PCB Tech - Documents supplied to the manufacturer before pcb production

Most PCB design engineers are accustomed to designing the PCB files and sending them directly to the PCB factory for processing. However, the most popular method in the world is to convert the PCB files into GERBER files and drilling data and submit them to the PCB manufacturers.
Because PCB production engineers and PCB design engineers have different understanding of PCB, the GERBER file converted by the PCB factory may not be what you want. For example, when you design the parameters of the components in the PCB file, you don’t want these The parameters are displayed on the finished PCB. You haven't explained them. The PCB factory keeps these parameters on the finished PCB. This is just an example. If you convert the PCB file into a GERBER file, you can avoid such incidents.

The GERBER file is an international standard gerber file format. It contains two formats: RS-274-D and RS-274-X. RS-274-D is called the basic GERBER format, and it must be accompanied by a D code file. Describe a picture completely; RS-274-X is called the extended GERBER format, which itself contains D code information. Commonly used CAD software can generate these two format files.
How to check the correctness of the generated GERBER? You only need to import these GERBER files and D code files into the free software Viewmate V6.3, and then you can see them on the screen or print them out through the printer.
Drilling data can also be generated by various CAD software, the general format is Excellon, which can also be displayed in Viewmate. Of course, PCB can't be made without drilling data.
1. China occupies more than half of the global PCB market. The mainland is on the rise
Printed (PCB) products have been used in commerce since 1948, and began to rise and be widely used in the 1950s. The traditional industry is labor-intensive, and the technology intensity is lower than that of the semiconductor industry. Since the beginning of the 21st century, the semiconductor industry has gradually shifted from the United States and Japan to Taiwan and China. So far, China has become an influential PCB producer in the world, with PCB output value accounting for more than 50% of the world.
In 2018, the global output value of printed circuit boards reached 63.6 billion U.S. dollars. According to the data of the Institute of Obstetrics, Industrial Technology Research Institute, although Taiwan still won the world market share of 31.3% in 2018, the proportion of mainland China also reached 23%., And the market share and growth rate are rising steadily, gradually advancing Taiwan’s leading position. The two together accounted for 54.3% of the global PCB output value, firmly sitting on the NO1 throne.
2. In 2018, China's PCB output value exceeded 34 billion and multi-layer boards dominated the market
China's electronic circuit industry is on the path of "industrial transfer", and China has a healthy and stable domestic demand market and significant manufacturing advantages, attracting a large number of foreign companies to shift their production focus to mainland China. After years of accumulation, the domestic PCB industry has gradually matured. As the main production area for single-layer PCBs, mainland China is further extending to the mid-to-high-end market.
In recent years, the scale of China's PCB output has expanded year by year. According to statistics from the "Market Outlook and Investment Strategic Planning Analysis Report of China's Printed Circuit Board Manufacturing Industry" released by the Qianzhan Industry Research Institute, China’s PCB output value reached US$20.17 billion in 2010. As of 2017, China’s PCB output value has increased to 20.17 billion U.S. dollars. 29.73 billion US dollars, an increase of 9.7% year-on-year, accounting for 50.53% of the global share. Entering the end of 2018, China's PCB industry output value scale and growth rate have reached a record high, the output value scale reached 34.5 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 16.0% year-on-year.
As downstream electronic products pursue the development trend of lightness, thinness, shortness and smallness, PCBs continue to develop in the direction of high precision, high integration, and lightness and thinness. However, compared with Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and other regions, PCB products in mainland China are still dominated by low-end products such as single and double panels, and multi-layer boards with less than 8 layers. In 2017, multi-layer boards accounted for 41.5% of China's PCB products.