Michael Koltai, Author at The Circuit Design Blog

Creating Subcircuits from Schematics with TINACloud

In TINACloud you can convert any schematic diagram into a subcircuit called a Macro.

Watch our tutorial video

to see how to create a Macro in TINACloud:

Download the FREE trial demo of TINA Design Suite and get:

One year free access to TINACloud (the cloud-based, multi-language, installation-free online version of TINA running in your browser anywhere in the world.)
An immediate 20% discount from the offline version of TINA
Free license for your second computer, laptop etc.

Click here to download the FREE trial demo of TINA.

www.tina.com

You can also find below the script of the video:

Creating Subcircuits from Schematics with TINACloud

In TINACloud you can simplify schematics and hide clutter by turning portions of the schematic into subcircuits.

TINACloud automatically represents these subcircuits as a rectangular block on your schematic.

You can convert any schematic diagram into a subcircuit, called a Macro in TINA, simply by adding the terminals and saving the new circuit in the special (*.tsm) format.

Let’s see how to create a Macro in TINACloud

Load the Half Adder (Half_Add.tsc) example from the TINA Examples folder of TINACloud

To invoke the Schematic Editor Select Schematic Editor… from the Tools menu or double-click an empty spot on the workspace.

The Schematic Editor appears

Delete the diagram and the text. Click the object you want to delete, then press the Delete key or click the X button on the toolbar.

Let’s convert the Half Adder example into a Macro

Delete the old terminals and replace them by subcircuit terminals called Macro Pins in TINACloud

To select the portion of the circuit (terminals) click the Multiple Selection button first then the corner of the the area you want to select, hold down the left mouse button then move the mouse and release the left mouse button at the opposite corner.

Click the X button on the toolbar

Release the Multiple Selection Button

Click the Macro Pin on the Special Toolbar

The Macro Pin will be attached to the cursor and you can move it anywhere on the screen.

You can Rotate the Pin using the Rotate Left or Rotate Right buttons

Connect the Macro Pin to the circuit

When you place the Macro Pins, their label is automatically set to Pin1, Pin2 etc.

Double-click the labels then in the Property window set the label field as shown

Reposition some labels

Next create and save the new Macro.

Press the Insert (+) button

Select Upload macro…

In the Diagram window set the Macro name (in this case: HA)

then click the Upload button

In the pop-up window the following message appears: Macro uploaded.

Click OK

Now, let’s see how to insert a Macro into a schematic and use it

Click the Insert (+) button then select Insert Macro

Select the Macro HA, then press OK.

The newly created macro will be attached to your cursor and you can place it in the usual way.

Let’s modify the name and content of the macro

Create the modified macro under the name HA Circuit

then insert it

The Macro has been already uploaded, but you may save this circuit if you wish. Let’s save under the name HALFADDERModified

Let’s check with an analysis the operation of the new Macro we’ve created

Load the original HALF_ADD tsc. into the

Schematic Editor of TINACloud without the diagram and text in the way as previously shown.

Let’s make more place by using the Zoom out command

Pan the circuit by holding down the left mouse button while moving the mouse.

Insert the newly created HA Circuit Macro

Using Copy and Paste, add the Generators and Outputs of Half_Add.TSC to the Macro.

To draw the wires, click the first connection point, then draw the wire by moving the mouse and finally click the second connection point.

Save the circuit under the name HALF_ADDModified

If you click the macro and press the … button in the SubCkt (Content) line you can see the schematic stored in the macro

Finally let’s check with the Digital Analysis the newly created macro

Run Analysis

Digital

You can easily check that the new Macro provides the same result

Using the Schematic Symbol Editor in TINA, Part 1 : Making Your Own Schematic Symbols

Using the Schematic Symbol Editor in TINA : Making Your Own Schematic Symbols

Using TINA’s Schematic Symbol Editor, you can create new schematic symbols so that you can add your own circuit components to TINA. To create new symbols, you place lines, arcs, rectangles, and arbitrary characters with any fonts, specifying line-width, color, and area color fills. After drawing the symbol, you add and define connections to it.

