One key to reducing time to market and ensuring on-time delivery of your thin film designs is to be sure your CAD files follow industry standards and generally accepted good practices. To help customers understand how to ensure their CAD files are formatted and drawn as needed, UltraSource has updated a CAD File application note on our website. This updated application note lists the top 10 errors that we see with customer’s CAD files. These 10 rules were derived from the most common issues we encounter in our daily design and CAD review processes. Most CAD issues are flawed “layers” or “objects” which do not translate into the desired photomask fabrication software without manual repair at UltraSource. By keeping these 10 rules in mind, you can avoid manual repair or the job stopping (after your order has been placed) because we have to contact you to resolve CAD design issues. These days, competition is fierce and on-time delivery of 100% conforming product is critical; nobody wants their parts to be late because of flawed CAD data. Below are 3 of the 10 CAD most common issues that we see.
To view the entire updated Application Note go to: /design-guidelines/#Preparing-CAD-Files-for-Thin-Film-Circuit-Production
PLEASE READ CAREFULLY AND INTEGRATE THESE RULES INTO FUTURE CAD DESIGNS IN ORDER TO AVOID PROCESSING DELAYS
1. Zero width polylines should be used to create closed boundary polylines for all patterned geometries.

2. Polylines must not result in self intersecting boundaries. The bold dots in the image below indicate the start and stop points for line segments.

3. Voids within patterned features must be clearly identified. Acceptable methods include the use of segmentation or layer names to identify voided objects.
