Reviewing candidates
Once Quilter has completed routing your board, it will automatically sort them by manufacturability, and highlight a subset of them that optimize for different design requirements.
Using global filters
To explore your unique design space, you can use global filters at the top of the Candidate Details panel to filter for:
Filter | Description | Filter type |
Single-sided | Filter to exclude all double-sided candidates | Checkbox – select to view only single-sided candidates |
Min trace width | Smallest trace size utilized by Quilter to complete your design | Minimum – filters out candidates below this threshold |
Min trace clearance | Smallest allowable distance between traces. | Minimum – filters out candidates below this threshold |
# layers | The number of allowable layers in your PCB stackup | Multi-select – select all acceptable options |
Manufacturable by | Fabricators that can build this particular layout candidate | Multi-select – select all acceptable options |
Recommended candidates
Among all 100% complete candidates, Quilter will automatically award a set of "recommended" badges to the designs that optimize globally for the following heuristics:
"Most fabs" – the candidate that is routed to 100% and has the most conservative design tolerances and is manufacturable by the most fabricators.
"Fewest layers" – the candidate that is routed to 100% and has the fewest number of layers.
"Shortest traces" – the candidate that is routed to 100% and has the shortest total trace length (sum of all individual traces between all routed pins).
Although all other candidates are visibile in the "Other candidates" section, Quilter will only automatically award badges to and recommend candidates that reach 100% completion.
Other candidates
Quilter elevates candidates that considers to be more desirable to the top of the candidate viewer list. In general, top candidates are (in priority order):
100% complete (fully routed) and free of DRC violations
Support the greatest number of fabricators
Utilize the most conservative (largest) minimum trace widths and clearances
Utilize the minimum number of layers
Utilize the shortest total trace length
Inspecting candidates
To view a candidate in the 3D viewer, simply click on the candidate in the side panel. You can use our in-app candidate viewer to scroll, rotate, and inspect both the top and bottom layers of your Quilter-designed circuit board.
Downloading design files
To download a board for review and fabrication, simply click the "Download board" button in the bottom-right hand side of the candidate viewer. Quilter will provide your completed layout candidate in the same file format that you submitted it in (we currently support Altium and KiCAD).