Gerber format

For other uses, see Gerber.
Gerber format
Filename extension .gbr
Internet media type application/vnd.gerber
Developed by Gerber Systems Corp.,
now Ucamco
Initial release August 27, 1980 (1980-08-27)
Latest release
Revision 2016.01
(January 15, 2016 (2016-01-15))
Type of format Image file format
Standard The Gerber Format Specification

The Gerber format is an open ASCII vector format for 2D binary images.[1] It is the de facto standard used by printed circuit board (PCB) industry software to describe the printed circuit board images: copper layers, solder mask, legend, etc.[2][3][4]

The standard file extension is .GBR or .gbr[1] though other extensions are also used.

There are two major generations of Gerber format:

Usage

Gerber is the standard input format for photoplotters in PCB fabrication and all other fabrication equipment that needs digital images, such as legend printers, direct imagers or automated optical inspection (AOI) machines or for viewing reference data in different departments.

Gerber files also contains a 'stencil' layer for solder paste and the central locations of components to allow the PCB assembler to create the stencil and place and bond the components.

PCB fabrication data

A third usage of Gerber is in PCB fabrication data.[8] PCBs are designed on a specialized electronic design automation (EDA) or a computer-aided design (CAD) system.[9] The CAD systems output a Gerber file for each image layer (copper layers, solder mask, legend or silk...). Drilled hole information is also transferred in Gerber but for historic reasons the Excellon format is often used. (Using Excellon rather than Gerber usually leads to copper-drill registration problems.[8]) Typically, all these files are "zipped" into a single archive that is sent to the PCB bare board fabrication shop. The fabricator loads them into a computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) system to prepare data for each step of the PCB production process. [10]

The .FileFunction attribute is the standardized method to do link each layer in the PCB with its corresponding Gerber file in the fabrication data.[1] If attributes are not supported only informal methods are available. A simple informal method is to express the file function clearly in the file name. Sometimes the file extension is abused to indicate the file function - e.g. .BOT for the bottom layer rather than the standard extension .GBR. This is very impractical as the customary link between format and extension is lost. [6][11][12]

PCB Fabrication Data must comply with a number of rules: all layers must be aligned, a profile layer must be included, etc. [8] [13]

A Gerber file cannot represent the netlist; the netlist is usually specified in the IPC-D-356 format.[14]

The material stack up, components and finishes are typically provided in informal text files or drawings.[15] Ucamco recommends using a subset of IPC-2581 for this non-image information.[6][16]

Extended Gerber

The Gerber format, also known as RS-274X, extended Gerber or X-Gerber, is a 2D binary vector image description format.[1]

It is a human readable ASCII format.[17] It consists of a stream of commands generating an ordered stream of graphics objects. The graphics objects can be positive or negative. Superimposed in the correct order they create the final image.

A Gerber file contains the complete description of a PCB layer image without requiring any external files. It has all the imaging operators needed for a PCB image. Any aperture shape can be defined. Planes and pads can be specified without the need to paint or vector-fill as in Standard Gerber. (However painting is sometimes still used because implementations were created for Standard Gerber and have not yet been upgraded to use the more powerful capabilities of Extended Gerber.)[18]

Attributes allow to add metadata to a Gerber file. Attributes are akin to labels providing information associated with image files, or features within them. Examples of metadata conveyed by attributes are:

For more information about attributes see X2 FAQ or intro video in the external links. [19] [1] [20] [21] [22]

Gerber is a complete, powerful and unambiguous standard to describe a PCB layer. It can be input and processed fully automatically. This makes it well suited for fast and secure data transfer and for reliable and automated workflows.

