Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1417991
76 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I OCTOBER 2021 Feature Interview by the I-Connect007 Editorial Team For this issue on design data file formats, we wanted to speak with someone who has expe- rience using Gerber, IPC-2581, and ODB++. Sunny Patel of Candor Industries has used all three of these formats over the years, so we asked him to share his opinion of each for- mat. He also points out why it might be more important to focus on flexibility than any one specific format. Barry Matties: Sunny, this month we're looking at design data file formats: Gerber, IPC-2581, and ODB++. Which of these are the most common files coming into your shop? Sunny Patel: Gerber and ODB++. Matties: One of the things we hear is that IPC-2581 has a lot of benefits, but everyone is most familiar with Gerber, and they're saying, "Well, if a fabricator specifies that you have to provide 2581, they run the risk of losing the business." Does it matter to you what file type comes in? Patel: No, to be honest, we're always trying to capture more customers. So there's rarely any pushback to a customer, even material- or technology-wise. It's really hard to push back on anything at this point, even with the extra business. e customer is in the driver's seat for sure. Matties: Is there any benefit that you see for one format over the others that the industry should be aware of ? Patel: I know that with Gerbers there's a lot more opportunity to put different types of data into our pre-CAM soware. at could be just us, but we haven't had any issues so far, knock on wood, with any of the file formats. I just feel like there's more opportu- nity to edit and make micro-adjustments on the HDI side with Gerber. But let's see what happens. Everyone is always improving their file formats. Matties: Right. It's interesting because there are a lot of people advocating for each of these. Obviously, everyone has a horse in the race somewhere. So, we're trying to understand Sunny Patel On Design Data Formats Sunny Patel