In this tutorial video

we will show how you can create a new symbol for the full-adder circuit (that was used previously in our “Creating Subcircuits from Schematics 2- Macro in Macro” video) and use in TINA.

Watch our tutorial video, with English voice-over and subtitles, to see how you can create a new symbol for the full-adder circuit and use in TINA.

Making Your Own Schematic Symbols — Using the Schematic Symbol Editor in TINA

Download the FREE trial demo of TINA Design Suite and get:

One year free access to TINACloud (the cloud-based, multi-language, installation-free online version of TINA now running in your browser anywhere in the world.)
An immediate 20% discount from the offline version of TINA
Free license for your second computer, laptop etc.

Click here to download the FREE trial demo of TINA

www.tina.com

You can also find below the script of the video:

Using the Schematic Symbol Editor in TINA:Making Your Own Schematic Symbols

Using TINA’s Schematic Symbol Editor, you can create new schematic symbols so that you can add your own circuit components to TINA.

To create new symbols, you place lines, arcs, rectangles, and arbitrary characters with any fonts, specifying line-width, color, and area color fills.

After drawing the symbol, you add and define connections to it.

Start the Schematic Symbol Editor of TINA using the Start menu of Windows 10

TINA Schematic Symbol Editor appears

Now let’s create a new symbol for the full-adder circuit that was used previously in our “Creating Subcircuits from Schematics, part 2- Macro in Macro” video

Draw a rectangle as the body of the component.

Press the Rectangle button then click on any point in the drawing area, hold the mouse button, and move the mouse until the rectangle is properly sized.

You can easily replace the label by using the left-mouse button while dragging it

Fill the rectangle with a color by clicking first the symbol (to be selected),

then the Fill color icon at the lower left corner of the window

Select the color from the Palette then click OK

You can also change the border of the rectangle by using the Object color icon

Let’s not change the suggested border color

Now add the terminals. Select the desired terminal type from the Terminal-Toolbar in the upper left corner of the window and move the cursor into the rectangle you just drew.

Position it using the mouse then click to locate the terminal.

Be sure the small red x, indicating the pin end, is outside the body. Continue this process until every terminal is positioned.

Use the rotate right or rotate left button if it is necessary

Note: the Rotate icons are active after the terminal is placed & still selected

After you have positioned all the terminals, you can establish their properties by double clicking on each of them.

Change the pin name 1 into A in the Pin Properties window, then click OK

You should assign terminal names as shown above

Next, write the name: Full Adder inside the symbol

Click on the Text Editor (T)button on the Toolbar, then click on the macro symbol

Enter the name: Full Adder then click OK

Click the “Auto-calculate sensing rectangle” icon to define the area where you can select the symbol in TINA.

Finally, copy the new symbol into the Symbol library with the Add device button

and by using the Save as command,

save your .ddb file in your Private or Shared catalog folder

under the name Full Adder

Close the TINA Schematic Symbol Editor

Now let’s see how to use the new schematic symbol in TINA

Open TINA

Click the Tools menu

Select New Macro Wizard

Type a name for the new macro

In our case: Full Adder

Change the Settings from Current circuit to From file

Click the Open icon

Select the Main TINA folder

then select the Macrolib folder

Open the Full adder.tsc file

Press the Next button

The wizard finds the built-in Full Adder symbol in the symbol library of TINA

Our newly created Full Adder symbol will be at the end of the list.

Click the Next button

and save the macro (Full adder.tsm) into the default Macrolib folder.

In the New Macro Wizard dialog box now the following message appears:

The macro file is ready for use, it can be inserted by selecting Insert Macro or by pressing the Insert button below.

Click the Insert button

The Full Adder macro will be attached to your cursor. Place it wherever you wish on the

workspace.

To see the content of the macro double-click the macro

then Press the Enter Macro button

The content of the Full Adder macro appears

Let’s test our newly created macro in TINA’s Digital interactive mode.

