The cornerstone of open source philosophy is that the recipients of technology should have access to all of its building blocks, such as software code, schematics for electronics and mechanical designs. This lets everyone study, modify and redistribute the technology to others.

Since releasing the World Wide Web software under an open source licence in 1994, CERN has continued to be a pioneer in the field of open source. This has included promoting the use of open source hardware (through the CERN Open Hardware Licence) and free and open source software, as well as supporting open access publishing (through the Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in Particle Physics – SCOAP³) and promoting open data (through the Open Data Portal for the LHC experiments). All these activities feature prominently in CERN’s Open Science Policy.

Many hardware designers publish their designs under the CERN Open Hardware Licence. This not only allows other people to freely access, modify and redistribute the files, but also makes it possible for them to build and commercialise hardware based on those designs. However, for an open design to be truly accessible, an open format – and ideally an open-source tool – is key. KiCad is one of these tools.

First released in 1992 by French developer Jean-Pierre Charras, KiCad is a free and open source software suite for printed circuit board design. With KiCad, users can share their designs without any restrictions, ensuring that no one is barred from participating in a project because they cannot afford a software licence. This significantly promotes collaboration, enabling wider participation, faster iterations and broader dissemination of hardware design knowledge.

At CERN, hardware designers usually draw schematics and delegate the layout tasks to the Design Office (BE-CEM-EPR). The Office maintains a library of component symbols (for the schematics) and footprints (for the layout), which includes more than 17,000 electronic components that designers can use in their projects.

CERN has contributed many improvements to KiCad itself over the years. Now, following the guidance of its Electronics Design Automation Committee (EDAC) and the Open Source Programme Office (OSPO), CERN is releasing its complete KiCad component library under an open source licence.

Users outside the Organization can now benefit from this extensive resource, which complements the set of designs published in the Open Hardware Repository. CERN’s contribution to the KiCad ecosystem reaffirms its commitment to open source hardware as a way of sharing hardware designs efficiently.