Pre-Routing Isolation Clearance Check
Context
Project: 1kV ultrasonic pulser and synchronous acquisition system.
Board setup at time of check:
- Board size: 100 mm x 80 mm
- Stackup: Standard 4-layer / 4 copper layers
- Routing status: not routed yet
- High-voltage output target: 1000 Vpk at the piezo transducer terminals
- Estimated piezo peak reactive current at 500 kHz: about 14.9 A peak
Latest review timestamp
Latest checks were re-run on 2026-05-16 during the pre-routing optimization pass.
DRC / ERC result summary
Fixed during this pass
- STM32 unused GPIO floating-pin ERC warnings were cleared by explicitly marking the unused GPIO pins as No Connect.
- No missing footprint errors were found.
- No invalid layer assignment errors were found.
- No overlapping copper, overlapping trace, overlapping fill, protected intrusion, dangling trace, or floating copper errors were found.
- No remaining ERC warnings/errors were found after the No Connect cleanup.
Remaining DRC item
- Airwires remain because the board is intentionally not routed yet.
- This is expected before routing and is not a placement/isolation defect.
- The last full DRC view showed 198 airwire checks after the ERC cleanup.
Placement and isolation observations
Connector placement:
- J1 is at the upper-left board edge.
- J4 is at the upper-right board edge.
- Board dimensions are 100 mm x 80 mm, with both connectors kept on the top edge and separated laterally.
Approximate clearances from current layout coordinates:
- J1 to J4 edge-to-edge horizontal spacing: about 75.4 mm.
- J4 to nearest isolated drive-side active region: about 16.6 mm vertical clearance, about 18 mm diagonal body clearance to the nearest nearby component body.
- J1 to nearest low-voltage/service region: about 24.3 mm vertical clearance.
- Total component fill ratio is about 24.4%, so there is enough routing room to maintain conservative keepouts around high-voltage and mains boundary nets.
High-voltage and isolation limitations
Important: the layout currently does not contain an actual milled isolation slot/cutout geometry. The current check verifies spacing and absence of copper/layout DRC violations before routing. If a physical isolation slot is required for the 1000 Vpk and mains boundary, it should be added before routing and then DRC should be re-run.
Recommended routing constraints before auto-routing:
- Keep high-voltage PZT output routing on the top-side high-voltage zone near J4 only.
- Do not route low-voltage MCU, ADC, DDS, debug, or analog receive nets through the top high-voltage corridor.
- Keep copper pour out of the high-voltage clearance corridor unless explicitly assigned as guarded/isolated copper.
- Route high-voltage output nets manually or with explicit wide-clearance constraints rather than generic signal-width routing.
- Preserve the separation between mains/external power boundary at J1 and low-voltage domains.
Current conclusion
The design is clean for pre-routing placement and isolation review except for expected unrouted airwires. ERC is clean after marking unused MCU GPIO pins as No Connect. The board should not be considered manufacturing-ready until routing is complete, high-voltage clearance rules are enforced, and any required physical isolation slot is added and verified.