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Questions on file format conversion

by anonymous - 30 Apr 2009, 4:28 CEST

I'm just getting started with Layout Editor and I really like what I see so far! I commend your efforts in bringing an affordable, yet full featured, circuit layout tool to the design community.

My needs are for a basic viewer/editor of GDSII, DXF, and Gerber files for electrical circuit layouts. It wasn't clear to me if the Basic or Reduced Version would be the best fit. Can I actually convert an existing file in one format to another in the Basic version? Or do I need the Save As command as found in the Reduced Version? Can I do any sort of "Windowing" during conversion to limit which objects are converted in the new file?

Thanks,

Greg K.

by Juergen Thies - 30 Apr 2009, 8:47 CEST

The basic version is the best choice, if your need a viewer. It includes the "Save As" command so simple format conversions are also possible.
However a file conversion is sometimes more than just using "Save As". Sometimes a layer mapping is required or if a file format does not support text elements, these elements need to be processed before the conversion, .... Here the Reduced and the Full version have some very useful features. A sort of "Windowing" is possible via the edit funtions (select, delete, cut, ...) available in the basic and reduced version. A real windowing feature with a few clicks is only available in the full version with the crop function.

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The LayoutEditor™ is a program to design and edit layouts for MEMS/IC fabrication and CMOS IC design .Designing these layouts require a high precision. In IC design a sufficient resolution and a possibility of a high scaling is required. The resolution of the LayoutEditor can be set in a wide range and is normally set to 1 nano meter. A higher resolution makes no sense due to atomar structures. With this resolution the LayoutEditor can draw elements up to 4 meters. In many IC design houses this is enough for IC/MEMS which extend usually less than 0.1 meters. The productions of MEMS/IC is done in many layers. For each of these physical CAD layers a belonging layer had to exist in the drawing. Additional logical layers are required for describing/naming purpose. So a lot of layers are needed. By default the LayoutEditor is limited to 128 layers. But it can easily be adjusted, if more layers are required. IC Designs often contain a plenty of repeating structures. Essential for micro fabrication of these designs is therefor a hierarchical design. This means, that the complete repeating structure only exists once in a single cell. These cell is then referred multiple times in the main drawing.
Beside the above mems packaging mentioned IC design fundaments it is important to have sophisticated functions to handle all drawing elements. The layout handler has all required functions: all basic design functions, all angle elements, boolean operations, macros, fontgenerator, design rule checker, mems tools, supported format: GDSII, DXF, OASIS, CIF. If you still missing a function, you are free to write a feature request

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