12/9/2025 1 AM - I get it now. (kinda)

Im reading up on the devboard guide alongside the amazing guide / datasheet that is
"Hardware design with RP2350 / Using RP2350 microcontrollers to build boards and products"

After getting a few more things down using the datasheet and the guide, Im going to decide on specs and features.

After which ill just go ahead and design the schematics.

12/9/2025 9 AM - Why is kicad library stuff so hard

I swear I wouldve started and finished long ago but i cant seem to add the rp2350 library no matter what, evem with chatgpts help.

I remember some script in one of the guided projects so ill definitely look into that.

In the meantime, the specs ive decided on have beeen to use the QFN-80 package (considering im trying to make a better rp2350 board, and it having less gpio pins wouldnt really match up).
Alongside that, Im using the footprint with vias most likely.

Ive also decided on having two usb receptacles. One female, on board, and one male, peaking enough out of the board to be pluggable in a standalone format.

I MIGHT have a bus switcher to add a third qspi bus but Im not sure yet.

12/9/2025 11 AM - Setup easyeda2kicad ad started on the schematics

Basically what the title says.
Thank god I read the flight computer tutorial because thats wherre i found out about the script.
Has basically saved my life i swear.

Now onwards we go

Im making the schematics, and I chose the RP2354B chip for its extra gpio pins and internal flash storage

12/9/2025 6 PM - Wired the parts connecting to the chip on the schematic

Wired together the chips stuff.

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12/9/2025 7:00 PM - Made the primary and secondary flashes

Wired together the flashes.

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12/9/2025 7:01 PM - GPIO PINS RAHHH

Wired together the Gpio pins to their nets

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12/9/2025 7:03 PM - Misc. schematic routing

The crystal and the debug pins

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12/9/2025 7:07 PM - Realized a few issues

After going through the guided project to double check everything, I found out I wired the flash storage wrong in a way

Im missing a button, plus I have no clue what the dnf resistors are and I have to find out soon

12/9/2025 7:12 PM - Wired, Unwired a part of the schematic

Just in case I did another oopsie, I went through the minimal design handbook and the guide, saw I hadnt placed the resistors for the 1.1v supply pins, placed them and wired them until i realized that they were actually wired, just placed a little bit down.

12/9/2025 7:59 PM - Manual unpaid labor RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

writing each one, one by one

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12/10/2025 1:00 PM - wired ports

Wired the female USB-C,
Then took some time to find a part, wired it, didnt think itwas good, refound a part, rewired it again.

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12/10/2025 1:18 PM - Footprints

Did the footprints, theres still some things I havent assigned footprints to because Im not sure what Im supposed to do with them in the schematic either so.....

Ill leave it to be future me's problem

12/11/2025 9 AM - Fixed schematic after hours of reading the datasheet

Finally fixed that flash chip thing after reading the datasheet for quite some time, now im agonizingly routing the pcb which has been taking way longer than i thought it would

12/11/2025 10 AM - jlcpcb doesnt have the correct inductor

As the title suggests, the minimum design example uses a 0806 footprint inductor, but kicad has footprints for 0805 and apparently (according to chatgpt) theyre not compatible together so I went looking in jlcpcb and other places on the internet for an inductor of the same size, measurement and properties (shielded) and unfortunately couldnt find any so...

Kind of wasted my time there.

I just gave it a 0805 footprint for now.

How bad COULD it POSSIBLY be ?

12/11/2025 5 PM - Godsend sfc guide

I was having a lot of dificulty wiring the devboard because of just how much stuff there is.

Thankfully whoever wrote the sfc guide did a terrific job at explaining so now Im fully reading it and tinkering with the pcb layout.

12/12/2025 10 AM - routed the crystal

Genuinely spent hours to find a way to keep the crystal oscillator on a single level without criss crossing the traces

Also organized the capacitors.