To do this, place 3 High-Low digital switches from the Switches Toolbar, one for

each of the A,B & Ci inputs, and 2 logic indicators from the Meters Toolbar

Now select the Digital interactive mode with the narrow „Select Interactive mode”

button on the toolbar and then press the DIG button

^The l^o^gic ^le^v^els ^of ^the ^nodes ^appea^rs^,^R^e^d ^for ^High. ^Blue ^for ^Lo^w^.

Click the switches to change the input states.

The logic indicators will also show the logic level of the outputs in a Red square for

High, and empty square for Low.

The Half adder circuit works as required.

Creating Subcircuits from Spice Models with TINA: .MODEL format

In TINA you can also create your own components from any Spice models given in .MODEL format that you have made or downloaded from the Internet.

Watch our tutorial video

to see how to create a TINA macro component using a BC846 NPN Bipolar transistor downloaded previously from the web.

.MODEL format — Creating subcircuits from Spice Models with TINA

Download the FREE trial demo of TINA Design Suite and get:

One year free access to TINACloud (the cloud-based, multi-language, installation-free online version of TINA now running in your browser anywhere in the world.)
An immediate 20% discount from the offline version of TINA
Free license for your second computer, laptop etc.

Click here to download the FREE trial demo of TINA

www.tina.com

You can also find below the script of the video:

Creating Subcircuits from Spice Models: .MODEL format

In TINA you can also create your own components from any Spice models given in .MODEL format that you have made or downloaded from the Internet.

Some device models are stored in Spice .MODEL format. Let’s download one from the internet and add the model to TINA

Here is the model of the BC846 NPN Bipolar transistor

Let’ save this model

In Google Chrome click the right mouse button.

In other browsers find the Save as command

Select Save as…

Save it as a .mod file, as this is the extension that TINA expects

Let’s see how to add this model to TINA after starting the program

Click the Tools menu

Select the New Macro Wizard

Enter the name of the model BC846

Change the Settings from Current circuit to From file

Click the Open icon

Select the Downloads folder where the BC846.mod file is saved

Switch the Files of type into (*.CIR; *.LIB; *.MOD), then enter the file name BC846.mod

Click Open

Now click Next

Note that into the TINA Macros folder you can save with Administrator rights only.

So select User Macros

then click Save

In the New Macro Wizard dialog box now the following message appears:

The macro file is ready for use, it can be inserted by selecting Insert Macro or by pressing the Insert button below.

Now click the Insert button

the Macro will be attached to your cursor and you can place it wherever you wish on the workspace

Double-click the Macro & click Enter macro to see its content

A small schematic design inside the macro appears

Double-click the Transistor

then press the … button in the Type line

Here you can see the detailed description of the model which has been downloaded from the internet

Let’s close the Model Parameters window

Click the Close icon on the Toolbar if you wish to close the Macro and go back to the Schematic Editor of TINA

You can also Insert the new model using the Insert Macro command.

Select Macro from the Insert menu

From the Macrolib folder select BC846.TSM and press Open.

The new model will appear attached to your cursor and you can place it anywhere on the workspace.

This how you can add a device model in .MODEL format. You can similarly add any Spice models, diodes, transistors, MOSFETS etc. which are defined by the standard Spice .MODEL format.

You can also add such models to TINACloud.

Note:

It is of course not necessary to add devices with .MODEL definition one by one. You can also add a number of such devices in one step using the Library Manager of TINA. This process will be demonstrated in a separate video and also described in chapter 5.3 of the Users Manual of TINA. However if you need to add just one or two new models then the procedure outlined in this video might be simpler.

Creating two-sided PCBs in TINA, part 2: TINA PCB Design Flow

In this tutorial video

we will demonstrate the PCB design for the circuit we prepared in our previous video: Creating two-sided PCBs in TINA, part 1: Preparing Schematics for PCB Design.

The circuit is also available in the latest version of TINA as ADC.TSC in the Examples\PCB\ADC folder.

TINA PCB Design Flow — Creating two-sided PCBs in TINA, part 2:

Watch our tutorial video to see how to use the PCB design for the circuit we prepared in our previous video: Creating two-sided PCBs in TINA, part 1: Preparing Schematics for PCB Design.