An example of a Gerber file:

G04 Short version a file taken from the Example Job 1, created by Filip Vermeire, Ucamco*
%TF.FileFunction,Copper,Bot,L4*%
%TF.Part,Single*%
%FSLAX35Y35*%
%MOMM*%
%TA.AperFunction,Conductor*%
%ADD10C,0.15000*%
%TA.AperFunction,ViaPad*%
%ADD11C,0.75000*%
%TA.AperFunction,ComponentPad*%
%ADD12C,1.60000*%
%ADD13C,1.70000*%
%SRX1Y1I0.00000J0.00000*%
G01*
G75*
%LPD*%
D10*
X7664999Y3689998D02*
X8394995D01*
X8439999Y3734999D01*
X9369999D01*
D11*
X7664999Y3689998D03*
X8359999Y1874998D03*
X9882998Y3650498D03*
D12*
X4602988Y7841488D03*
D13*
X10729976Y2062988D03*
X10983976D03*
X11237976D03*
M02*

The format specification is published.[1]

Standard Gerber (revoked)

Standard Gerber was an NC format designed by Gerber Systems Corp to drive their vector photo plotters for the PCB industry in the 1960s and 1970s. It was a subset of the Electronic Industries Association RS-274-D specification,[23] a format to drive mechanical NC machines in a wide range of industries. The term RS-274-D, without the qualifying "Gerber" postfix, is sometimes used informally for standard Gerber. Standard Gerber became the de-facto standard format for PCB images.

Standard Gerber was a simple ASCII format consisting of commands and XY coordinates.[24] An example:

D11*
X1785250Y2173980D02*
X1796650Y2177730D01*
X1785250Y2181480D01*
X1796650Y2184580D01*
D12*
X3421095Y1407208D03*
X1785250Y2173980D03*
M02*

A Standard Gerber file on its own is not an image description because it does not contain all information: the coordinate unit and the definitions of the apertures are not defined in the RS-274-D file. (Apertures are the basic shapes, similar to fonts in a PDF file.) The coordinate units set manually by the operator of the plotter. They were described in a free-format text file, called an aperture file or a wheel file, intended for human reading. It was called a wheel file because the apertures were mounted on a rotating wheel and the operator defined the apertures by selecting a wheel and mounting it on the plotter. There are no standards for wheel files. The designer and the plotter operator had to agree on these case-by-case. Therefore standard Gerber is an NC standard but not an image definition standard.[1][24]

Standard Gerber supports only imaging operators to draw tracks and flash aperture as vector plotters were only capable of these operations. The only way to create large copper pours is to paint (aka stroke or vector-fill) them with a vast number or tracks. This creates very large files that take long time to process. Because of the difficulty and cost of creating apertures with all but the simplest and most standard shapes painting was also used to create all but the simplest pads. Painting creates the desired image but the original shape of the copper pour or pad and must be laboriously recovered in CAM.[8][18][25][26]

Standard Gerber is now obsolete and has been deprecated. It no longer conforms to the Gerber format specification.[6][7] Standard was designed for a manual workflow. It is not suitable for automated data transfer between PCB designers and manufacturers. Standard Gerber is superseded by extended Gerber.

History

The Gerber file format was originally developed by the Gerber Systems Corp., a division of Gerber Scientific, founded by Joseph Gerber.[27] The Gerber file format is now owned by Ucamco through its acquisition of Barco ETS, a company that previously acquired Gerber Systems Corp.[28][29] The specification can be freely downloaded.[1]

In 1980, the first edition of the Gerber Format: a subset of EIA RS-274-D; plot data format reference book[30] was published by Gerber Systems Corporation, the pioneer and market leader in vector photoplotters. Gerber Scientific Corporation used a subset of EIA RS-274-D to drive their line of vector photoplotters. This format became known as Standard Gerber. In the 1980s, Standard Gerber was adopted by several other photoplotter vendors and also CAM systems for PCB manufacturing. It became the de facto standard image format.

