Design With Manufacturing: A New View on DFM/DFA

DFM, DFA, and DFT are all acronyms you will hear thrown about by manufacturers and astute designers. PCB manufacturing processes will always dictate important constraints in a design, and it is a designer’s job to ensure the products they create will be manufacturable at the required volume, cost, and quality standards. The old ways of allowing your manufacturer to adjust and tweak products to fit their process is unsuitable for advanced electronics, and more products are solidly falling into the “advanced” category.

To overcome these challenges, designers need more communication with their manufacturing partners at multiple points during the design process. On the front-end, designers should at least be aware of capabilities, factors that could compromise yield, and small points that could cause a design to receive no-bid status. On the back-end, providing allowances for your manufacturer will help ensure they can stay within your performance specs.

In this e-book, composed by Altium in partnership with Sierra Circuits, readers will gain a firsthand look at important DFM, DFA, and DFT guidelines every PCB designer should know. Covered topics include:

• What to expect during a DFM reporting process before production begins
• Some basic DFM/DFA guidelines provided by Sierra Circuits
• How DFT fits within design, assembly, and DFM/DFA
• How to communicate allowances to a fabrication house with  examples

With a bit of communication with your manufacturer, you can create documentation that helps you quickly get through the DFM reporting and analysis process, while also helping ensure your finished products match your design specs.

Click the PDF above to read more about PCB reliability and testing. You can also read the original, full-length content here:

Complete Guide to DFM Analysis
Preventing Top DFM Errors in Your PCB Design
DFA Guidelines for an Efficient PCB Design
Communicating PCB Layer Stackup Needs to Manufacturers
What Solder Mask Expansion Value Should You Use?
Is It Printed or a Component? All About PCB Test Points