Tuesday 8 July 2014

pcb design - Does a Ground plane in Eagle still need connections?



Before I added a ground plane my ratsnest was showing the needed GND connections which I still needed to make. I added a Ground plane and now they are automatically gone. Is this normal?


I can remember that in the past I used a VIA to connect certain components to the ground plane, but that doesnt appear to be needed here, why?


I illustrated the old ratsnest with the orange lines drawn on the image. Any other remarks about the design are welcome as well, always eager to learn.


PCB



Answer



You've added ground plane (copper pour), and rat's nest connections from the pins to the copper pour disappeared. That's intended. That's how it should be.


If you zoom-in on on of the pins that are connected to ground (for example IC1 pin 8), you'll see spokes. That connect the via to the copper pour. The spokes are created by the software, because the pin is connected to the same net as the copper pour.


ground plane connection with thermal relief (spokes)


By the way, every modern layout software behaves in a similar way (not only Eagle).


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