Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1163814
40 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I SEPTEMBER 2019 began using ODB++ as the foundation to drive assembly placement equipment, design solder stencils, and as a basis for the creation of as- sembly instruction. When the complexity of components was added, ODB became ODB++. With this change, the ODB++ product model could now house both fabrication and assem- bly content from a single self-contained source. The ODB++ of today is rooted in fulfilling the complexity found in the data requirements for both the fabrication and assembly manufac- turing processes. ODB++ is continuously be- ing enhanced to keep up with further PCB data complexity that is a result of changing manu- facturing process requirements. Integrating and Using PCB Design Data The ODB product model is the most success- ful commercially viable solution to address the needs of the PCB fabrication market since the advent of Gerber. There were attempts to pro- vide other solutions leading up to the success of ODB++ that were available commercially and through industry sponsorship. One example is a company that sponsored the use of the format GenCAM with the release of several IPC-25XX specifications [2] . The stat- ed objective behind these IPC standards was, "The GenCAM format is intended to provide CAD-to-CAM, or CAM-to-CAM, data transfer rules and parameters related to manufacturing printed boards and printed board assemblies." An example of a commercially viable solution is Ucamco's introduction of an updated ver- sion of Gerber referred to as Gerber X2. Today, the main design-to-manufacturing commercially available flows include the ODB++ export or import solution. All primary solution providers that serve the PCB design, DFM, fabrication, and assembly marketplace enable the use of the ODB++ product model di- rectly in their application interfaces, and many of them have for over a decade (Figure 6). The ODB++ model is a set of ASCII files stored within a series of directories each de- fined for a specific purpose. This approach has advantages and disadvantages when integrat- ing with other solutions. ODB++ spans multiple files within numerous directories that are later archived for release using a single file. Another approach could be to use a single file containing the product mod- el, enabling the compression and transfer of a file when released to manufacturing. Because of the file size, in both cases, it would be nec- essary to decompress or unarchive the product Figure 5: A look at a design in ODB++.