Skip to content

Introduction

This article explains basic usage of the CircuiTikz package which provides a set of macros for typesetting electrical and electronic networks. To use this package it must be imported by writing

\usepackage{circuitikz}

in your LaTeX document preamble. The environment circuitikz can then be used to typeset diagrams using TikZ syntax. CircuiTikz includes several nodes that can be used with standard TikZ syntax; the following example uses a node called variable cute inductor:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{circuitikz}
\begin{document}
\begin{center}
\begin{circuitikz}
\draw (0,0) to[ variable cute inductor ] (2,0); 
\end{circuitikz}
\end{center}
\end{document}
 Open this example in Overleaf

This example produces the following output:

OLV2circuitikz1.png

A working example

As noted, to draw electrical network diagrams you use standard TikZ syntax as demonstrated in the following, more complex, example:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{circuitikz}
\begin{document}
\begin{center}
\begin{circuitikz}[american voltages]
\draw
  (0,0) to [short, *-] (6,0)
  to [V, l_=$\mathrm{j}{\omega}_m \underline{\psi}^s_R$] (6,2) 
  to [R, l_=$R_R$] (6,4) 
  to [short, i_=$\underline{i}^s_R$] (5,4) 
  (0,0) to [open, v^>=$\underline{u}^s_s$] (0,4) 
  to [short, *- ,i=$\underline{i}^s_s$] (1,4) 
  to [R, l=$R_s$] (3,4)
  to [L, l=$L_{\sigma}$] (5,4) 
  to [short, i_=$\underline{i}^s_M$] (5,3) 
  to [L, l_=$L_M$] (5,0); 
\end{circuitikz}
\end{center}
\end{document}
 Open this example in Overleaf

This example produces the following output:

OLV2circuitikz2.png

The nodes short, V, R and L are presented here, but there a lot more—some are listed in the next section.

List of some node types

Some of the elements provided by CircuiTikz are listed below, together with links that you can open directly in Overleaf to produce the tables. See the The circuitikz package documentation for additional node types.

Monopoles

OVL2monopoles.png

 Open this table of circuitikz monopole nodes in Overleaf.


Bipoles

OVL2bipoles.png

 Open this table of circuitikz bipole nodes in Overleaf.


Diodes

OVL2diodes.png

 Open this table of circuitikz diode nodes in Overleaf.


Dynamical bipoles

OVL2dynamicalbipoles.png

 Open this table of circuitikz dynamical bipole nodes in Overleaf.


Further reading

For more information see:

Overleaf guides

LaTeX Basics

Mathematics

Figures and tables

References and Citations

Languages

Document structure

Formatting

Fonts

Presentations

Commands

Field specific

Class files

Advanced TeX/LaTeX