7+ Best PCB Design Courses Online

PCB design is the process of creating a Printed Circuit Board (PCB) in short using Software tools such as Altium Designer, Autodesk Eagle, KiCad, OrCad, and many more. PCB is an electronic assembly that is built on a Synthetic Board and the PCB board design process combines component placement and routing to define electrical connectivity on a manufactured circuit board.

The mechanical Structure is made up of insulating material and the conductive layers of copper traces are printed boards that connect each component together. As a Designer our job is to design route connections between each component. The task gets much more complicated for multilayer PCBs, and using a good tool is necessary.

Printed Circuit Board (PCB) design is a complex process that involves creating the layout of a PCB using Computer-Aided Design (CAD) tools1. Here are some basics:

1. Schematic Capture: This is the first step where the circuitry connectivity is created in a diagram.
2. PCB Layout: This is the actual physical circuit board design.
3. Components and Layers: Components and layers can be added to engineer and build a nearly limitless array of designs.
4. Footprint: The footprint of a PCB is the blueprint of where the components will be attached to the board itself, including where the pads and through holes should be located.
5. Via or Thru-hole Via: A via is a plated hole wall that goes through part of the printed circuit board to provide a path that can connect the electrical signal from one layer to another.

7 Best PCB Design Courses in 2024

Here is my list of Best online courses to learn PCB Designing in 2024. These courses have been picked after extensive sorting from hundreds of courses online. I have tried to get good courses for every PCB designing tool such as Altium Designer, OrCad, KiCad, Eagle, etc.

You can select the tool and then enroll in the respective course. Right now The Altium Designer is the most trending and advanced Tool used for PCB Design. If you are new to this I recommend the most used and demanding tool.

1. Crash Course Electronics and PCB Design

This is one of the best courses to learn PCB Design on Udemy to learn Electronics and PCB Design from the Ground up with Altium CircuitMaker and Labcenter Proteus. It is a highly rated and the most comprehensive course designed for beginners to learn Printed Circuit Board Design. With more than 74,000 Students enrolled this is one of the best seller Courses on PCB Designing. It has a 4.7 Rating out of 5 which was reviewed by more than 13,000 Students.

The course is divided into nine sections, comprising 159 lectures and a total duration of 110 hours and 56 minutes. The course is suitable for a wide range of learners, including students, entrepreneurs interested in hardware products, and software professionals looking to understand hardware. While there are some advanced math concepts, the instructor takes time to explain them clearly.

The best thing about this course is that it teaches Electronics too. So, your concept of electronics will be refreshed as it contains a crash course on Electronics with PCB designing.

Course Rating: 4.7/5
Number of Students: 74k+
Number of Lectures: 111 Hours of 159+ Lectures
Course Link: Crash Course Electronics and PCB Design

2. PCB design with Altium Designer

Another great course to learn PCB design is where you’ll embark on a journey from the fundamentals to advanced PCB design using Altium Designer. So. if you already know Electronics and want to start with PCB design and dive into the Altium Designer then this course is best suited for you.

This is the Best-rated Altium Course and no stone is left here. With an impressive rating of 4.7, this course has already benefited 3,957 students and is consistently rated as a bestseller. Whether you’re a beginner or seeking to enhance your PCB design skills, this course will provide you with essential knowledge and practical experience.

The course is structured into easily digestible sections, each focusing on essential aspects of PCB design using Altium Designer Version 22. Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

• Learn essential basics: Create projects, schematic PCB documents, and work with parameters and component properties.
• Gain expertise: Create your components, decode datasheets, and optimize component organization.
• Maximize efficiency: Master component alignment, rule-based design, and advanced design techniques.
• Explore advanced topics: Dive into multi-sheet designs, bypass capacitors, and advanced multi-layered designs.
• Unlock the power of 3D modeling: Discover the world of 3D component modeling and management.
• Elevate your skills: Transition seamlessly from schematic to PCB design.

Course Rating: 4.7/5
Number of Students: 4k+
Number of Lectures: 9 Hours of 71+ Lectures
Course Link: PCB design with Altium Designer

3. Autodesk Eagle: PCB & Hardware Design for Beginners

This training program guides you through the entire hardware development process, offering step-by-step instructions in Autodesk Eagle software for PCB design and Arduino IDE for hardware programming.

This is a project-based course and throughout the course, you will learn by building a Custom Arduino Uno board from scratch in Autodesk Eagle. The training also covers some essential circuits (viz RGB LED, switches, preset, motor drivers, seven segment displays), and their interfacing with the microcontroller on the custom Arduino that we are building.

All in all, this training covers the end-to-end hardware development process. After completing the training, you will be confident in designing your own hardware.

What you will learn:

• PCB Designing using eagle software
• Atmega328P Microcontroller-based system design (the microcontroller used in Arduino Uno)
• Power supply system design
• Circuit design for LED, RGB LED, Switch, Preset, Motor Driver, Seven Segment Display.
• Purpose of every single component used & how to select them.
• How to read components datasheet
• PCB ordering process

Course Rating: 4.7/5
Number of Students: 4k+
Number of Lectures: 9 Hours of 71+ Lectures
Course Link: Autodesk Eagle: PCB & Hardware Design for Beginners

4. PCB design with KiCad — updated for KiCad 7

This course will help you learn how to design a Printed Circuit board using KiCad. KiCad is the world's most popular open-source tool for PCB design. Besides being an open source it has a huge fan following like Paid tools.

