Problems connecting pins to layers

[lpdnole]

I want more flexibility in connecting my parts to ground and power planes.  I am using an 8 layer board but I can't connect various pins to the planes that I want.  I want to be able to connect any pin to any layer so how do I accomplish this?

In addition, what is the best way to connect surface mount components to internal ground and power planes?  I want to use through hole vias and specify which plane connects to the via.

I am using Circuit Design Suite 11.0.

[Tayyab_R]

Hi lpdnole,

I am a little confused by the question. In general, through-hole pins are going through the board and are accessible on all the layers. You can directly connect anything to them on any layer. If the pin is connecting to ground and you have a ground plane on multiple layers under the pin, you should see that it shows a connection.

For surface mount components, it is possible to either place a via under the pad (not supported by all board houses) or to place a via close to the pin and then connect it to whatever layer necessary. This process is known as fan-out. You can double-click on the via and in the Via properties, go to the Via tab and check Assume net. You can then select what net the via belongs to. This will make the connections to the powers planes etc.

If you are experiencing a problem with a specific design, you can send that to us and we can take a look at it.

Hope this helps.

[lpdnole]

When I place a via near the surface mount pad the select lamination for via window comes up.  I try to attach it from the top copper layer to an internal ground layer and it says "Warning: Design rule does not allow the selected lamination"

I don't know what design rules need to be changed, so guidance here would be nice. 

I don't understand the difference between layer pairs and single layer stack ups, so please explain what the difference so I can decide what to choose.  I don't understand why I can't have 8 single layers, because the best I can do is 4 layer pairs or 1 layer pair and 6 single stack layers.

I don't want blind or micro vias, so I do not have those selected. There is no choice for through hole vias, in PCB properties box, so I assume they will all be through hole, if I don't select the micro or blind vias, is this a correct assumption.

What I need to know is, what properties do I need to have set for a board, that has a top, bottom, 3 power, and 3 ground layers and uses only through hole vias so that I can attach surface mount pads to the various layers?  In addition will auto-route place vias automatically and attach a surface mount pad to an internal ground or power layer?

[Tayyab_R]

Hi,

The reason I think the warning message is appearing is because from what I understand, you do not want to have support for Blind or Burried vias. If you make a connection from say the top layer only to the inner power plane layer, that is a blind via. You can create the via from the top to the bottom as it shows by default and then just assign it to a specific net as I mentioned. That should resolve this issue.

For routing, my suggestion is to make the connections to the required power planes and grounds manually because the auto-router may or may not do it. It is best to do it by yourself and then you can route the remaining connections using the auto router.

When adding layers to the board, you need to add them in pairs but when you are designing the board, each layer is seperate. You can add things on each layer seperately. In essense, you have 8 individual layers to work with.

Hope this helps.