6. Board Station (Obsolete)

Tightly integrated in the overall design flow, Board Station XE combines the power of leading-edge auto-routing technology with interactive editing capabilities in a single, powerful and easy-to-use design environment.

By leveraging leading technology in PCB physical design, Board Station XE customers benefit from shorter design times, increased productivity, and unmatched design quality for even the most complex PCB designs.

There is no better way to add productivity and new technology to your Board Station flow than by deploying Board Station XE. And you don't have to give up your current flow to do it because the flows co-exist, leveraging the same licenses.

7. Fusion 360 (Eagle)

Fusion 360 (EAGLE) is a scriptable electronic design automation (EDA) application with schematic capture , printed circuit board (PCB) layout , auto-router and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) features. EAGLE stands for Easily Applicable Graphical Layout Editor ( German : Einfach Anzuwendender Grafischer Layout-Editor) and is developed by CadSoft Computer GmbH . The company was acquired by Autodesk Inc. in 2016.

Fusion 360 (EAGLE) contains a schematic editor, for designing circuit diagrams. Schematics are stored in files with .SCH extension, parts are defined in device libraries with .LBR extension. Parts can be placed on many sheets and connected together through ports.

The PCB layout editor stores board files with the extension .BRD. It allows back-annotation to the schematic and auto-routing to automatically connect traces based on the connections defined in the schematic.

Fusion 360 (EAGLE) saves Gerber and PostScript layout files as well as Excellon and Sieb & Meyer drill files. These are standard file formats accepted by PCB fabrication companies, but given EAGLE's typical user base of small design firms and hobbyists, many PCB fabricators and assembly shops also accept EAGLE board files (with extension .BRD) directly to export optimized production files and pick-and-place data themselves.

Fusion 360 (EAGLE) provides a multi-window graphical user interface and menu system for editing, project management and to customize the interface and design parameters. The system can be controlled via mouse, keyboard hotkeys or by entering specific commands at an embedded command line . Multiple repeating commands can be combined into script files (with file extension .SCR). It is also possible to explore design files utilizing an EAGLE-specific object-oriented programming language (with extension .ULP).

8. KiCad

KiCad is an open source EDA software for Windows, OSX and Linux. Create PCB circuits for free with the most advanced features.

• Schematic Capture
  • With the schematic editor you can create your design without limit; there are no paywalls to unlock features. An official library for schematic symbols and a built-in schematic symbol editor help you get started quickly with your designs.
• PCB Layout
  • Make professional PCB layouts with up to 32 copper layers. KiCad now has a push and shove router which is capable of routing differential pairs and interactively tuning trace lengths.
• 3D Viewer
• KiCad includes a 3D viewer which you can use to inspect your design in an interactive canvas. You can rotate and pan around to inspect details that are difficult to inspect on a 2D view. Multiple rendering options allow you to modify the aesthetic appearance of the board or to hide and show features for easier inspection.