Learn Board Layout b ...

Once you find the part you will need to record some information that will eventually be used to create a Part Library.  For now, we will create a spreadsheet/database with at least the following data for our reference when creating our parts libraries.  

This can be a spreadsheet on your computer, the part library in Altium Designer, the BOM builder on the Digikey website, or something else.  The key is accuracy and consistency.  (We'll work together to populate a sample database in the next activity Bill of Materials.)

The "Add to BOM" link is directly below the "Add to Cart"

If you do create your own spreadsheet, keep in mind that this is different than the BOM that you will submit to your assembly house.  We will use this initial spreadsheet to create a parts library for our design.  

Your spreadsheet needs to at least have these columns to save you time later.

The assembly house will want the data in a slightly different arrangement.  We'll worry about that format in the very last stages of design before the DFA check but I'll present it here to offer contrast.

While assembly houses will take a BOM in almost any format, the preferred document will likely be .xlsx or .csv.  Advanced Assembly requests the following columns in txt, csv, or xlsx formats.  It's easy enough to merge the Descriptions Value Package columns before submission or leave it for the part sourcing department to do.

"Get organized now!  Electrical Engineering is too complicated a subject to "wing-it" or work from post-it notes or other poorly organized note-taking schemes.  Almost every PCB layout mistake I've ever made can be traced back to an interruption of some sort and a disrupted thought-process."