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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.

  • excellon1
    in reply to Avalex Steven

    Hi

    Your output does not contain any pcb items on the bottom soldermask layer from which a gerber gcode can be generated from. Basically there is no bottom solder-mask so the bottom surface of your board will be completely covered in mask that is assuming you want the bottom of your board covered in mask.

    You may want to consider including your board outline on that soldermask layer, (BoardGeometry - Outline) This way there will be some information available to see when your board house imports the gerber file.

    While it is not always necessary a good rule of thumb is to include the physical board outline layer on each photoplot you wish to create.

    all the best

    Paul

  • Avalex Steven
    in reply to excellon1

    Adding the board outline to the soldermask layer seemed to work well, thanks for your help.

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