Skip to main content

Configuring Chips

The <chip /> is the most common and most powerful built-in tscircuit element. You can represent virtually any "single-part" electronic component with <chip />, it is extremely flexible.

Simple Chips​

Here's an example of typical <chip /> usage. We specify a footprint string and the pin labels that should be used for the schematic representation.

import type { CommonLayoutProps } from "tscircuit"

interface Props extends CommonLayoutProps {
name: string
}

export const A555Timer = (props: Props) => {
return (
  <chip
    footprint="soic8"
    pinLabels={{
      pin1: "VCC",
      pin2: "DISCH",
      pin3: "THRES",
      pin4: "CTRL",
      pin5: "GND",
      pin6: "TRIG",
      pin7: "OUT",
      pin8: "RESET"
    }}
    {...props}
  />
)
}
Schematic Circuit Preview

Customizing the Schematic Representation​

You can alter how a chip appears on the schematic by using the schPinArrangement , schPinStyles and schWidth properties.

schPinArrangement​

schPinArrangement controls the arrangement of the pins on the schematic box representing the chip. You can use this to group similar pins together e.g. to group GPIO pins together.

note

schPortArrangement was renamed to schPinArrangement in 2025.

export default () => (
<board width="10mm" height="10mm">
  <chip
    name="U1"
    footprint="soic8"
    schPortArrangement={{
      leftSide: {
        direction: "top-to-bottom",
        pins: ["VCC", "DISCH", "THRES", "CTRL"],
      },
      rightSide: {
        direction: "bottom-to-top",
        pins: ["GND", "TRIG", "OUT", "RESET"],
      },
    }}
    pinLabels={{
      pin1: "VCC",
      pin2: "DISCH",
      pin3: "THRES",
      pin4: "CTRL",
      pin5: "GND",
      pin6: "TRIG",
      pin7: "OUT",
      pin8: "RESET"
    }}
  />
</board>
)
Schematic Circuit Preview

You can also place pins on the top or bottom of the schematic box.

export default () => (
<board width="10mm" height="10mm">
  <chip
    name="U1"
    footprint="soic8"
    schPortArrangement={{
      topSide: {
        direction: "left-to-right",
        pins: ["VCC"],
      },
      bottomSide: {
        direction: "left-to-right",
        pins: ["GND"],
      },
      leftSide: {
        direction: "top-to-bottom",
        pins: ["DISCH", "THRES", "CTRL"],
      },
      rightSide: {
        direction: "bottom-to-top",
        pins: ["TRIG", "OUT", "RESET"],
      },
    }}
    pinLabels={{
      pin1: "VCC",
      pin2: "DISCH",
      pin3: "THRES",
      pin4: "CTRL",
      pin5: "GND",
      pin6: "TRIG",
      pin7: "OUT",
      pin8: "RESET"
    }}
  />
</board>
)
Schematic Circuit Preview

schPinStyles​

schPinStyles controls the style of the pins on the schematic box

export default () => (
  <board width="10mm" height="10mm">
    <chip
      name="U1"
      footprint="soic8"
      schPinArrangement={{
        topSide: {
          direction: "left-to-right",
          pins: ["VCC"],
        },
        bottomSide: {
          direction: "left-to-right",
          pins: ["GND"],
        },
        leftSide: {
          direction: "top-to-bottom",
          pins: ["DISCH", "THRES", "CTRL"],
        },
        rightSide: {
          direction: "bottom-to-top",
          pins: ["TRIG", "OUT", "RESET"],
        },
      }}
      schPinStyle={{
        pin1: {
          bottomMargin: 0.2
        },
        GND: {
          rightMargin: "0.5mm"
        },
        THRES: {
          topMargin: 0.5
        },
        OUT: {
          topMargin: 1,
          bottomMargin: "1mm"
        }
      }}
      // This is the future syntax for schPinStyle!
      //   schPinStyle={{
        //   pin1: {
          //   marginBottom: 0.2,
        //   },
        //   GND: { marginRight: "0.5mm" },
        //   THRES: { marginTop: 0.5 },
        //   OUT: {
          //   marginTop: 1,
          //   marginBottom: "1mm",
        //   },
      //   }}
      pinLabels={{
        pin1: "VCC",
        pin2: "DISCH",
        pin3: "THRES",
        pin4: "CTRL",
        pin5: "GND",
        pin6: "TRIG",
        pin7: "OUT",
        pin8: "RESET",
      }}
    />
  </board>
)
Schematic Circuit Preview

Custom Footprints​

Often you will have a chip that you want to carefully specify the position of each pad, plated hole, silkscreen line or other PCB element. To do this, just insert a <footprint /> component instead of string for the footprint prop.

