DFM in Manufacturing : What are you looking for?

Hi there

Within the Valor MSS Process Preparation suite, we have the best DFA capability that exists in the market. There are a number of checks that are performed that are necessary for PCB assemblers to execute prior to starting a design in production. Being able to know if fiducials on the board are near similar pads or vias is important to ensure that placement and inspection equipment don’t mistake a near pad for the fiducial. Also being able to highlight issues in the manufacturing BOM parts list for component to component spacing or checking for sufficient clearance around a pin to its corresponding footprint can ensure that solder fillets will form correctly. Checking for soldermask clearance around test points or test vias ensures that sufficient ICT or Flying Probe access is available.

However, what about areas surrounding more fabrication or bare-board analysis? I would like to invite people’s opinions on copper checks for example. These affect more the fabrication of the PCB as opposed to the assembly processes and hence need to be identified early in the design process as opposed to just before prototype or volume manufacturing. These checks may also be affected by the design rules that were being used to lay the board out too. It does not matter if a board can be manufacturered if it doesn’t work as designed. So in reality what fabrication checks are manufacturing people wanting to run and what feedback are you looking for by executing these checks.

Pleae click on the following link to learn more about the DFA capability in Valor MSS. Also, please post some feedback on your DFA experiences and requirements.

http://www.mentor.com/pcb-manufacturing-assembly/products/valor-mss-process-preperation

Preparing Recommendations

Thanks

Mark