In 1991 with the availability of the more capable raster photoplotters the Gerber format was extended for polygon areas and "mass parameters". It becomes a superset of RS-274-D standard Gerber. These allow the user to dynamically define apertures of different shapes and sizes as well as defining polygon area fills without the need for "painting". This created a family of input formats each one dedicated to the capabilities of the different Gerber plotter models. The impetus to develop the Extended Mass Parameters was provided by AT&T.[31]

In April 1998, Gerber Systems Corporation was taken over by and integrated in Barco, Belgium. Barco's PCB division is now called Ucamco (former Barco ETS). In September 1998, the RS-274X Format User's Guide was published by Barco - Gerber Systems Corporation. This unified the family of formats to a single image formats, revoking a big number of model specific constructs. The format became known as Extended Gerber or GerberX. Extended Gerber quickly superseded Standard Gerber as the de facto standard for PCB image data. It is sometimes called "the backbone of the electronics industry". A sequence of revisions clarifying the specification was published over the years, ending with revision H of January 2012.[1][32] [33]

In the course of 2012 the format was comprehensively reviewed in the great reform. A representative library of 10.000 files from all over the world was investigated to establish current practice. Constructs that were rarely or never used were deprecated or revoked. Constructs with conflicting interpretations were clarified. The specification document itself was re-organized and its quality improved. This resulted in revision I1 to I4 of the specification published from December 2012 on. The result was a simple but powerful format focused on the current needs of the PCB industry. This version of the Gerber format was developed by Karel Tavernier and Rik Breemeersch from Ucamco.[1][5][20][34][35]

In June 2013, Ucamco published a proposal to add three new commands to the Gerber format which allow to include image attributes conveying metadata attached to the image and its components. It invited feedback from the Gerber users before committing these ideas to a firm specification. This process resulted in revision J1 from February 2014, updated with further revisions until revision 2015.07. Including metadata adds intelligence to the format. It converts a mere image description format to a fully-fledged PCB data transfer format. This is called the second extension and results what is known as Gerber X2, Gerber X1 being the pure image format. Gerber X2 is fully backward compatible with X1 - the attributes do not affect the image. Gerber X2 was developed by Karel Tavernier, Ludek Brukner and Thomas Weyn.[1][36][37][1][38]

In September 2014, Ucamco revoked Standard Gerber.[1][39]

In August 2015, Ucamco published a draft specification adding nested step and repeat and block apertures to make panel descriptions more efficient, calling for comments from the user community. [40]

