Signal Layer Checks

Signal Layer Checks

Signal Layer Checks

Signal Layer Checks analyzes signal layers for design errors and creates a report to list all the findings
Signal Layer Checks only provide analysis check, does not change layout content

Open Signal Layer Checks

In the Graphic Editor screen, select "Analysis" ，then select "Signal Layer Checks" 。( Command：chklist_single )

Parameters

Parameters values can be changed in the respective fields and saved in ERF
All values and settings shown in this guide is by default
Parameters interface are shown below ：

Parameters：

Layer

Select layer to run analysis

Spacing

Spacing value is used to control analysis range, Spacing value will be regarded as radius for features, analysis will detect geometric relationship with other features in the radius range，the higher spacing value is, the more features will be included in the radius and requires more calculation time
example：
- If Spacing equals 2，Feature A and Feature B's geometric relationship will be analyzed
- If Spacing equals 4，Feature A and Feature B, C, D s geometric relationship will be analyzed

Rout to Cu

Define analysis spacing between rout to copper surface
e.g. (r2c)

Drill to Cu

Define analysis spacing between drill to copper surface and largest annular ring

Sliver min

Define largest sliver width

Minimum pad overlap

Define minimum width for overlapping pads

Test list

Check items in the test list for analysis
Availalbe items: Spacing , Drill , [
](#51), Size , Sliver , Stub , SMD , Bottleneck , Pad Connection Check , BGA 。

Apply to

All	Analyze all features in the layer
Selected	Analyze selected feature

Check Missing Pads for Drills

Check if any pads are missing from drill holes

Use Compensated Rout

Choose methods to analysis rout
- Yes:Use compensated rout for analysis
- No:Use original rout for analysis
- Skeleton:use rout skeleton for analysis

Sort Spacing by Solder Mask

Include solder mask coverage when calculating spacing

Set Range

Set range value for each analysis check items
There are three types of analysis result: Critical, Warning or Safe
Default setting is avaialble for all parameters
Value can be changed in respective fields, and saved in ERF
See below picture for the Range interface：

Range：

Spacing

Spacing explained：

Circuit includes the following features: Line, Pad, Surface, Arc

Example：To analyze spacing distance for Arc to Circuit, there is no such option, however, since arc is included in the circuit category, Circuit to Circuit can be used to analyze results for Arc to Circuit

Pad to Pad

Check spacing from Pad to Pad

Pad to Circuit

Check spacing from Pad to Circuit

SMD to Circuit

Check spacing from SMD pad to Circuit

BGA to Circuit

Check spacing from BGA pad to Circuit

Circuit to Circuit

Check spacing from Circuit to Circuit

Line to Line

Check spacing from Line to Line

Circuit to Line

Check spacing from Circuit to Line

Text to Text

Check spacing from Text to Text

Spacing Length

Check the length for two parallel edges

Same Net Spacing

Check the spacing distance for features belong to the same net

Toeprint to Toeprint

Check spacing from Toeprint to Toeprint

SMD to SMD

Check spacing from SMD pad to SMD pad

SMD to Pad

Check spacing from SMD pad to Pad

BGA to BGA

Check spacing from BGA pad to BGA pad

BGA to Pad

Check spacing from BGA pad to Pad

Via(Pad) to Via(Pad)

Check spacing from Via hole to Via hole

PTH(Pad) to PTH(Pad)

Check spacing from PTH hole to PTH hole

Exposed to Exposed

Check solder mask opening design errors
Analyze spacings between solder mask opening area

Covered to Covered

Check solder mask opening design errors
Analyze spacings between solder mask covered area

Exposed to Covered

Check solder mask opening design errors
Analyze spacings between solder mask covered area to opening area

Exposed to Fully Covered

to be continued.

