What in D'world of PCB design does GERBER & Loadboard me

[mask_layout]

Hi,
I got an interview tomorrow in a PCB design company. Can somebody help me on this?

What is a GERBER and LOADBOARD DESIGN in the world of PCB designers?

We dont have simmilar terms in IC design...

-mask_layout

 

[dfullmer]

Re: What in D'world of PCB design does GERBER & Loadboar

A gerber is the electronic files needed by the board house to produce the film tooling needed to expose the board for etching or produce a solder mask or produce a silk screen. You would call these the reticles.....

 

[centiago]

Re: What in D'world of PCB design does GERBER & Loadboar

Loadboard is basically used for chip testing. I have done several load boards for RD RAM.

Gerber is the output that's used for creating PCB. It's the final output of cad design. Gerber data is plotted & then filmed for making PCB.

 

[mask_layout]

Re: What in D'world of PCB design does GERBER & Loadboar

Thanks Centiago and Defullmer.

Please correct me if im wrong on this...

When a layout is completed in a PCB tool, the layout output is exported to "GERBER data format" just like a GDS file and is sent to the board house for masking.

Also, LoadBoard is not a tool used in the PCB design process, and possibly a PCB product being mentioned by the company.

Right :| Wrong ?

Regards,
mask_layout

 

[centiago]

Re: What in D'world of PCB design does GERBER & Loadboar

Geber contails all the information required for producing PCB Films. There are many more things in gerber, but wont touvh those & confuse you.

When you generate gerber make sure your you include all Copper layers, Solder mask, Silk screen, aperture file, drill drawing & CNC drill file.These are irrespective of layout tool you use.
Check with your pcb vendor in what format he wants gerber data.Accordingly you cans et before generating gerber files.

Loadboard is design name, not software or tool name. It's just like Backplace card.

Hope its clear. Good luck

 

[dfullmer]

Re: What in D'world of PCB design does GERBER & Loadboar

centiago is right. And your statment about the GDS file is a good analogy. The reason we produce Gerber files is so we can have the board made from a great deal of different places. Being produced from a set of standard files that everyone can work with and not dependant on the layout software that produced them.

hope the interview goes well.
good luck

dfullmer

 

[mask_layout]

Really thanks to you guys. No questions about this goes on the first phase of the interview...

Id like to learn more information on this two things...

but it may not be good to ask a lot here...
So im thinking if i can find some good documentations, product specifications or technical papers dicussing loadboards...

I hope somebody can provide a good link. Searcing google brings a lot of unrelated mess.

Thanks and Thanks Again!!!

 

[rghrob]

Just FYI, the IPC356 is a netlist file and verifies your layout matches with the schematic. It's a good insurance when sending a design to a fab. house.

 

[House_Cat]

Re: What in D'world of PCB design does GERBER & Loadboar

Really thanks to you guys. No questions about this goes on the first phase of the interview...

Id like to learn more information on this two things...

but it may not be good to ask a lot here...
So im thinking if i can find some good documentations, product specifications or technical papers dicussing loadboards...

I hope somebody can provide a good link. Searcing google brings a lot of unrelated mess.

Thanks and Thanks Again!!!

The reason you can't find generic information about loadboards is because there is no common type of loadboard. A loadboard is used for testing chips - it gets its name from the fact that the chip is 'loaded' onto the chip tester via the board. A loadboard may also be called a "DUT" board - DUT stands for "Device Under Test".

The specifications for the chip, the type of tester, and the type of qualification that you ar trying to satisfy for the chip with the test, are all factors that will go into determining what connecting support circuitry may be included on the loadboard.

Some loadboards simply fan out from a socket to the tester connectors and/or pins. Some loadboards have hundreds of components, such as relays, crystal oscillators, buffers, frequency multpliers, multiplexers, etc. It all depends on what phase of testing the chip may be in, and what tests have to be satisfied for chip qualification or production testing.

A loadboard may be 4 layers, or it may be 24 layers, depending on what level of complexity is required for testing. I have even done loadboards that had several daughter boards nested on top to contain the support circuitry necessary.

 

[mask_layout]

Thats interesting Wild_Cat.

Added after 43 seconds:

Oh no.. sorry.. House_Cat not wild_cat .

 

[popoyboys]

does anyone here completed any loadboard/DUT board design project using Expedition?