Introducing KiCad-Parasitics: Enhancing PCB Design Analysis

KiCad, the open-source PCB design tool, just got a powerful addition with KiCad-Parasitics, a plugin designed to analyze the wires within the PCB editor. This plugin offers a streamlined solution for assessing key electrical characteristics of your PCB layout, providing valuable insights into DC resistance and parasitic inductance.

To leverage the capabilities of KiCad-Parasitics, users simply mark two points on the board, typically two pads connected with a wire. The tool then swiftly calculates the DC resistance between these points, offering designers crucial data for optimizing their circuits. Additionally, it estimates the parasitic inductance wired into the layout, enabling engineers to fine-tune their designs for optimal performance.

Excitingly, future iterations of KiCad-Parasitics promise even more comprehensive analysis by incorporating the estimation of parasitic capacitance to the ground plane. This continued development underscores the plugin's commitment to empowering PCB designers with robust analytical capabilities.

An illustrative example demonstrates just how straightforward it is to integrate KiCad-Parasitics into your workflow. After installing the plugin via the KiCad "Plugin and Content Manager," users can easily navigate through the following steps:

Open KiCad.
Navigate to File -> Open Demo Project ...
Select the Stickhub folder.
Choose StickHub.kicad_pro.
Open StickHub.kicad_pcb.
Zoom in on the front layer, near the USB connector.
Select the two D- vias.
Click on the "parasitic" icon.

The plugin seamlessly integrates into the design process, offering rapid analysis and insights to enhance PCB designs efficiently.

KiCad-Parasitics has undergone rigorous testing across various operating systems and KiCad versions, ensuring its compatibility and reliability. It has been successfully tested on Windows and Linux operating systems. Additionally, it is compatible with KiCad 7.0.8 (up to commit cd378574), and KiCad 7.99.0-unknown (up to commit 099e5dd9). This broad compatibility ensures that designers can leverage the plugin's capabilities across different environments with confidence.

In conclusion, KiCad-Parasitics emerges as a valuable addition to the toolkit of PCB designers, offering intuitive analysis and insights to optimize circuit performance. Its user-friendly interface and compatibility across operating systems and KiCad versions make it a versatile and indispensable tool for engineers striving for excellence in PCB design.

To explore KiCad-Parasitics and elevate your PCB design capabilities, visit the project link: KiCad-Parasitics on GitHub