Article

Catch the most expensive PCB design mistakes %%(and how to catch them early)%%

Save thousands in manufacturing costs by identifying critical errors before production.

Production (DFM)

Testing & Validation

Feb 16, 2026

4 Minute Read

Instructions

If you intend to use this component with Finsweet's Table of Contents attributes follow these steps:

Remove the current class from the content27_link item as Webflows native current state will automatically be applied.
To add interactions which automatically expand and collapse sections in the table of contents select the content27_h-trigger element, add an element trigger and select Mouse click (tap)
For the 1st click select the custom animation Content 28 table of contents [Expand] and for the 2nd click select the custom animation Content 28 table of contents [Collapse].
In the Trigger Settings, deselect all checkboxes other than Desktop and above. This disables the interaction on tablet and below to prevent bugs when scrolling.

Scott Bright

1. Why some PCB mistakes cost more than others

Not all design errors are equal. A missing via might be trivial to fix. A misunderstood power domain can require a full board respin. What makes a PCB mistake expensive isn’t severity alone — it’s when the mistake is discovered.

Early-stage errors tend to be cheaper to fix—when you're still in the design phase, you can make adjustments with relatively minimal impact. But once a board enters production, the cost multiplies exponentially. This is why catching issues before manufacturing is critical.

2. Assuming DRC is enough

Design Rule Checks (DRC) catch basic violations like spacing and trace width issues, but they miss critical context. A DRC-clean board can still fail in the real world if you haven't validated thermal performance, signal integrity, or power delivery against your specific requirements.

The issue isn't that DRC is useless—it's that it only validates local constraints, not system-level behavior. Your design might pass all spacing rules while still suffering from cross-talk, inadequate via current capacity, or thermal hotspots that cause premature failure. Modern tools can help bridge this gap by integrating analysis directly into the design flow, but many teams still rely on late-stage testing to catch problems that could have been identified much earlier.

Key factors that determine error cost:

Detection timing - Earlier detection means lower remediation costs
Design complexity - More layers and components increase fix difficulty
Production volume - High-volume runs amplify the cost of any mistake
Regulatory requirements - Compliance failures can require complete redesigns

The tricky fact about DRC is working—it's that only validation proves constraint rules but doesn't development future reliability. High-tight type assembly for simplified design can even lead your design back to board group and even verification methods such as power and signal calibration checks. Learn more

"We’re now integrating Cadstrom into our standard workflow to help us innovate even faster & more accurately for our clients."

Common issues DRC won't catch:

Thermal hotspots - Component placement that creates heat concentration
Signal integrity problems - Crosstalk, reflections, and impedance mismatches
Power delivery inadequacies - Insufficient decoupling or PDN design
EMI/EMC concerns - Radiation and susceptibility issues
Manufacturing challenges - Assembly difficulties not covered by design rules

2. Assuming DRC is enough

Key factors that determine error cost:

Detection timing - Earlier detection means lower remediation costs
Design complexity - More layers and components increase fix difficulty
Production volume - High-volume runs amplify the cost of any mistake
Regulatory requirements - Compliance failures can require complete redesigns

"We’re now integrating Cadstrom into our standard workflow to help us innovate even faster & more accurately for our clients."

Common issues DRC won't catch:

Thermal hotspots - Component placement that creates heat concentration
Signal integrity problems - Crosstalk, reflections, and impedance mismatches
Power delivery inadequacies - Insufficient decoupling or PDN design
EMI/EMC concerns - Radiation and susceptibility issues
Manufacturing challenges - Assembly difficulties not covered by design rules

‍

3. Incomplete power integrity review

Power delivery networks require careful analysis. Inadequate decoupling, incorrect PDN impedance, or missing ground planes can all lead to unpredictable behavior that's difficult to debug after fabrication.

4. Ignoring signal context

Teams often focus on individual nets without considering how signals interact across the board.
High-speed interfaces require:

Careful impedance control and matching
Proper return path management
Awareness of EMI concerns not captured in standard DRC
Crosstalk analysis between adjacent signals
Length matching for differential pairs and buses

5. Conclusion

The most expensive PCB failures rarely come from advanced design challenges — they come from missed fundamentals. Gaps in schematic review, overreliance on DRC, incomplete power integrity analysis, and loss of signal context often go unnoticed until late in the design cycle, where fixes become costly and disruptive. Embedding systematic, intent-aware validation early in the workflow allows engineering teams to catch issues when they are still easy to correct. This approach reduces board respins, shortens development cycles, and delivers more predictable performance in production. In PCB design, early validation is not extra effort — it is the most effective way to control risk, cost, and time-to-market.