KiCad PCB Design: High-Current Traces & Ground Planes

# Engineering Reliable Robotics PCBs Vibration, sudden current surges, and inductive kickback from motors create harsh operational environments for electronics. Designing dedicated printed circuit boards eliminates unstable breadboard connections. ## Key Design Principles 1. **Trace Width**: Calculate width according to IPC-2152 standards for 1oz and 2oz copper weights to prevent trace heating during motor stalls. 2. **Ground Plane Integrity**: Maintain unbroken ground planes beneath high-frequency signals and keep noisy motor ground returns segregated from analog logic grounds. 3. **Decoupling Capacitors**: Place 100nF ceramic decoupling capacitors immediately adjacent to microcontroller power pins.