Electrical Design Checklist

Schematic

• RUN ERC
• All ICs and driver circuits have bypass capacitors
• Voltage specs are not being violated
  • Are you putting 5V into an input on your 3.3V microcontroller?
  • What's the voltage across your transistor when it's off?
• Current specs are not being violated
  • Capacitors are a short circuit at startup; what does the first 100ms look like?
  • Is your linear regulator appropriately spec'd?
• Power specs are not being violated
  • Is your linear regulator appropriately cooled?
  • Are your resistors big enough?
  • Diodes always have a voltage drop; what's their Vf * I?
• Flyback diodes on all inductive drivers
• Double-checked the pinouts on any symbols you created
• What happens when you turn any potentiometers?
  • Are they changing in the direction you intended?
  • Are the lower and upper extremes within range for your signal?
• Can power be connected backwards? What happens if you do?
• Do you need a fuse?

PCB electrical

• RUN DRC
• Board constraints have been set up appropriately
• High voltage nets have appropriate clearance
• High current nets have appropriate trace width
• High speed nets have appropriate impedance
• Double-checked the pinouts on any footprints you created
• Components use the correct pin spacing
• Components use the correct package type/size
• Power switching/switched elements are clear of ground plane
• Are component mounting points grounded? Should they be?
• Test points for everything you will want to test

PCB UX

• Left room to rework/replace ICs
• Left room for your fingers around connectors
• All silkscreen references and values (if appropriate) are visible and unambiguously designate the correct component
• Have you labeled everything you might be confused about later?
• Project name, author, date, version
• All fun silkscreen things applied
• Everything looks good from the 3D view
• Board has mounting holes

Other advice

• Is it after 2am? Recheck tomorrow.