Abstract: An apparatus and method for positioning components on a circuit board and routing traces therebetween is disclosed. The circuit board has two pairs of electrical component-receiving footprint and a plurality of traces interconnecting the footprints. The two pairs of electrical component-receiving footprints are spaced from one another in a first direction, wherein the footprints in each of the pairs are substantially aligned in a second direction substantially perpendicular to the first direction, and wherein at least one of the footprints in one of the pairs is offset from at least one of the footprints in the other of the pairs in both the first and second directions. The plurality of traces interconnect each of the footprints includes at least one trace connecting the offset footprints.

Abstract: A computer aided design (CAD) tool takes into account system-level design parameters by considering data from a number of printed circuit board (PCB)-related data files. In one embodiment, the CAD tool takes into account signal path length at the system-level for a computer system comprising more than one PCB. In another embodiment, the CAD tool provides a three-dimensional display for showing how at least one signal path traverses the computer system in going from one PCB to another PCB.