PCB Design Rule Check

PCB design and manufacturing is a highly complex process that requires effective management of thousands of components and connections on a multilayer board. Ensuring production yields is critical in this process, and design rule checking is a key method to improve manufacturing yields. By performing DRC, errors can be detected and corrected in time during the design phase, avoiding product scrap due to issues such as shorted power grounds, misaligned vias or missing pins. Design rule check is essential to ensure that the quality of PCBs manufactured on the production line meets high standards.

What is Design Rule Check?

Design Rule Check or DRC for short, is an automated tool or software feature used during the PCB design phase to detect potential design errors and violations. It performs a comprehensive check of the PCB design based on predefined rules and constraints to ensure that the design meets specific specifications and requirements. Taking as a starting point the assurance of design correctness and fulfillment of conventional design specifications is an indispensable part of PCB design.

What Does Design Rule Check Contain?

Here are some examples of common DRC:

• The minimum line width and minimum via size should comply with the manufacturing capabilities of the PCB manufacturer.

• Spacing between lines, lines and pads, lines and vias, pads and vias, and vias and vias should be reasonable and meet production requirements. PCBWay's minimum line width and spacing are 3 mil (0.0762 mm), but it is strongly recommended to design with line widths and spacing of 6 mil (0.15 mm) or above to save costs.

• The width of power and ground traces should be reasonable and tightly coupled.

• For critical signal traces, follow the data sheet or relevant guidelines for routing, such as minimizing length, adding guard traces, and meeting impedance requirements for differential pairs.

• Input and output signals should be separated, digital and analog sections should be separated, high-frequency and low-frequency sections should be separated, and high-power and low-power sections should be separated.

Here are only some of checks listed. There are many other checks that need to be performed during the design.

The importance of Design Rule Check

• Avoiding manufacturing issues: DRC helps in identifying and rectifying potential design errors and violations, such as insufficient spacing between traces, improper pad-to-via spacing, etc. Detecting these issues during the design phase helps in avoiding problems during manufacturing, reducing rework and repair costs.

• Improving manufacturing yield: DRC ensures that the design complies with manufacturing processes and requirements. By adhering to specifications and best practices, it enhances the manufacturing yield of the PCB on the production line, reducing errors and defects during manufacturing, and improving the quality and reliability of the product.

• Reducing failure risks: DRC helps in identifying issues with critical signal traces, power lines, and ground lines, such as excessive trace length, insufficient guard traces, improper grounding connections, etc. By conducting these checks, it reduces the risks of signal interference, power noise, and other potential system failures.

• Optimizing circuit performance: DRC ensures that circuit layout and routing meet design requirements such as signal integrity, impedance control, etc. By optimizing circuit layout and signal transmission, it enhances circuit performance and stability, reducing signal distortion and timing issues.

• Ensuring product quality: By performing DRC, potential design issues can be identified and resolved in advance, ensuring that the PCB's quality meets expectations. This helps in avoiding the production of low-quality products, increasing customer satisfaction, and enhancing brand reputation.

PCBWay Custom Design Rules

For the four EDA design software, Kicad, Altium, Eagle and Allegro, we have customized design rules. 

KiCAD_Custom_DRC_Rules_for_PCBWay (Simply copy the KiCAD_Custom_DRC_Rules_for_PCBWay.kicad_dru file into the your KiCad project folder, then rename it to match your project name as your-project.kicad_dru.)

Altium_Custom_DRC_Rules_for_PCBWay

Eagle_Custom_DRC_Rules_for_PCBWay

Allegro_Custom_DRC_Rules_for_PCBWay

All statemets without guarantee! You can customize the rules in the file. A perfect setting of design rules can understandably only be performed by the user.

PCB Engineering Questions

• Gerber files are not completed

• The parameters in gerber files are different from the order details online.

• V-cut standard-Limited to Quick-turn PCB

• Slots standard size - Limited to Quick-turn PCB

• Soldermask bridge

• Confirm the panel way of the boards

• Vias process of design is different from order details option

• Some drills overlap the slots at GM or GKO

• The outline of shape is too thick to ensure the dimension of PCB

• The layout of PCB is unclear

• Solder mask layer is opening entirely

• Some Issues concerning BGA(Ball Grid Array)

• Design has no silkscreen layer but online is yes with silkscreen

• Please clarify 1-layer or 2-layer

• Requirement about castellated holes

• The distance between the trace and board outline is less than 0.20mm

• The holes is in the trace and it will cause open circuit

• The are some pads out of the board outline

• Two silkscreen files in your gerber file

• Route Process in panel file

• Break lines exist in your file

• Several gerber files have in your order

• Solder mask file is empty or None

• Stackup information

• The tab route is smaller than 1.6mm

• V-scoring line/Slot in silkscreen layer

• Line/Shapes in GM layer

• UL Marking

• Legends on Copper layer

• No Gold fingers design in file

• Drills hurt the circuit

• No Drills in your file

• Silkscreen on every layer

• Soldermask opening for Gold fingers

• Remark for drills is not fitted with the actual drill table in file

• BGA pad opening

• Board outline design standard

• The holes design standard

• There is only top solder mask layer in your file

• Without D-code

• Spiral coil board

• the spacing requirement from slot to copper trace

• Edge plating

• the spacing requirement from hole to the edge of board

• The spacing from one hole to another is too narrow

• It is wrong that copper traces are solder mask opening

• pls confirm whether solid rectangle area should be made as slot or not

• The requirement of beveling on gold finger area

• all the holes are with the same size

• The castellated holes are partial set in outline instead of in the center for common designs

• stamp holes standard

• min non-plated holes

• the hole limitation for single-side Aluminum boards

• the spacing from hole to trace

• silkscreen over pads

• limited holes spacing

• the bottom silkscreen is mirrored

• Do you need round holes or slots holes made?

• Mask openings are smaller than copper pads

• notes in the order are different from the designs in the files

• do not design texts on the copper layer

• drills are not matched with pads

• Negative or positive inner layer

• NPTH design rule

• Silkscreen standard size

• Spacing between silkscreen and openings

• silkscreen size and spacing in solder mask layer

• How to design cutout or big hole

• Remark on rectangle slot

• How to regard GPT or GTP

• Negative legends in copper layer

• Slot in oval pads

• Which layer to put round or any shape of cutout

• There do not have fiducial marks or tooling holes on break away rails

• There is no stamp holes on tab routing

• The non plated holes break traces

• No layer orders for multi layers boards

• There is no solder mask openings on some pads

• The layer order information you filled online doesn’t match the name suffix in gerber file

• Copper line and the pad are not connected

• There are no drills in the areas pointed with arrows

• Solder mask opening of some pads is too much which cause copper open as well

• PCB file you uploaded seems the production file, not the original PCB file

• Negative legend dimension is too small for production

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