Industries
Reliability, process and verification demands differ sharply between fields. We organise design review and verification around what each sector actually cares about, rather than running one checklist for everybody.
Long duty cycles mean power integrity and EMC margin are what stop the line.
- Power planes partitioned by load; return paths never cross a split
- Clear separation of strong and weak signals with one consistent grounding strategy
- DRC and trace widths set against the fab's real process capability
- Heat-generating parts aligned with the airflow direction
Isolation, ESD protection and traceable documentation are what an audit looks at.
- Isolation spacing applied to the standard and documented in the report
- Input/output partitioning with protective device placement
- Interface protection and ESD design
- Documentation and revision history transferred with the release
Temperature range, vibration margin and long-term component availability beat peak performance.
- Ratings and derating calculated for the vehicle environment
- Vibration and mechanical stress considered during layout
- Components chosen for long-term availability
- Heat sources aligned with the structure's cooling path
High-current paths, thermal management and isolation are three things that must all be right.
- Current-carrying paths sized for temperature rise across copper weight and parallel runs
- Creepage and clearance checked against the working voltage
- Isolation between HV and LV with explicit isolation barriers
- Battery sense chain laid out for accuracy and interference immunity
Analogue accuracy, noise rejection and grounding decide whether the instrument works at all.
- Sensitive analogue sections partitioned away from digital and switching supplies
- Ground planes planned around signal flow rather than split arbitrarily
- Reference and clock areas isolated and shielded
- Short, parallel analogue front-end routing, kept away from interference sources
When weight, vibration and miniaturisation collide, the layout has to leave room for assembly.
- High-density placement that still leaves assembly and rework access
- Stackup and material chosen with weight in mind
- Vibration-sensitive parts anchored and isolated
- Noise and ground-loop handling in the motor drive area
RF layout, antenna keep-out and the power budget all pull against each other.
- Strict keep-out around the antenna, routing routed clear of it
- RF traces routed to the specified impedance and matching
- Power partition separated from RF, filters placed close to the source
- Sleep-current paths planned separately to hold down quiescent draw
Cost, build consistency and a compact product all land on the same board.
- Cost optimised within the process capability rather than over-specified
- Package and alternates considered first
- Assembly and solder access preserved at small form factors
- BOM and production files kept in step to avoid wrong-part builds
Review items that apply across sectors
These apply on every project regardless of sector. The sector-specific differences sit in the tabs above.
| Check | How it is checked |
|---|---|
| Layers and stackup | Does the stackup match the signal types, and is it inside the fab's limits? |
| Impedance and matching | Are targets, matching method and reference-plane continuity defined? |
| Power integrity | Are decoupling, current paths and temperature rise acceptable? |
| Grounding strategy | Does partitioning follow signal flow, and do return paths stay unbroken? |
| Process capability | Are trace widths, drill sizes, mask bridges and slots within fab capability? |
| Assembly feasibility | Component spacing, polarity marking, rework access and placement orientation |
| Thermal design | Do hot parts, airflow, copper and the enclosure work together? |
| Component and alternates | Availability and second sources for critical parts |
| EMC and safety | Isolation spacing, filtering and shielding, with test points where needed |
| Testability | Test points, boundary scan and production test requirements |
Not sure which category your board falls into?
Send us the product form and its constraints, and we will answer from the closest sector experience.