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A 'Gerber File' is a standard file format used by printed circuit board (PCB) fabrication houses that contains information necessary for computer controlled machines to draw exact patterns for circuit boards. These patterns are typically used to assemble and electrically connect electronics assemblies. The patterns usually contain features such as land patterns, signal traces, drilled holes, milling and cutting information.
★ On 1980-08-27 the first edition of the 'GERBER FORMAT, Plot Data Format Reference Book' was published by 'Gerber Systems Corporation' as a specification to drive the photoplotter of this company. At this time the photoplotter had a limited set of fixed apertures of different shapes (typically round and rectangular and a few others) in different sizes. An aperture could be exposed at a specific coordinate (flash) or the head was moved with open shutter from one coordinate to another to generate line or circular arc segments.
★ In 1986 the GERBER Format was extended to support apertures with variable sizes to produce rectangles of arbitrary sizes within a given range and tapered lines. This functionality is not in practical use any more.
★ On 1991-04-26 with the availability of raster-scan capability the GERBER Format was then again extended for polygon areas and 'Extended Mass Parameter', allowing to dynamically define apertures of different shape and sized and more.
★ The last edition of the 'GERBER FORMAT, Plot Data Format Reference Book' was published on 1993-01-31 by Gerber Systems Corporation.
★ Later the Gerber Systems Corporation joined with Barco Graphics, Gent, Belgium, and on 1998-09-21 the 'RS-274X Format User’s Guide' was published by the 'Barco Gerber Systems Corporation'.
★ Again sometime later the rights on the specification turned over to ManiaBarco GmbH, Germany
★ On 2003-01-01 ManiaBarco GmbH, Germany was taken over by MANIA Technologie AG, Germany. Since then no "official" public documentation on the GERBER Format is any longer available.
★ Today, the Gerber Scientific Instruments Company, a pioneer in photoplotter manufacturing, and a former division of Gerber Scientific, Inc. is no longer in the business of photoplotter for printed circuit board
Around the year 1990 the GERBER Format was adopted by several other photoplotter vendors and also Computer-aided manufacturing tools for PCBs. It became a de-facto standard even if no official documentation is any longer available.
These files are produced by PCB designers using specialized Electronic Design Automation (EDA) software, such as OrCAD Layout, Altium Designer, Mentor Expedition, Cadence Allegro, CadSoft EAGLE, TARGET 3001!, Zuken Cadstar or Zuken CR5000.
Since a PCB may have many layers, the older Gerber format EIA RS-274D always assumed a set of command files (one for each PCB layer) and one "tool" description file. The command files (consisting of short commands and X, Y coordinates) were called "Gerber files" and the tool files were called "aperture files". A standard for the latter was never established so every EDA software had its own file format which caused problems for the manufacturers. Often the aperture information had to be re-entered manually.
The newer Gerber format RS-274X, also known as X-Gerber or Extended Gerber, includes the aperture information into the file headers. With embedded apertures, this makes every X-Gerber file complete as to how each PCB layer should look. However, there are still problems with the interpretation of these files, such as on polygons, or the question of which file to use for which layer. Gerber file extensions are often .GBR, .GBX, .PHD, .SPL or .ART. Sometimes extensions such as .TOP and .BOT are used instead.
Some common XGerber extensions are:
★ .GBL - Gerber Bottom Layer
★ .GTL - Gerber Top Layer
★ .GBS - Gerber Bottom Solder Resist
★ .GTS - Gerber Top Solder Resist
★ .GBO - Gerber Bot Overlay
★ .GTO - Gerber Top Overlay
★ G-code
★ Computer Aids for VLSI Design - Appendix A: Gerber Format by Steven M. Rubin
★ D-codes, Apertures & Gerber Plot Files
★ Gerber Scientific, Inc
★ GC-Prevue, a free (of charge) Gerber file viewer
★ CADSTAR
★ gEDA, Open-source (GPL) EDA suite including Gerber viewer.
★ gerbv, Open-source (GPL) Gerber viewer. Part of gEDA.