Download the FREE trial demo of TINA Design Suite and get:

One year free access to TINACloud (the cloud-based, multi-language, installation-free online version of TINA now running in your browser anywhere in the world.)
An immediate 20% discount from the offline version of TINA
Free license for your second computer, laptop etc.

Click here to download the FREE trial demo of TINA

www.tina.com

www.tinacloud.com

You can also find below the script of the video:

Creating two-sided PCBs in TINA, part 2: TINA PCB Design Flow

In this tutorial we will demonstrate the PCB design for the circuit we prepared in our previous video: Creating two-sided PCBs in TINA, part 1: Preparing Schematics for PCB Design

1) Placement of components

Start TINA and open the circuit prepared in the previous video

The circuit is also available in the latest version of TINA as ADC.TSC in the Examples\PCB\ADC folder

Click the PCB Design icon

The PCB Design dialog appears

Note that the Autoplacement checkbox is set

Press the OK button

The PCB designer appears with automatically placed parts on the board.

However the automatic placement is never perfect.

Let’s reposition the parts according to our requirements.

Click the Select/Move components/tracks button

then click on U1 and drag aside

Next select the Connectors

As they turn white, rotate them clockwise

Drag them close to the edge of the board

Now position the remaining parts according to this picture.

Note that some of the parts should be rotated.

Finally, change the size of the board

Click the Board outline button,

then click on the workspace by holding down the Right-mouse button

Select Cancel

Next double-click on the workspace

In the Shape properties window

Change the Rectangle height into 1500 mil

then click OK

2. Preparation for routing

Now, we check the design parameters before routing

Click Options

System settings

The units are in mils which were defined in TINA Schematic Editor View/Options

Click OK to close the System settings window

Click Options

Layer settings

We design double-sided board with components on the top.
Copper routing will be applied on top and bottom sides too.

Close the Layer editor Window

Next, click Options

Autorouter settings

We will use both manual and automatic routing, for our circuit.

Here we can give direction preferences on a scale of 1 to 9 for autorouting. Leave them now default.
Close the Autorouter settings window

Next, click Options

Design parameters

Now, set ‘Pad to pad’ value to 6

This assures that our SON12_3x3_0.5_TP (U2 ) package will not violate the design rules

Click OK

3. Routing the design

The PCB Editor offers several modes to assist manual and automatic routing

Click the Mode 2 icon button on the toolbar,

then click to the connection points at the ends of the rubber line

Manual routing is practical for small boards, but now we shall use the autorouter

Click Tools

Autoroute board

After the autorouting we connect manually the unconnected nets then revise connections and cleanup design

Filling both sides with copper pour we will create a ground plane and reduce the amount of etching liquid

Click the Copper pour area icon,

then by holding down the left-mouse button select the area you want to fill

Release the selection by clicking the left-mouse button at the end point

We can assign the GND net to pour areas

Click the Copper pour area icon, then click anywhere on the workspace and select Cancel

Next double-click the copper shape and

in the Assigned net field of the Shape properties window select GND

then click OK

To avoid the board edge, we set ‘Board to copper pour’ to 40 mils
Click Options

Design parameters

Enter 40 in the Board to copper pour field,

then click OK

4. Final touches: texts and 3D view

Now we arrange component name texts on silkscreen and add some additional ones to identify the pins of the connectors

We will move U1 label which belongs to the Silkscreen Layer

Select Silscreen Top layer

Next, click the Select/Move components/tracks button

Click the U1 label, then drag it to the right place

You can rotate it while it is selected by using the Rotate right/Rotate left icon

Finally let’s see and test our design in a lifelike photo-realistic 3D view.

To generate the 3D model press the 3D View button on the toolbar

The lifelike 3D model of the circuit appears.

You can rotate the model by holding down the left-mouse button while moving the mouse or using the arrows on the keyboard.

