I am having an old board made and am being asked for ODB++ format CAD data files. It seems this is to facilitate the creation of the various machine control files. I'm told it can also support locating traces to assist in d ebugging. My CAD package doesn't support this. Would it be a hard thing f or the developers to add?
Doing a little digging I see it is a proprietary format promoted as open an d seems to be most commonly used while there are alternative formats which do the same job. Seems Gerber has been updated to X2 by adding attributes which can identify the file purpose, pad functions, etc. Add netlist infor mation using IPC-D-356A and the data set is complete.
Then there is IPC-2581. Decades ago IPC created an end to end format to co nvey all board design info. I don't recall the nomenclature, but they neve r got support (I think mostly because the industry is very parochial and do esn't look very far ahead) resulting in the standard(s) being dropped. I d on't know if IPC-2581 is a consolidation of that effort or a new effort, bu t it is gaining ground.
I don't know which format is better or if more than one should be supported . I've been asked by two companies for ODB++ format. One asked for it to debug boards after fabrication and the other wants it to support setting up their assembly machines. I didn't know about the other formats at the tim e so I didn't ask.
Rick C.