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PCB power network checker
Give it a PCB layout. Get voltage drop, current density and rule checks on its power nets.
PCB power network checker is a free AI skill for the job "Build and ship software". Give the instructions to an AI assistant that supports the required files and tools, then review its output.
Free · No account · BSD 2 Clause licence · Made by MathWorks · Level: expert · Thinking: high
Made by MathWorks. See the original on GitHub; we copied it as it is, with its licence.
What it does
Voltage drop and hot spots on your power rails, found before the board is built. Load a layout and see where copper is too thin, where a via carries too much current and which rails miss their voltage margin. The skill lists the nets on an imported board and finds power rails by their names, guessing nominal voltage from labels like P0V8. You then set sources, loads and sense points. A DC solve runs per rail, or in a batch across all rails. Results are checked against rules you set for maximum current density, voltage margin and via current. It runs in MATLAB with the RF PCB Toolbox and needs a board imported first.
You give it
- An imported PCB layout
- The power net names or voltages (optional)
- Source and load locations
- Limits for drop, current density and via current
You get
- A list of the power nets found
- Voltage drop per rail
- Current density and via current results
- Pass or fail against your rules
Use it when
- You want to know if a 0.8 V rail drops too much before it reaches the chip.
- A reviewer asks for proof that via currents stay under the limit.
- You have a board with many rails and need all of them checked in one run.
- You need to find which power nets are on an imported layout.
How to use it
- Add it to your AI once: download it and add the folder to Claude, ChatGPT or Codex as a skill.
- Ask for the job in your own words. Your AI opens the skill when it fits.
- It works best when your AI can run MATLAB with PCB Toolbox.