DFM Report Viewer

Product Featurest

Free program that checks your design data against the manufacturing requirements of our US Quick Turn

Before submitting your PCB design for fabrication, you should ensure that your design passes a series of critical DFM (design for manufacturing) checks. For several years, PentaLogix has provided Smart DFM, a free program that checks your design data against the manufacturing requirements of our US Quick Turn manufacturing partners. Smart DFM is a great tool that lets you find DFM problems in your design. However, Smart DFM will only check your design against a single DFM Rule set that applies to our PCB manufacturing partners.

PentaLogix recently introduced the PCB Analyzer. This tool prepares raw Gerber and drill data for manufacture and allows you to check the data against custom DFM Rule Sets that you control. You can set up custom DFM rules that apply to your preferred PCB vendor. If the DFM Rule Check detects any errors, then you can create a DFM Report. This DFM Report is not just a .PDF file with some static images. Instead, the DFM Report generated by the PCB Analyzer allows you to review DFM Errors using "Live CAM Data".

The DFM Report Viewer is a free program that allows you to open DFM Report files (*.dfmr) generated by the PCB Analyzer. When you open the file, your Gerber and drill data is opened in one of our CAM editors. Select the DFM Errors associated with a particular DFM Rule by selecting the rule from the "Select DFM Rule To Review" combo box. Then, navigate the errors using the controls in the "Show Error Number" group box. Zoom in to see error details.

Product Benefits

Using "Live CAM Data" gives you several benefits compared to a static report. Instead of just reviewing a PDF file with static images, you can:

• Select an error to view.
• Zoom in or out to see the error details at a comfortable zoom level.
• Turn various layers on or off to further adjust the view.
• Correct errors using the associated CAM editor.
• You can't save a modified DFM Report with the DFM Report Viewer (you would need to get the PCB

• Analyzer to do that), but you can edit the data and then save a .bin file or export your corrected Gerber and Drill files.
• You can then send the corrected data back to your PCB manufacturer for further review.
• Using "Live CAM Data" makes it really convenient to communicate DFM errors back and forth between PCB designer and PCB manufacturer.