You can Zoom In or Zoom Out by holding down the right-mouse button while moving the mouse

5. Design rule check (DRC) and making layer images

DRC process is very important step at the end of the design before we generate data files to the PCB manufacturer

Click Tools

DRC

Run DRC

As there is no error message, just click OK

If there is no DRC message then it is time to have our board made.
Typically this means creating gerber format files for a professional manufacturer

Click File

Export gerber file

Click Save

It is also very important to check gerber files once the design is completed.
Note that many free viewers are available like ViewMate, GC-Prevue…

6. Live 3D View

Let’s run Transient Analysis with 3D view

Press the TR button to run Transient Analysis

You can change the Voltage input

Double-click the Vin and enter 1.8 in the Voltage field of the Vin-Voltage Source window, then click OK

Creating two-sided PCBs in TINA, part 1: Preparing Schematics for PCB Design

In this tutorial video

we will present how to check and set the mapping between TINA’s Schematic Symbols and the Footprints used in TINA’s Integrated PCB Designer.

Note: See also our previous video: Using the Footprint Editor in TINA, part 2: Setting and checking footprint names

Watch our tutorial video to see how to check and set the mapping between TINA’s Schematic Symbols and the Footprints used in TINA’s Integrated PCB Designer.

Download the FREE trial demo of TINA Design Suite and get:

One year free access to TINACloud (the cloud-based, multi-language, installation-free online version of TINA now running in your browser anywhere in the world.)
An immediate 20% discount from the offline version of TINA
Free license for your second computer, laptop etc.

Click here to download the FREE trial demo of TINA

www.tina.com

www.tinacloud.com

You can also find below the script of the video:

Creating two-sided PCBs in TINA, part 1

Preparing Schematics for PCB Design

In this video we will present how to check and set the mapping between TINA’s Schematic Symbols and the Footprints used in TINA’s Integrated PCB Designer

Note: See also our previous video: Using the Footprint Editor in TINA, part 2: Setting and checking footprint names

Here is the circuit we will use

Note: We have already presented how to set the footprints of U2 in our previous video.

Start TINA

The most important thing in PCB design is that every part in your schematic must have a physical representation with exact physical size.

This is accomplished through so called footprints-drawings showing the outline and the pins of the parts.

In TINA, we have already assigned default footprint names to all parts which represent real components.

To check the footprints you can double-click on each part and check the Footprint Name of the Component Property dialog.

Double-click the R1

Click the … button in the Footprint Name line

and see the “PCB information” dialog where you can select from the available footprint names.

You can also see the 3D view of the different parts via the 3D package view field of the dialog.

Of course, there is no guarantee that the default physical representatives of the parts are the same as those needed by your design.

Now, we will use SMT Footprint

Select the R1608_0603 Footprint, then click OK

Click OK again

Alternatively you can use TINA’s “Footprint Name Editor” which you can invoke from the Tools menu

Select Tools

Footprint Name Editor

In this dialog you can see all of TINA’s components & the corresponding footprint names

To locate a part click the label then the Locate button

AIN+ and some parts (controlled sources,…) used for theoretical investigations do not represent real physical parts so you cannot place them on a PCB.

Clicking on the footprint name fields, you can select from the available footprint names.

From the Footprint name list select

C1608_0603 for C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6

In the dialog, components that do not already have a footprint name association will be denoted by red characters and also by ??? in the footprint name field.

Next, in the U4 Footprint Name field click the ??? then the …

As we already have a footprint for U4 in TINA Package Database

Select the TINA library

Check in the All box

and select the LCD16X1 footprint from the list

then click OK

Finally select the JP100 footprint for VCC, Vin, VDD, OVD, REF

Click OK to close the Footprint Name Editor

Now the PCB footprints are associated with the parts.

If you open the TINA PCB Designer the PCB Footprints of the parts will appear

Open the TINA PCB Designer

Set the parameters as shown next

Check the Autoplacement option

Let’s adjust the board dimensions.

Enter 4.5 for the Board width and

2.3 for the board height

Click OK

The PCB footprints of the parts appear.

The parts are automatically placed on the board and connected with “rubber lines”.

Our task is now to move the parts into their final positions and instead of the rubber lines connect them with non-intersecting tracks on the two sides of the board.

We will show how to do this in our next video.