Drill

NPTH to Pad

Check spacing from NPTH hole to Pad

NPTH to Circuit

Check spacing from NPTH hole to Circuit

PTH to Copper

Check spacing from PTH hole to Copper

PTH to Line

Check spacing from PTH hole to Line

PTH to Pad

Check spacing from PTH hole to Pad

Via to Copper

Check spacing from Via hole to Copper

Via to Line

Check spacing from Via hole to Line

Via to Pad

Check spacing from Via hole to Pad

PTH Annular Ring

In Advance parameter setting：Set Classify pad annular ring to no - Check annular ring distance for PTH/Via holes

In Advance parameter setting：Set Classify pad annular ring to yes - Check annular ring distance for PTH (Comp) Annular Ring and Via Annular Ring separately

PTH (Comp) Annular Ring

Check annular ring distance for PTH holes

Via Annular Ring

Check annular ring distance for Via holes

In Advance parameter setting：Se Classify via annular ring to no Check annular ring distance for all Via holes

In Advance parameter setting：Classify via annular ring = yes - Check annular ring distance for Via Annular Ring 、 Laser Via Annular Ring and Photo Via Annular Ring separately

Laser Via Annular Ring

Check annular ring distance for Laser Via holes

Photo Via Annular Ring

Check annular ring distance for Photo Via holes

NPTH Annular Ring

Check annular ring distance for NPTH holes

PTH Registration

Check PTH hole center alignment with pad

Distance value higher than Reg_Allowance ERF。
Distance value lower than Max_Reg ERF。

NPTH Registration

Check NPTH hole center alignment with pad

Distance value higher than Reg_Allowance ERF。
Distance value lower than Max_Reg ERF。

Missing Pad for Via

Check for Via hole with missing pad

Missing Pad for PTH

Check for PTH hole with missing pad

Missing Cu for Via

Check for Via hole with not covered by copper

NPTH touches Copper

- Check for NPTH hole touches with copper features

Rout

Rout to Copper

Check spacing from Rout to Copper

Missing Cu for Plated Rout

Check if hole with pth or .plated_rout attribute did not contact any copper features

Size

Analyze features by size

Pads

Analyze all pad features

Lines

Analyze all line features
- Scenario
  - Detect lines with length longer than Min line length
  - Detect lines with width smaller than Max line width
  - Detect lines with length to width ratio higher than length to width ratio value
  - Lines with the following attribute: ".pattern_fill", ".nomenclature." will be ignored

Rotated lines

Detect all lines with angles other than 45 degrees and it's multiples

Shaved lines

Detect all lines in contact with negative line features

Inconsistent Line Width

Detect Inconsistent Line。

Arcs

Detect arcs with width value lower than Max line width
Arcs with the following attribute: ".pattern_fill", ".nomenclature." will be ignored
Arc center point not touching other features

Shaved Arcs

Detect all arcs in contact with negative line features

Inconsistent Arc Width

Detect Inconsistent Arc。

Line Neckdown

Detect neckdown

Text

Detect lines with ".nomenclature" attribute

Text Fields

Create a rectangle frame for all text features, exclude AOI parts

Sliver

Slivers

Detect Silvers between features of the same net, base on the following method:
- Width value lower than Sliver min but not zero
- Length value higher than min_ sliver_ len
- Size value larger than length to sliver width ratio

Local Spacing

Detect silvers ignored by min_ sliver_ len or length to sliverwidth ratio settings

Stub

Stubs

Detect Line stub, the end of the line not contacting with any features

SMD

SMD Pitch

Analyze SMD pads on parallell pitch and spacing
- SMD pad with size differece higher than 5 mils will not be considered as in the same row
- Nearby SMD pad with width difference higher than 1 mil will not be considered as in the same row
- Different SMD component in the same package can be considere as in the same row

SMD Pads

Analyze pads with ".smd" attribute

Shaved SMD

Detect all SMD pads in contact with negative line features

SMD Packages

Detect range for SMD Packages

BGA Pitch

to be continued.

BGA Pads

Analyze pads with ".BGA" attribute

Shaved BGA

Detect all BGA pads in contact with negative line features

BGA Packages

Detect range for BGA Packages

Bottleneck

Conductor width

Detect line width lower than Max bottleneck width value

Other

Plated Rout Annular ring

Analyze Rout distance to copper surface

incoming Trace to Hole

to be continued.

Net Too Large

In Signal layer nets, analyze if the number of componets is over the number of features in the net

Ignored Net

Analyze features set to be ignored in Ignored attribute , v_ ignore_text

Pad to Pad Connection

to be continued.

Pad to Cu Connection

to be continued.