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12/12/2025 7:49 PM - Did a ground layer copper pour

Decided to do it for the signal benefits and impedance requirements

oh yeah btw i forgot to log these so if you see anything that (by cronological order of the journals) its because im using the modern files, so somethings will be a bit out of order in the background

12/12/2025 7:51 PM - re routed the crystal after the ground layer pour

basically what the caption says, plus tried to length match the lines and stuff ig

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12/12/2025 7:53 PM - routed and then optimized chip storage

First did an arbitrary routing, then tried to spatially optimize my component placement

took some time to figure out how to route them,
then took some time to optimize it spatially speaking

12/12/2025 7:55 PM - Research on the chip storage chips

uh so....

if im to wire them how they are now, they will be shorting QUITE a few pins so im kind of stuck figuring out on how to wire them

aparently its alright if they short eachother but the cs pin has to be on a different pin but i can figure out the value of one of the capacitors, why i even need a 0 ohm resistor, what other pin ill bind that other cs pin to and if i need buttons in any step of this

12/15/2025 7:51 PM - wired the usb male port

took a few retrys when everything came together, ultimately decided it would be ok to use a via in a few places here as can be seen

Overall it was pretty fun

I had to change a few net names, assign a few vias i didnt wat to and other things

12/15/2025 7:52 PM - Wired the voltage regulator

I had originally made my pcb a 6 layer one, now ive decided to use that one sandwhiched empty layer for miscelinious connections, this being one of them

12/15/2025 7:54 PM - usb female

Albeit easier than the male port cuz of the fewer pins but i have to admit that running a pcb trace over the whole board just to meet the voltage regulator and data lines doesnt seem like THEEE best idea to me

12/15/2025 7:56 PM - Manual unpaid labor: The sequel

Spent a few good hours just adding vias here and there for the gpio pins.

I plan on wiring them on the back, essentially having have assigned only ONE via per trace and having have saved me the headache of figuring out how to trace everything everywhere

12/15/2025 8:01 PM - Unspoken rule

The reason the vias for the gpio pins took this long is because I didnt know of something that I have only recently figured out.

Its best practive to trace starting from the via and then going to the pin youre connecting to.

Why ?

Ive come to find that in microcontrollers like this that have pins so close, when you start tracing from the microcontroller itself, the traces straighten themselves relative to the component, on the pin itself and then connect to the big component in a straight fashion

Why is that an issue ?

Because it begins its wiggle on the microcontroller, it deviates from the standard pin distance and causes drc error by negating clearance values

What to do

just start from the component and wire towards the microcontroller so it can do the wiggling on the component and have a nice and smooth connection to the pins

Not having have done this has caused me a headache with dealing with tons of drc issues and wondering why i cant pull the traces on ANYTHING

12/15/2025 8:02 PM - Decoupling Capacitors

basically in the name.

Added the decoupling capcitors to the power lines

OHHH

AS IM WRITING THIS I JUST FIGURED OUT THAT I FORGOT TO PLACE VIAS

NOOOOOOOOO

12/15/2025 8:03 PM - Memory wiring

Traced the flash chip modules

again, had to use vias but now its using vias only for the second memory chip which i dont think should be that much of a problem anyway

12/15/2025 8:05 PM - DRC rule check shenanigans

Fixed (the photo is like 80% of the way through the process) the drc clearance issues and stuff that it flagged

sometimes its clearance stuff for the vias, sometimes for the traces and sometimes for misnamed nets

12/16/2025 8 AM - Wrong footprint

I was following the blueprint guide for the part footprints and didnt notice when i had accidentally assigned a 02x20 instead of the 02x26 that i need.

The board isnt as small as i thoughtit had to be anymore, so all of that space optimiations, vias and everything are no essentially useless

But honestly I dont want to redo the whole thing from the start so ill just extend the board

12/16/2025 2:27 PM - FINISHED THE PCB 11!!1!1

Finally finished it after checking drc violations a few times and wiring the rest of the pins, alongside having to embiggen the board and actually connecting the outer gnd pins to ground as they were not connected fully despite the layer pour

12/16/2025 2:33 PM - Added github with photos and files

Basically just that so idk what to say anymore here so................................................................................................

12/24/2025 - I wanna confirm that i indeed want tickets

My other project got rejected to make sure i wanted tickets so in order for this one not to get cancelled. I want to confirm that I indeed want tickets and im sure of it