Here's an example of a chip with a custom footprint:

export default () => (
<board width="10mm" height="10mm">
  <chip
    name="U1"
    footprint={
      <footprint>
        <platedhole
          portHints={["4"]}
          pcbX="3.2499299999998357mm"
          pcbY="-2.249932000000058mm"
          outerDiameter="1.9999959999999999mm"
          holeDiameter="1.3000228mm"
          shape="circle"
        />
        <platedhole
          portHints={["2"]}
          pcbX="3.2499299999998357mm"
          pcbY="2.249932000000058mm"
          outerDiameter="1.9999959999999999mm"
          holeDiameter="1.3000228mm"
          shape="circle"
        />
        <platedhole
          portHints={["1"]}
          pcbX="-3.2499299999999494mm"
          pcbY="2.249932000000058mm"
          outerDiameter="1.9999959999999999mm"
          holeDiameter="1.3000228mm"
          shape="circle"
        />
        <platedhole
          portHints={["3"]}
          pcbX="-3.2499299999999494mm"
          pcbY="-2.249932000000058mm"
          outerDiameter="1.9999959999999999mm"
          holeDiameter="1.3000228mm"
          shape="circle"
        />
        <silkscreenpath
          route={[
            { x: -2.2743160000001126, y: -2.999994000000015 },
            { x: 2.274315999999999, y: -2.999994000000015 },
          ]}
        />
        <silkscreenpath
          route={[
            { x: -2.999994000000129, y: 1.0999978000000965 },
            { x: -2.999994000000129, y: -0.999998000000005 },
          ]}
        />
        <silkscreenpath
          route={[
            { x: 3.0999937999998792, y: 1.0279888000000028 },
            { x: 3.0999937999998792, y: -1.0999977999999828 },
          ]}
        />
        <silkscreenpath
          route={[
            { x: -1.99999600000001, y: 2.999994000000015 },
            { x: 2.274315999999999, y: 2.999994000000015 },
          ]}
        />
      </footprint>
    }
    schPortArrangement={{
      leftSide: {
        direction: "top-to-bottom",
        pins: [1, 3],
      },
      rightSide: {
        direction: "bottom-to-top",
        pins: [4, 2],
      },
    }}
  />
</board>
)
PCB Circuit Preview

For more information about custom footprints, check out the element

Internally Connected Pins​

Some chips, such as a standard 4 pin pushbutton, have pins that are internally connected. This can be useful to represent for simulation or to enable omitting pins from a schematic.

export default () => (
<board width="10mm" height="10mm">
  <chip
    name="U1"
    footprint="pushbutton"
    internallyConnectedPins={[
      ["pin1", "pin4"],
      ["pin2", "pin3"]
    ]}
  />
</board>
)
note

You may not want to do this for power or ground pins on boards where you're expected to connect the pins specifically externally. For example, if you have several V5 pins that each need a decoupling capacitor, it would be better to manage the connections explicitly with traces (perhaps using maxTraceLength!) even if they are internally connected.

Externally Connected Pins​

To indicate that pins should be externally connected, you can use the externallyConnectedPins props. Just like the internallyConnectedPins prop, this is an array of arrays of pin labels, where each sub-array represents a group of pins that should be connected together.

export default () => (
<board width="10mm" height="10mm">
  <chip
    name="U1"
    footprint="soic8"
    pinLabels={{
      pin1: "VCC",
      pin2: "DISCH",
      pin3: "THRES",
      pin4: "CTRL",
      pin5: "GND",
      pin6: "TRIG",
      pin7: "OUT",
      pin8: "RESET"
    }}
    externallyConnectedPins={[
      ["GND", "DISCH"],
      ["TRIG", "VCC"]
    ]}
  />
</board>
)

