Pattern-Filled Copper Areas in Electronics Workbench Ultiboard

When creating printed circuit boards, designers must account for the effects of fabrication on the durability and reliability of those boards. Prolonged operation at high temperatures or the heat of wave-soldering machines can warp a board when there are large discrepancies in the consistency of the copper throughout the board. For this reason, it is common practice for designers to use copper fills to create balance. Using copper fills of varying patterns provides a way of adjusting the percentage of copper in a given fill to match that of traces on other layers.

Ultiboard provides an easy way to create copper fills and assign them one of 6 different patterns. Additionally, the style of each individual pattern can be customized (Figure 1).

Note: This article explains only how to create copper fills; designers must be aware of any EMC consequences at higher frequencies that arise from adding copper fills.

To place a copper area:

1. Activate the desired layer for the copper area by double-clicking on that layer in the Layers tab of the Design Toolbox (Figure 2).


2. Select Place»Copper Area from the pull-down menu (Figure 3).

3. Draw the copper area by clicking to create vertices of the desired shape. The simple shapes below (Figure 4) are an example.


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Figure 4. Example Copper Areas4. Once the area is placed, double-click on it to bring up the Copper Area Properties dialog. Be sure to set the width of lines in the pattern in the General tab of the Copper Area Properties dialog box (Figure 5).


Figure 5. Set the Width of the Pattern Lines

5. Choose the fill pattern from the Copper Area tab of the Copper Area Properties dialog box (Figure 6).


Figure 6. Choose the Desired Pattern

6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 for any remaining areas. The result should look similar to Figure 7 (below).

Copper fill areas can also be attached to any electrical net such as GND, VCC, or an intermediary net. This is accomplished by selecting the Connected to Net box in the Copper Area tab of the Copper Area Properties window.

Related Links:
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