Schematic Styling
Simple Internal Rules of Thumb
Rules are given in order of priority.
Consistency is key for clarity
passives to power rails should be vertical
i.e. i2c pullups and decoupling capacitors
schematics should follow a logical left to right flow
input on the left, output on the right
higher electrical potential (voltage) rails should be above lower voltage rails
signal passives should be horizontal.
i.e. shunt resistors
Show Parameters for components
it should be obvious which parameter corresponds to which component based on proximity.
minimize corners in schematic wires when possible
components should be placed in the schematic near components they will be near in the layout when sensible
notably, decoupling capacitors should be placed in the schem near the IC they’re decoupling rather than say off on a random sheet. See Decoupling Capacitors for further detail.
minimize length in schematic wires when sensible
do not use excessive hierarchy
do not have a bunch of nested schematic sheets, it makes things confusing
Why We do this
Standard
Makes reviews easier!
Improves human readability
We dont want to nitpick
If you have a reason for doing something slightly different it’s fine
there are a lot of edge cases these simple guidelines dont cover so do what’s best and call it a day
as long as you did something for a reason then it’s chill, just don’t do things randomly
Learning
The best way to learn is to look at schematics and see what you think is reasonable. Check out past WARG designs and see how they style their schematics. Not everything we do is perfect, but a lot of it is decent and a great starting place!
External Lengthier Guides
Further Info
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