Xpedition Creepage Shift Left: Strengthening Safety and Reliability Through Early Validation

Blog by Bas Driessen

 

 

In every high voltage or high density electronic design, two insulation concepts play a critical role in preventing electrical failure: clearance and creepage. Although they are often mentioned together, they address different risks.

 

•    Clearance is the shortest distance through air between two conductive parts, while creepage is the shortest distance along the surface of an insulating material between them.

 

 

Both are essential for ensuring product safety and long term reliability. As modern designs become more compact and power dense, maintaining these distances becomes increasingly challenging. Even a small violation can lead to electrical breakdown, premature aging or costly redesigns.

Traditionally, detailed creepage and clearance validation has been performed later in the design flow using HyperLynx DRC. While this remains an important step, Siemens is now enabling teams to identify potential issues much earlier, directly during PCB layout.

 

Shift Left Creepage Validation Inside Xpedition Layout

With the latest enhancements, Xpedition now includes initial creepage clearance validation directly inside the layout environment. This shift left approach allows designers to detect and resolve insulation distance concerns during placement, routing and optimization, instead of discovering them only after a full verification pass.

Early insight reduces the risk of late stage redesigns, shortens development cycles and improves the electrical robustness of the final product.

 

Why Early Creepage and Clearance Validation Matters

• Prevents costly redesigns Violations found late in the process often require major layout changes. Early detection keeps the design on track and reduces rework.
• Improves product safety and compliance Ensuring proper insulation distances from the start helps avoid electrical hazards and compliance setbacks.
• Supports compact, high power designs As boards shrink and voltages rise, creepage and clearance become harder to maintain. Early validation helps teams innovate without compromising safety.
• Aligns design and verification Integrating these checks into layout ensures that design intent and verification requirements stay aligned throughout the process.

 

Included Across Xpedition Editions

This enhancement is available in:

• Xpedition Standard
• Xpedition Advanced
• Xpedition Enterprise

 

This ensures that teams across the entire Xpedition ecosystem can benefit from early creepage clearance validation without requiring additional tools or licenses.

 

A demonstration video is available below, showing how this shift left capability empowers designers to build safer, more reliable products from the very first layout steps.

 

 

For more information feel free to contact us.