Maze routers and x-y-based routers and their practical realization

This article features two fundamental approaches to routing of printed circuit boards. Advantages and disadvantages of both of the approaches have been highlighted. Experiments with two popular PCB routing tools - SPECCTRA and PADS Router - showed that the first one performs in a maze manner, whilst the latter acts like an x-y router. This may improve routing quality and speed up the design cycle.