Before finalising your PCB design, you need to know: can it actually be built? Manufacturing capabilities vary by factory and technology. This reference covers our standard and advanced capabilities—use it to ensure your design is manufacturable and to understand what pushes into premium territory.
Inner layer clearance: minimum spacing from trace edge to hole wall depends on layer count and hole size
For inner layers, the design rules check “clearance trace to plated hole edge” is not always interpreted consistently. See the illustration above - the double arrow marks the correct clearance distance of 200 µm. This must be measured from the drill hole edge, not the finished (plated) hole edge.
CAD systems typically work with finished hole sizes. With a 150 µm (6 mil) oversize drill to allow for plating (3 mil each side), a DRC setting of 200 µm will actually pass designs with only 125 µm clearance - which is not safe to manufacture. The setting must be increased by 75 µm to 275 µm total.
Check this before using a new CAD system. Incorrect interpretation of this rule causes significant rework or unusable layouts.
FR408, IT180A, PLC-370HR, N4000-13, N4000-13SI
Hydrocarbon ceramic: Rogers 4350, Rogers 4003, Arlon 25FR, Arlon 25N
PTFE laminates: Rogers, Taconic, Arlon, Nelco series
PTFE bonding films: RO3001 (1.5 mil), HTI.5 (1.5 mil), Cuclad 6700 (1.5 mil)
PTFE prepregs: Gore Speed Board C (1.5, 2.0, 2.2, 3.4 mil), Taconic TPG-30/32/35 (4.5, 5.0 mil)
Pad size tolerance: +5% / -10%