KiCard 7 is the latest version released and the course is Updated with the latest version of KiCad. If you are new to design, this course will help you get started from the ground level. And for an experienced designer, this course will help you transition to kick out from another tool.

Important Learning Topics:

1. Learn Printed Circuit Board design using KiCad.
2. Single, double, and multi-layer board designs.
3. Important PCB concepts, such as edge cuts, copper fills, mounting holes, solder mask, silkscreen, traces, etc
4. Detailed knowledge of the KiCad CAD application (its apps, configuration, toolbars, menus, project files, etc.).
5. Project-based learning to ensure mastery of the topics taught.

Course Rating: 4.4/5
Number of Students: 5k+
Number of Lectures: 26 Hours of 223+ Lectures
Course Link: PCB design with KiCad — updated for KiCad 7

5. PCB Design of 2 Projects Using EasyEDA, IDEA to order PCB

A project-based PCB designing course using EasyEDA. In this course, You will design the PCB of 2 projects from start to end. You will design a Power Bank Battery Charger and 12V DC power supply. This course equips you with the skills to transform your ideas into professionally designed PCBs. From selecting components based on datasheets to calculating routing widths and generating PCBs, you’ll be well-prepared for your PCB design journey.

Discover the process of generating and ordering PCBs and Bill of Materials (BOM) from JLCPCB, ensuring your projects come to life. The course introduces different ICs used in the projects, offering a comprehensive overview of each IC, supported by datasheets.

Course Rating: 4.6/5
Number of Students: 15+ (New Course)
Number of Lectures: 5 Hours of 33+ Lectures
Course Link: PCB Design of 2 Projects Using EasyEDA, IDEA to order PCB

6. PCB Design using OrCAD/Allegro from Basics to Expert level

This is another amazing course on Udemy for creating PCB design using the OrCAD tool. This Course is specially created for beginners who need to master the art of electronic circuit design, schematic creation, footprint design, and PCB layout.

This is a top-rated course that teaches you to work on Single and Double-layer PCB design, routing on top and bottom layers. By the end, you’ll have the knowledge to design multi-layer PCBs, create libraries, and generate Gerber files, making you a pro in PCB design.

Key Topics you will learn:

1. Basic Electronics Theory, Circuit Design and Analysis, Basics of Printed Circuit Board and Electronic Components.
2. Single-sided Board Design and double-sided Board Design, Via creation and application. Routing on the Top and Bottom Layer.
3. Switching schematic to Board Design (Netlist Creation), Thorough knowledge of Constraints.
4. Gerber Generation and Gerber analysis and improvements.
5. Plan Creation of Power and Ground. Also Split Plan Creation. Design Rule Checking and DRC updates.

Course Rating: 4.5/5
Number of Students: 2.5k+
Number of Lectures: 25 Hours of 114+ Lectures
Course Link: PCB Design using OrCAD/Allegro from Basics to Expert level

7. PCB Design with Proteus

Learn to design PCB like a Pro using Proteus as a Design Software. Proteus is another great tool available in the market used for designing Printed Circuit boards.

In this course, you will learn all the necessary aspects to design a high-quality printed circuit board. you are going to start with the schematic circuit then the PCB layout and get the 3D visualization, also you are going to learn how to get the output files like PDF and Gerber files.

Proteus is not just a Virtual Electronic Laboratory with different modules, in this course, We are using Proteus as PCB Design software since it has a powerful and dynamic interface.

Course Rating: 4.6/5
Number of Students: 590+
Number of Lectures: 6 Hours of 75+ Lectures
Course Link: PCB Design with Proteus

Types of PCB:

• Single-sided — This board only has components mounted on one surface. The back surface is typically fully copper (ground) and coated with a solder mask.
• Double-sided — This type of circuit board has components mounted on both surfaces. Each surface is defined as a signal layer in the PCB stack-up, so the surfaces will contain traces that carry signals between components.
• Multi-layer PCBs — These boards have conductors on internal layers that carry electrical signals between components, or the internal layers could be conductive plane layers. Multi-layer PCBs may be single-sided or double-sided.

These are the main PCB types that are key to know before beginning PCB designing. We have some more types of PCB categorized based on the Material used to make the PCB Board. These are Rigid PCBs, Rigid-flex PCBs, Flex PCBs, Metal-core PCBs, and ceramic PCBs.

Mostly designing process is the same but the fabrication and assembly processes for these types of PCBs vary. Today’s ECAD software can help designers create any of these boards as long as the right PCB design rules are enforced in the software.

These are some of the Best PCB Design Courses Online in 2024. If you are a beginner selecting the best CAD tool is important. For me, Altium Designer is the best tool to learn. I hope you liked the article and I request you to share this if you like it.

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