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Bottom soldermask Gerber Problem

Avalex Steven

I am having difficulty with the bottom soldermask gerber file in a 2 layer PCB in  which all components are located on the top layer.  There are no holes or any other features on the bottom side, so essentially the bottom soldermask gerber file should be blank.  The bottom soldermask gerber file is generated by OrCAD, but when I try to open it in a gerberviewer, the file type is not recognized.  Further, the PCB manufacture we sent the board to is having trouble with it as well.  They had to ask us if there was soldermask on the bottom layer or if it was unmasked altogether.  I'm curious if there is a work around for this situation and any help is greatly appreciated.

  • redwire

    No workaround needed... there is something wrong in your artwork setup.  Post a screenshot of the artwork setup or post a zip of the board.

  • Avalex Steven
    in reply to redwire

    Thanks for the reply.  See below for the screenshot of my bottom soldermask artwork setup.  See anything wrong?

  • Dale Peterson

    You have a single sided design. Copper only on top based upon your description. Why are you outputting the bottom mask? The is no need for it. You are not soldering anything and the is no copper to cover. However, it is still interesting that your bottom mask artwork would not output correctly. Maybe it was due to the fact that there were no D Codes or anything to compute. So, it went bonkers. In these cases the output should warn the users that there is nothing to produce and will terminate. If you still would like to flood the bottom of your board with a mask anyway. I suggest you add note on your fabrication drawing telling the PCB supplier to flood the bottom with mask. They don't need an Gerber to do that.   

  • Avalex Steven
    in reply to Dale Peterson

    I guess I didn't describe the board properly.  I have a plane on the bottom side and some tented vias, but no features in the bottom soldermask.  I attached the file that is generated.  My gerber viewer doesn't recognize it, but when I open it in a text editor it seems to be ok.

      BOARD_SM_BOT.art

  • Dale Peterson
    in reply to Avalex Steven

    Inside your Gerber file you are missing XY coordinates and a few other things. Compare it to an artwork file that works. You will see what I see. I did try to re-import your file back into the PCB editor. During import it stated "no photoplot file specified. Due I think to the missing stuff. Try just adding a shape fill to layer "Board geometry - Bottom Solder mask" over the entire bottom of your board and rerun your artwork.That should work for you. I just did the same thing to verify the results.  Good Luck

      

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