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Manufacturing & DFM

PCB Manufacturing Support & DFM Review

Getting a design fabricated is its own discipline. We prepare the package, answer the factory's questions on your behalf, and review assembly proofs before anything is built.

Design for manufacturability review

A DFM review catches the problems that a DRC pass will not: features that are technically legal but expensive, tolerances your chosen fabricator cannot hold, and assembly geometry that will cause tombstoning or bridging. We review against the specific capability sheet of the factory you plan to use.

  • Minimum trace width and spacing against the fabricator's standard — not their exotic — process
  • Annular ring and drill-to-copper clearances
  • Solder mask sliver and web widths that will actually survive fabrication
  • Acid traps, unconnected copper slivers, and starved thermal reliefs
  • Component courtyard overlaps and assembly clearance for the pick-and-place head
  • Paste aperture ratios for fine-pitch and QFN parts
  • Panelisation, V-score, and mouse-bite placement for assembly-ready arrays

Working with JLCPCB and PCBWay

We place and manage orders with both fabricators regularly and know where their quoting engines flag issues. That familiarity converts directly into fewer engineering-query emails and faster turnaround for you.

BOM optimisation for assembly

For JLCPCB assembly, parts are biased toward the basic and preferred libraries where the design allows, avoiding per-part extended-component fees that can add more to a small build than the boards themselves cost.

Stackup and impedance specification

We specify the impedance-controlled stackup from the fabricator's published options so the quote you receive is the board you actually wanted.

Engineering query handling

When the factory raises a question, it comes to us. We answer it against the design intent and tell you what changed — you are not woken up to adjudicate a solder-mask query.

Assembly proof review

Before production, we check the factory's placement rendering against the assembly drawing, catching rotation and polarity errors while they are still free to fix.

Fabrication package contents

DeliverableFormatPurpose
Copper, mask, silk layersRS-274X GerberBare board fabrication
Drill dataExcellon NCPlated and non-plated holes
NetlistIPC-356Bare-board electrical test
PlacementCentroid CSVPick-and-place programming
BOMCSV / ExcelSourcing and assembly
Assembly drawingPDFManual assembly and inspection
Fab notesPDFStackup, impedance, finish, tolerances
3D modelSTEPEnclosure fit verification

Common questions

Can you review Gerbers from a design I had done elsewhere?

Yes. A standalone DFM review is one of our most common short engagements. You receive a written report with each finding classified by severity and a corrected fabrication package if you want us to implement the fixes.

Do you handle ordering, or do I place the order?

Either. Most clients order in their own account so the invoice and the boards come to them directly, and we handle the technical correspondence. If you prefer, we can place and manage the order on your behalf.

What if a fault is found after fabrication?

If the fault traces back to our design work, we correct it and release a revised package at no charge. If it originates from a change requested after sign-off or from a supplied specification, we quote the fix before doing it.

Send us your design.

Schematic, block diagram, or a description of what you need built — you get a fixed-price quote with defined deliverables, usually within one business day.

Request a quote

Related services

PCB Layout Design Service
We take a reviewed schematic and turn it into a manufacturable board — placement, stackup, routing, copper pours, and a fabrication package that a factory can build without asking questions.
High-Speed PCB Design Service
Once edge rates get fast enough, the board stops being wiring and starts being a transmission-line network. We design for that from the stackup up.
Schematic Design & Capture Service
A schematic is a specification, not a drawing. We produce schematics that another engineer can review, a purchaser can source from, and a layout engineer can build from without a single clarifying email.

Last reviewed 2026-08-03 by Niloy Mondal, IPC CID+ certified PCB designer.