The design of the PCB board is an important factor that helps to provide a complete sketch of our circuit that has to be made on board. For better PCB design, there is a Gerber file with all the details of the circuit components and assembly features. A Gerber file is made that comes with complete data of PCB design that is sent to PCB manufacturers for board creation. Different manufacturers come with Gerber View features for finding faults in that file.
But getting a deep understanding of your Gerber file and finding comprehensive faults in designing must need a more advanced tool: NextPCB’s Free Gerber Viewer (HQDFM).
The Gerber file has different standards of PCB design, and that helps to analyze the design features, which can sometimes be a difficult process. However, the use of HQDFMs simplifies this process, requiring fewer resources. It helps to manufacture boards without or with fewer errors.
Introduction to DFM
The full form of DFM is Design for Manufacturability, which also stands for Design for Manufacturing. It is an engineering tool that helps to design products effectively and with fewer complications.
Its main uses make the manufacturing process simple and easy by reducing cost and providing quality products in less lead time.
Practically helps to find trace width spacing, drilling holes, copper and board clearance, drilling holes between layers, solder mask applications, and other features of the board.
Importance of HQDFM
- HQDFM is a free Gerber check tool of NextPCB, and it has an easy-to-use interface. It supported the Gerber X2, RS-274X, and ODB++ file formats.
- It maintains the quality of PCB design by using different tools like zoom, pan, and measurement.
- It also supports some other tools, such as Altium, Eagle, and KiCad, that help to use some latest features, such as layer selection and detailed analysis with the use of transparency control.
- To use this tool, just download and make your account free of charge.
- To check Gerber, just drag and drop your Gerb file and upload it here.
- There are one-click PCB file checker options that exist for detailed and high-speed analysis and provide reports of that analysis.
- Some features, such as an impedance calculator, routing distance calculator, and others, help to easily check the board.
- It also produces BOM and coordinates files for PCB board ordering.
Practical Example of HQDFM Working
Here is am explaining to you how you can practically check your Gerber file of PCB baord for finding prices and other related parameters. Here I will explain all the steps from downloading to practical use of this tool
First of open https://www.nextpcb.com/dfm here you will see the interface as shown below.
In the above image, you can see there is a Free download option now download tools from this button and install on your PCs
- After installation, you will see this interface.
- here you can see that there is a login or sign-up option. If you are new to NextPCB sign up for your account.
- You you log into your account will see the practical interface of this tool.
- In this photo interface of HQDFM can seen that has a lot of options for understanding of your PCB design Gerber file.
- For practical checking of my design, I have uploaded my Gerber file. You can see this here
- After uploading Gerbfile you can see different details shown in my file. There are two options available for checking the details of the file in the form of PCB analysis and DFM analysis
- On the right side of the above picture, there are details of PCB analysis and PCBA analysis just clicking on the option will get results of the required value.
- Below the image, you check the details of my file PCB analysis
- In the below image, you can check there are a lot of options also avails on the left side such as Layers, components, top side bottom side. By clicking on these options you can get the required results
- In the above image, you can see the top side of my boar, and below the image bottom side can seen
bottom side
- Here you can see the cam view of the PCB board
- The best feature of this tool is that it also shows the prices of my board which you can see on the right bottom
HQDFM Design for Manufacture(DFM) Report of MY Gerber
- Here i have generated report for my File through the use of a practical HQDFM tool and final result of my report can seen
All results, errors, and related factors of my Gerber file are practically uploaded by the HQDFM tool that helps you to use this tool practically and get details of your PCB board, and you can get estimated prices of your board.
How does HQDFM find signal integrity errors?
Until now, I hope you have learned details about how to install HQDFM and how to use it practically with uploading the Gerber file from start to end.
So if you find any error after getting the HQDFM Design for Manufacture (DFM) Report, Then you must need a solution to your error. So in our file, we have found signal integrity errors in our report that you can see here.
To find more details about signal integrity errors, just click on the Check button shown in the above figure.
When you click on this button, you will get more details about this error and know how to solve this error.
When I click on the check button, then I go to a new window that shows me the causes of the signal integrity error and the solution.
Cause of SIgnal Integrity Error
- Isolated areas of copper (floating copper) were detected in our design. Leaving isolated areas of copper unconnected can cause them to act as antennas and can affect signal integrity.
SolutionÂ
- According to the HQDFM solution, remove them and connect them to the ground.
Isolated areas of copper (floating copper) were detected in your design. Leaving isolated areas of copper unconnected can cause them to act as antennas and can affect signal integrity.
Solution: We suggest removing or grounding them.
Here you can see practically this error solution.
So all in all, this tool of NextPCB is best to show your PCB design as professional and recommend making changes if needed in your design. Just upload your Gerber, and it will show all your errors and working featues on your board.
I am showing you another practical example of my file where if I found another error, that is fiducial count.
When I click on the check button on the screen, the tool shows me the causes of this error and the solution.
Causes: The number of fiducial marks in your design is 0.
Solution: It is recommended to have at least 2 fiducial marks per side.
NextPCB’s Free PCB Assembly offer
HQ NextPCB free assembly for 5 pieces has been upgraded to a free PCB assembly offer for up to 50 pieces. tenfold increase in units is about $200 USD.
With that, they have removed BOM quantity limits, There is no limit for several unique components (BOM lines) or the total quantity of components.