Specifying the Manufacturer Part Number or Supplier Part Numbers​

tscircuit will attempt to find matching parts based on the manufacturerPartNumber and footprint that was provided. If you know the exact part from your supplier you'd like to use, you should set the supplierPartNumbers property as shown below:

import { createUseComponent } from "@tscircuit/core"
import type { CommonLayoutProps } from "@tscircuit/props"


interface Props extends CommonLayoutProps {
name: string
}

export const Diode1N4148WS = (props: Props) => {
return (
  <diode
    {...props}
    supplierPartNumbers={{
      jlcpcb: ["C57759"]
    }}
    footprint={
      <footprint>
        <smtpad
          portHints={["1"]}
          pcbX="-1.1725910000000113mm"
          pcbY="0mm"
          width="0.9999979999999999mm"
          height="0.7500112mm"
          shape="rect"
        />
        <smtpad
          portHints={["2"]}
          pcbX="1.1725910000000113mm"
          pcbY="0mm"
          width="0.9999979999999999mm"
          height="0.7500112mm"
          shape="rect"
        />
        <silkscreenpath
          route={[
            { x: 0.9012427999999773, y: -0.726211400000011 },
            { x: 0.9012427999999773, y: -0.5199887999999646 },
          ]}
        />
        <silkscreenpath
          route={[
            { x: 0.9012427999999773, y: 0.726211400000011 },
            { x: 0.9012427999999773, y: 0.5299964000000728 },
          ]}
        />
        <silkscreenpath
          route={[
            { x: -0.8512047999998913, y: 0.726211400000011 },
            { x: 0.9012427999999773, y: 0.726211400000011 },
          ]}
        />
        <silkscreenpath
          route={[
            { x: -0.8512047999998913, y: -0.726211400000011 },
            { x: 0.9012427999999773, y: -0.726211400000011 },
          ]}
        />
        <silkscreenpath
          route={[
            { x: -0.44676059999994777, y: 0.726211400000011 },
            { x: -0.44676059999994777, y: -0.726211400000011 },
          ]}
        />
      </footprint>
    }
    cadModel={{
      objUrl:
        "https://modelcdn.tscircuit.com/easyeda_models/download?uuid=973acf8a660c48b1975f1ba1c890421a&pn=C57759",
      rotationOffset: { x: 0, y: 0, z: 0 },
      positionOffset: { x: 0, y: 0, z: 0 },
    }}
    schPinSpacing={0.75}
    schPortArrangement={{
      leftSide: {
        direction: "top-to-bottom",
        pins: [1],
      },
      rightSide: {
        direction: "bottom-to-top",
        pins: [2],
      },
    }}
  />
)
}
PCB Circuit Preview

If you don't specify supplierPartNumbers, tscircuit will automatically scan for in-stock parts and select a chip using vendor APIs in the Cloud API using the platform parts engine

Supported Suppliers​

The following are the supported supplier keys. The list is maintained here and you can request additional suppliers by creating an issue

Available supplier keys:

  • jlcpcb
  • digikey
  • mouser
  • macrofab
  • pcbway
  • lcsc

You can also insert custom keys for your organization and they will be copied to the output Circuit JSON

Type-safe Chips: Custom Component Hooks​

Component hooks are a great way to improve type safety and simplify the usage of your component. A component hook is created with the createUseComponent from tscircuit and returns a hook that when used, will generate a component with properties for each pin label.

import { createUseComponent, type CommonLayoutProps } from "tscircuit"

interface Props extends CommonLayoutProps {
  name: string
}


const pinLabels = {
  pin1: "VCC",
  pin2: "DISCH",
  pin3: "THRES",
  pin4: "CTRL",
  pin5: "GND",
  pin6: "TRIG",
  pin7: "OUT",
  pin8: "RESET"
} as const

export const A555Timer = (props: Props) => (
  <chip
    footprint="soic8"
    pinLabels={pinLabels}
    {...props}
  />
)

export const use555Timer = createUseComponent(A555Timer, pinLabels)
warning

Make sure to have as const when you're defining your pinLabels, if you're missing this the types won't work!

When you use Component Hooks, you get better type checking in your component usage because all the pin labels are now available on the component!

import { use555Timer } from "./a555timer"
import { usePowerRegulator } from "./power-regulator"

export default () => {
  const U1 = use555Timer("U1")
  const M1 = usePowerRegulator("M1")

  return (
    <board width="10mm" height="10mm">
      <U1 />
      <M1 />

      <trace from={U1.GND} to="net.GND" />
      <trace from={U1.VCC} to={M1.V5} />
    </board>
  )
}

Importing Chips from JLCPCB, KiCad or Circuit JSON​

There are a lot of ways to import a chip configuration, each with their own guide! This is often much easier and reliable than configuring a chip yourself.