★ Kicad, an open source (GPL) CAD suite
★ GerbView - a Gerber file viewer.
| Contents |
| History |
| Usage of the GERBER Format |
| See also |
| External links |
History
★ On 1980-08-27 the first edition of the 'GERBER FORMAT, Plot Data Format Reference Book' was published by 'Gerber Systems Corporation' as a specification to drive the photoplotter of this company. At this time the photoplotter had a limited set of fixed apertures of different shapes (typically round and rectangular and a few others) in different sizes. An aperture could be exposed at a specific coordinate (flash) or the head was moved with open shutter from one coordinate to another to generate line or circular arc segments.
★ In 1986 the GERBER Format was extended to support apertures with variable sizes to produce rectangles of arbitrary sizes within a given range and tapered lines. This functionality is not in practical use any more.
★ On 1991-04-26 with the availability of raster-scan capability the GERBER Format was then again extended for polygon areas and 'Extended Mass Parameter', allowing to dynamically define apertures of different shape and sized and more.
★ The last edition of the 'GERBER FORMAT, Plot Data Format Reference Book' was published on 1993-01-31 by Gerber Systems Corporation.
★ Later the Gerber Systems Corporation joined with Barco Graphics, Gent, Belgium, and on 1998-09-21 the 'RS-274X Format User’s Guide' was published by the 'Barco Gerber Systems Corporation'.
★ Again sometime later the rights on the specification turned over to ManiaBarco GmbH, Germany
★ On 2003-01-01 ManiaBarco GmbH, Germany was taken over by MANIA Technologie AG, Germany. Since then no "official" public documentation on the GERBER Format is any longer available.
★ Today, the Gerber Scientific Instruments Company, a pioneer in photoplotter manufacturing, and a former division of Gerber Scientific, Inc. is no longer in the business of photoplotter for printed circuit board
Around the year 1990 the GERBER Format was adopted by several other photoplotter vendors and also Computer-aided manufacturing tools for PCBs. It became a de-facto standard even if no official documentation is any longer available.
Usage of the GERBER Format
These files are produced by PCB designers using specialized Electronic Design Automation (EDA) software, such as OrCAD Layout, Altium Designer, Mentor Expedition, Cadence Allegro, CadSoft EAGLE, TARGET 3001!, Zuken Cadstar or Zuken CR5000.
Since a PCB may have many layers, the older Gerber format EIA RS-274D always assumed a set of command files (one for each PCB layer) and one "tool" description file. The command files (consisting of short commands and X, Y coordinates) were called "Gerber files" and the tool files were called "aperture files". A standard for the latter was never established so every EDA software had its own file format which caused problems for the manufacturers. Often the aperture information had to be re-entered manually.
The newer Gerber format RS-274X, also known as X-Gerber or Extended Gerber, includes the aperture information into the file headers. With embedded apertures, this makes every X-Gerber file complete as to how each PCB layer should look. However, there are still problems with the interpretation of these files, such as on polygons, or the question of which file to use for which layer. Gerber file extensions are often .GBR, .GBX, .PHD, .SPL or .ART. Sometimes extensions such as .TOP and .BOT are used instead.
Some common XGerber extensions are:
★ .GBL - Gerber Bottom Layer
★ .GTL - Gerber Top Layer
★ .GBS - Gerber Bottom Solder Resist
★ .GTS - Gerber Top Solder Resist
★ .GBO - Gerber Bot Overlay
★ .GTO - Gerber Top Overlay
See also
★ G-code
★ Computer Aids for VLSI Design - Appendix A: Gerber Format by Steven M. Rubin
External links
★ D-codes, Apertures & Gerber Plot Files
★ Gerber Scientific, Inc
★ GC-Prevue, a free (of charge) Gerber file viewer
★ CADSTAR
★ gEDA, Open-source (GPL) EDA suite including Gerber viewer.
★ gerbv, Open-source (GPL) Gerber viewer. Part of gEDA.
★ Kicad, an open source (GPL) CAD suite
★ GerbView - a Gerber file viewer.
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