Related formats

Over the years there have been several attempts to replace Gerber by formats containing more information than just the layer image, e.g. netlist or component information.[28] None of these attempts have been widely accepted within the electronics manufacturing industry, probably because the formats are complex.[6] Gerber remains the most widely used data transfer format.[2][3][4]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 "The Gerber File Format Specification". Ucamco. January 2016. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  2. 1 2 Williams, Al (2004). Build your own printed circuit board. McGraw-Hill Professional. p. 121. ISBN 978-0-07-142783-8. Retrieved April 2, 2011.
  3. 1 2 Schroeder, Chris (1998). Printed circuit board design using AutoCAD. Newnes. p. 283. ISBN 978-0-7506-9834-4. Retrieved April 2, 2011.
  4. 1 2 Blackwell, Glenn R. (2000). The electronic packaging handbook. 5.18: CRC Press. ISBN 978-0-8493-8591-9. Retrieved April 2, 2011.
  5. 1 2 "Ucamco Offers Latest Gerber Format Specification". ucamco.com. February 19, 2013. Retrieved February 15, 2013.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Tavernier, Karel (2011). "Improving CAD to CAM Data Transfer: A Practical Approach" (PDF). Journal of the HKPCA. Retrieved 2 October 2011. Use of RS-274-D: Do not use it.
  7. 1 2 Tavernier, Karel. "Open Letter on Standard Gerber". Ucamco. Ucamco. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Tavernier, Karel. "PCB Fabrication Data - A Guide". Ucamco. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
  9. ↑ "EDA: Where Electronics Begins". edac.org. Electronic Design Automation Consortium. Retrieved December 18, 2011.
  10. ↑ "PCB Layout Data". Eurocircuits. Retrieved 26 November 2011.
  11. ↑ http://daycounter.com/LabBook/Protel-Layer-File-Extensions.phtml
  12. ↑ http://techdocs.altium.com
  13. ↑ "10 rules for better data". Eurocircuits. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
  14. ↑ "Using IPC-D-356 for Importing Net and Node". Retrieved 16 October 2011.
  15. ↑ IPC-2524 PWB Fabrication Data Quality Rating System, February 1999.
  16. ↑ Tavernier, Karel (January 2013). "IPC-2581 meets Gerber". PCB Design Magazine. Retrieved 19 February 2013.
  17. ↑ Sinclair, Ian Robertson; Dunton, John (January 11, 2007). Practical electronics handbook. Elsevier. p. 543. ISBN 978-0-7506-8071-4. Retrieved April 2, 2011.
  18. 1 2 "RS-274X Painting Considered Harmful.pdf". Ucamco. June 2011. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  19. ↑ "Gerber version 2 intro movie". Ucamco. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  20. 1 2 Tavernier, Karel. "A proposal to extend the Gerber format with attributes". Ucamco. Ucamco. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
  21. ↑ "Gerber X2: New Paradigm in CAD-to-CAM Communication". Ucamco. PCB007. Retrieved 13 June 2014.
  22. ↑ "Gerber version 2 FAQ" (PDF). ucamco. Ucamco. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  23. ↑ EIA Standard RS-274-D Interchangeable Variable Block Data Format for Positioning, Contouring, and Contouroring/Positioning Numerically Controlled Machines. Electronic Industries Association, Engineering Department, 2001 Eye Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 200006. February 1979.
  24. 1 2 DiBartolomeo, Steve (1991). "D-codes, Apertures and Gerber Files". Artwork Conversion Software, Inc. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
  25. ↑ Tavernier, Karel (November 2013). "Painting Pads". PCB Design Magazine. Retrieved 23 November 2013.
  26. ↑ "PCB Layout Data". Eurocircuits. Retrieved 26 November 2011.
  27. ↑ "Guide to the Gerber Scientific Instrument Company records".
  28. 1 2 Buetow, Mike (28 June 2011). "A Short History of Electronic Data Formats". Printed Circuit Design and Fab magazine. Retrieved December 18, 2011.
  29. ↑ Tanghe, Jean-Pierre. "Barco acquires Gerber Systems Corp". Barco.com. Barco NV. Retrieved 26 November 2011.
  30. ↑ Google book entry on Gerber format: a subset of EIA RS-274-D ; plot data format reference book.
  31. ↑ Coombs, Clyde F. (September 2, 2007). Printed circuits handbook. McGraw-Hill Professional. p. 18.11. ISBN 978-0-07-146734-6. Retrieved April 3, 2011.
  32. ↑ "Ucamco announce a revision of the industry standard RS-274X Format Specification". ucamco.com. December 9, 2010. Retrieved February 15, 2013.
  33. ↑ "New Gerber Format Specification free at www.ucamco.com". ucamco.com. January 27, 2012. Retrieved February 15, 2013.
  34. ↑ "Ucamco's Revised Gerber Format Specification Now Online". ucamco.com. February 19, 2013. Retrieved February 15, 2013.
  35. ↑ "Ucamco Enhances Gerber File Format Specification". ucamco.com. November 22, 2013. Retrieved November 22, 2013.
  36. ↑ "Gerber Grows Attributes". Printed Circuit Design & Fab. August 2013. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
  37. ↑ "http://www.ucamco.com/en/news/gerber-x2-the-new-paradigm-in-cad-to-cam-communication". Ucamco. 13 June 2014. Retrieved 19 July 2015. External link in |title= (help)
  38. ↑ "Ucamco's Gerber Now Even Clearer". PCB007. 17 July 2015. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
  39. ↑ "Sstandard Gerber declared obsolete". Ucamco. May 2014. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
  40. ↑ Tavernier, Karel (August 2015). "Gerber Nested Step and Repeat - Draft". Ucamco. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
  41. ↑ Santarini, Mike (2002-01-22). "ODB++ spec tapped for CAD-to-CAM data exchange". EE Times. Retrieved 29 September 2011.
  42. ↑ IPC-2581 Panel: A Spirited Discussion on PCB Data Transfer Formats, Richard Goering, Cadence Design Systems blog, October 2, 2011
  43. ↑ "JPCA Standards".

External links

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