Eagle PCB bypass capacitors - how to

Whats the best way to put down power supply bypass capacitors. I would like them to be close to the pins on the IC’s like the schematic but it seems to place them in a bewildering disarray on the board layout.

I put them on other other side of board, almost directly under the VCC/GND pads.

I usually just put a text “note” next to the capacitor, which would say something like “IC1 Pin 7” or something, then when I switch to the board layout I can tell that the capacitor C23 needs to go near pin 7 of IC1.

I don’t really know of any other way to do it, so that it will want to be connected to pin 7 directly, not just the power planes.

Well, since you get to choose where your components go, I don’t see the problem. If they wont fit easily on the “component” side, I do what Mr PH does and move them to the solder side.

raweaver00:
Whats the best way to put down power supply bypass capacitors. I would like them to be close to the pins on the IC’s like the schematic but it seems to place them in a bewildering disarray on the board layout.

Which toolchain are you using?

The order of parts in a schematic don’t dictate

the order of parts on a layout. The PCB designer

can move the parts anywhere.

Back-annotation will clean up the numbers once the

PCB is completed, and ready for tapeout (fab).

If you’re asking about the electrical placement

of caps then a lot depends upon the power structure

and the type of circuitry involved (RF and wideband

are somewhat different to uC and digital, which in turn

are somewhat different to low level sensors and audio).

I’m using eagle 4.1 schematic and layout (light edition). I think I’ll try gussy’s idea (I generally know where I want to place bypass cap’s). I just find it interesting that my son’s fiancee’s cat is named gussy. I guess I should ask gussy for more advice! :lol: Thanks all…