via”. (It turns out that we will
not need any vias for this layout. But in general vias will be necessary part of a layout.)



There is no “right answer” for the arrangement of the parts and the routing of the traces. In a fairly
short time, you can probably arrange the parts to get rid of many of the rat’s nest crossing and
minimize trace lengths. But there is a law of diminishing returns, and lots of extra effort probably
does not give much improvement. At some point, you have to say “Enough is enough”. Arranging
the parts to form efficient patterns is as much art as it is science, and you will certainly get better at it
with practice. Below is a reasonably efficient arrangement that took about 15 minutes of work.






































21
8. Once you are satisfied with the component arrangement, you can route the traces to connect the
various pins. Again, there is no single correct answer for routing the traces. You can route on either
the top or the bottom, and can go back and forth using vias as vertical (through the board)
interconnects.



To run a trace, choose Line from the Place menu. Choose the layer you want to use – Top Copper or
Bottom Copper – by double-clicking on the item in the layer menu. Then draw the trace by clicking
the mouse at the starting point and dragging to the other end. As you draw, the program will try to
assist you by putting in 45° angles. (In general, because of current-crowding effects, you do not
want 90° angles in the layout.) With a bit of practice, you can learn how to manipulate the mouse to
arrange the angles where you want. You can also “tack down corners” by clicking the mouse at
points where you want the trace to make a turn.



Below is one possible routing of traces for the component arrangement shown above. The power
supply traces (in red) were routed using the bottom copper. The signal traces were all routed using
the top copper. Again, this division between top and bottom layers is somewhat arbitrary.



The rat’s nest line will disappear when a trace has completed successfully. When all the rat’s next
lines are gone, you are finished with routing.




















































22
9. Changing trace widths

The default line width is 5 mils (0.005 inches). This is quite small, particularly for the relatively
simple circuits that will be build in EE 333x. You can draw all of the lines with the 5-mil width.
However, they should be made wider before the board designs are sent off for manufacturing. There
are on-line calculators that will determine the correct trace width given the expected current of the
trace.



You can change the width of the traces at once at the end of the routing process. (It can also be done
before routing by changing the default for all of the nets that define the circuit, but that is a bit
tedious.) To change the trace width after they have been drawn, change the cursor selection menu to
disable everything except “selecting traces”. Then click and drag the mouse across all the entire
layout to select all of the traces. Then double-click on any one of the traces to bring up the
properties window. In that window, you can change the trace width. In the little menu, change the
selection from “Net List” to 5. Then change the 5 mils to something bigger. For larger, through-hole
layouts, 20 or 24 mils should be fine. Any traces that carry larger current, like the power supply
traces, can be bigger. In the design shown above, the green signal traces are 24 mils and the red
power supply traces are 36 mils. In the same dialog window, you can change the trace clearance,
which is the width of empty track (“ditch”) that surrounds each trace. For above design, the
clearance was set at 20 mils.



When you are finished, you can view the top and bottom copper layers to see what top and bottom
copper patterns will look like. (Toggle the Copper area item under the View menu.)



Top copper


23




Bottom copper



























24