I'm an EE graduate who enjoyed the first taste of designing and fabricating hardware. My first board was a really low speed microcontroller board using mostly DIP and through-hole components, like something straight out of the 80s. It's very easy to translate to a PCB from a breadboard using these packages, but they are large and cost per square inch is very high for single-digit run project boards. To cut down on costs I designed a board using solely SMT components which was far more compact (as well as complex) than any other previous board I've made. I'd like to verify as much as possible that my designs work before spinning a board so I don't waste my limited budget (and have to delay for the new boards).
What verification practices should I use, besides making a breadboard facsimile, when making a (low speed) PCB? Up until now I've just made sure everything was routed, passed DRC and ERC and hoped the board works. I feel like there's more I should do.
Best Answer
My answer is more for obsessively checking your first (or second) personal "low speed" PCB rather than verifying your design.
The list goes on but I'm tired and I hear the baby crying :) Hope some of that helps.