Running ASM600 on Windows

This page describes the basic procedure for running asm600 on Windows to convert from GDSII to Gerber RS274X.
Specifically, we will show the polygon fill procedure which produces smaller and more accurate Gerber files.
As a test file, we will use the file package.gds, located in the asm600/examples directory.
The file includes polygons, traces, and circular polygons for the pads. We will use asm600 to map these polygons to Gerber round flashes, and later even create an Excellon drill file.

STEP 1

The first step is to start the ASM600 software.
After the menu comes up, select the GDSII file you want to translate (package.gds is our example). Before opening the file you picked, click on the Working Directory and then hit OK. That will tell our program to write all the gerber files to the same directory as the GDSII file.

STEP 2

Click on the Select/Create Aperture button and create a new aperture file (package.apt for example).
Then click on the Configuration option. Once the Configuration menu comes up, you will need to enter some of the Gerber parameters.
We recommend using the options as shown in the picture below. Some of the important settings are:
Gerber Output format as RS274X.
Outline 30 31 (apertures 30 and 31 will be defined later as POEX - polygon fill apertures). Flash Circle checked on to convert GDSII polygons to flashes when applicable. Hit OK to save your settings and go back to the main menu.

STEP 3

From the main menu click on the Aperture.
This menu will allow you to edit/create the aperture file.
If it is a new and empty file, click on Add Default Set - asm600 will add a few default apertures.
Next, click on Flash Circles option. A menu with the different pad sizes will come up. Hit OK and the program will map these pads to flashes. You should do so in case you need to create an Excellon drill file.
Last thing, define two POEX apertures as shown in the example below - those will be used to polygon fill all your closed polygons.
Hit Save to save your settings and go back to the main menu.

STEP 4

From the main menu click on the Layers. The program defaults to translate all layers, but you can turn some layers off if you don't need to translate them.

STEP 4

From the main menu click on the Translate, and once done, click on the View Gerber Files.
You should be able to view the Gerber data, and use the viewer to turn layers on/off, zoom to critical areas, measure, plot etc.

Creating Drill Files

If you need to create a drill file, you may do so by clicking on the File pull down menu and then Aperture (while you are in the gerber viewer).
Go to the apertures that were defined as flashes and associate a Drill tool number and Drill tool size as shown below.

From the Gerber viewer, click on Tools > Drills > Excellon, and the drill files along with a report will get created in the same directory as the gerber files.
The report displayed will show you how many drills exist in each layer.