Pad to Line Connection

to be continued.

feature too small to check

Detect features too small to be analyzed

Set Advance Variables

Parameters values can be changed in the respective fields and saved in ERF
All values and settings shown in the examples is by default
Parameters interface are shown below ：

Advance Variables:

General

Report line with arcs

Include arc feature in line feature analysis

Use Spacing parameter as Tolerance of Checked Area

Use spacing parameter as tolerance for analyze area range,Default setting is no

Tolerance of Checked Area

Set tolerance for analyze area range (Default = 10 m)

Drill

Classify pad annular ring

Yes	Classify annular ring by drill hole type (.drill=plated => PTH (Comp) Annular Ring, .drill=via => Via Annular Ring)
No	All annular ring are regarded as PTH Annular Ring

Classify via annular ring

Yes	Classify annular ring by via hole type(e.g. .via_type= laser => Laser via Annular Ring)
No	Via Annular Rings not classified by via hole types

Reg Allowance

Allowed center point tolerance for drill hole and pad over the hole

Max Reg

Maximum tolerance for center point distance between drill hole and pad over the hole
Drill hole and it's pad exceeds tolerance value will be ignored

Spacing

Classify pad via to circuit

Yes	Classify via hole based on via hole types (e.g. .via_type= laser => Laser vai Annular Ring)
No	Ignore via hole types

Classify pad SMD to circuit

Yes	Classify standard pad and SMD pad (e.g. SMD pad to Circuit, Pad to Circuit)
No	Ignore Pad types, use Pad to Circuit for all pads

Classify pad BGA to circuit

Yes	Classify standard pad and BGA pad (e.g. BGA to Circuit,Pad to Circuit)
No	Ignore Pad types, use Pad to Circuit for all pads

Classify pad to pad

Yes	If one of the pad has .toep_spacing_req attribute, use Toeprint to Toeprint
Yes	If both pads are SMD or BGA pads，use SMD to SMD or BGA to BGA
Yes	If only one of the pad is SMD or BGA，use SMD/BGA to Pad
Yes	If one of the pad is drilled by PTH holes，use PTH to Pad
Yes	If one of the pad is drilled by Via holes，use Via to Pad
No	Ignore Pad types, use Pad to Pad for all pads

Classify circuit to circuit

Yes	Classify based on feature type: Line to Line，Circuit to Line，Circuit to Circuit
No	Ignore feature types, use Circuit to Circuit only

Self spacing

to be continued.

Select Net type

Layer Net	Only analysis net on the current layer
Boad Net	Reference all net in board layers

Spacing length measure

Check to analyse spacing_length

SMD

Max SMD

To be continued

Pitch tolerance

To be continued

BGA

Max BGA

To be continued

Pitch tolerance

To be continued

Rout

Check plated rout to copper

Check spacing between Copper features and Plated rout features

Plated rout min annular ring

Set minimum annular ring size for plated rout

Sliver

Min Sliver length

Set minimum size for sliver

Length to sliver width ratio

Set sliver length/width ratio, size value lower than ratio will use Local Spacing instead

Stub

Max surface stub width

Set max surface stub width

Min surface stub length

Set surface stub length

Size

Min line length

Set minimum line length for line features

Max line width

Set maximum line width for line features

length to width ratio

Set minimum line length/width ratio, feature with value higher than this ratio will be regarded as line feature

Bottleneck

Max bottleneck width

Set max bottleneck width, line width lower than this value will be classified as bottleneck

Length to bottleneck ratio

Set length/width ratio for bottleneck, line with size higher than this ratio will be classified as bottleneck

ignore text

Yes	Include text features in Ignore net
No	Ignore text(Sliver)

Other

Ignored attributes

Set attriibute to ignore in the analysis

Large net min

Set max feature number for a net

Use multiple threads

Turn on Multithreading for analysis

Yes	Turn on Multithreading
No	Turn off Multithreading

Run Signal Layer Checks

Run Signal Layer Checks (Command：chklist_run)
Three buttons in the lower interface, each button runs the module at different area range
- Global ：Analyze all features in the layer ( Command：chklist_cupd )
- Screen ：Analyze all features in the screen display area( Command：chklist_cupd )
- Profile ：Analyze all features in profile frame( Command：chklist_cupd )