PCB Layout Checklist for Quote
Providing PCB documentation for review can be a daunting task. We hope this will help you provide the documentation necessary to review and quote your project. If you need any assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Critical Documentation:
- Project Link file - Native source files
.prjpcb in Altium Designer
.prj in DXDesigner
.pcb in PADS
.sch in PADS Logic
.dsn in OrCAD
- All schematic drawings - native source files; PDFs only if native files cannot be found.
Highly Desired Documentation:
- The PCB layout drawings - Native source file; PDFs only if native files cannot be found
- Bill of Materials - Excel preferred; PDFs okay
- Schematic Library - Native source file
- Footprint Library - Native source file
- 3D Model (enclosure & board shape) - Native format
- DXF/DWG (board outlines) - Native format
- Specification - Any Format
- Layer stack - Any information the fabricator provides, especially trace and space rules.
- Design Rules - Any information provided by the fabricator and/or the assembler
Additional Documentation:
- Manufacturing files - Gerbers, ODB++, IPC-2581, Drill files, Fab-related drawings, netlists
- Assembly files - Pick and Place, assembly-related drawings
Recommendation
If using Altium Designer, we recommend using the project packager wizard to ensure no documents may be inadvertently left behind. To use this feature, open a project schematic and select Project Options from the menu. The wizard will walk you through the process.
Document Differences
You may wonder why we have preferences for specific file formats. Some formats allow us better insight into the project and are a good place to start providing our services to you.
Source files - These are files that contain the primitives and information of the design tool used to create the design. For example, in Altium Designer, we want files with the extensions .prjpcb, .schdoc, and .pcbdoc. If we were to work on the design, we would load and continue the project from these files.
Manufacturing Files - These are files that were produced for the purpose of fabrication and assembly. If the project is brand new, such files would not exist. If the PCB had been manufactured, certain files would be useful to review; however, if we were to design the project based only on manufacturing files, we would have to manually draw the schematics and layout into our design tool.
PDFs - These are simply pictures of the schematics and PCB. Though they do provide a level of detail, it is not complete information. The intelligent information hidden in the schematics and PCBs cannot be accessed, limiting our ability to determine the BOM's viability and the ability to perform an Electrical Rule Check (ERC.) If we were to design the project based only on PDFs, we would have to manually draw the schematics into our design tool.
Library Files - Though not required, providing them allows us to determine the completeness of the library in terms of parameters for the BOM and mechanical information for 3D and assembly documentation.
