A PCB clone is the reconstruction of a printed circuit board from a physical sample. It is the practical answer when a board must be manufactured or modified but the original Gerbers, CAD files and schematic no longer exist — a common situation for industrial equipment, legacy instrumentation and products whose design house has closed.

The work is board-level, so it complements chip-level reverse engineering rather than replacing it: if an undocumented device on the board turns out to be custom, the chip-level analysis runs in parallel.

What we produce

• Layer data — copper on every layer, silkscreen, solder mask and drill file, regenerated in the same format your fabricator accepts
• Gerber and ODB++ output — production-ready, with the stack-up, impedance constraints and drill table documented
• Netlist — every connection between pads, vias and component pins, extracted from the physical copper rather than from the silkscreen
• Schematic — a readable, editable schematic generated from the netlist and component identification
• BOM — component list with values, packages and markings, including identification of unmarked parts
• Original plus reproduction documentation — a note recording any deviation between the physical board and the regenerated data

How the board is deconstructed

Boards we handle

• Single-sided and double-sided through-hole and SMT boards
• Multi-layer boards up to 12 layers, including blind and buried vias
• Rigid, flex and rigid-flex assemblies
• High-density boards with fine-pitch BGA and 0.1 mm trace geometry
• Power boards with heavy copper and thermal relief structures

Frequently asked questions

Can you clone a board without removing the components?
For a single-sided board with generous clearances, often yes — the copper can be imaged directly and the netlist inferred. For multi-layer boards the internal copper is not visible, so either X-ray tomography or component removal and layer imaging is required. We will tell you which applies after seeing the board.

Will the clone board be electrically identical?
At the netlist level, yes, and we verify it by fabricating a test board and comparing it against the original. Physically it is as identical as the imaging resolution allows; where a trace width or clearance cannot be reproduced exactly, it appears in the deviation report rather than being silently rounded.

I only need the schematic, not a new board. Can you do that?
Yes, and it is substantially cheaper. Many engagements stop at the schematic and BOM because the customer only needs to document or modify an existing board, not to manufacture a new production run.

Can you clone a board that contains a custom chip?
Yes, but the custom device has to be dealt with separately. If that chip is available in the market, the clone uses the same part. If it is not, we run chip-level analysis in parallel to determine whether it can be characterised or reproduced.

What do I need to send you?
One complete, ideally functional board, plus photographs if you want a preliminary opinion before shipping. If the board is unpopulated or damaged, that is usually still workable — say so in advance so the process can be planned around it.

Request a PCB reverse engineering quote

Send a photograph of the board, the layer count if known, and whether you need the schematic only or a manufactured replacement. We will confirm the feasible output, the imaging method required, the turnaround and the cost before any component is removed. Work is accepted only where the requester can demonstrate ownership or written authorisation.