What is a Gerber file?
A Gerber file describes a single layer of a printed circuit board as a two-dimensional drawing: tracks, pads, solder mask or silkscreen. A complete fabrication data set consists of several Gerber files, one per layer, plus drill and routing data. The current state of the format is Gerber X2/X3, which additionally carries attributes such as layer function, material data and pad types.
What is in it: and what is not
What is in it: geometry: which area on which layer is covered by copper, mask or ink. What the classic format (RS-274-X) does not carry is the relationships: which layer has which function, which pad belongs to which net, which components are placed at all. Gerber X2 adds part of that as attributes, provided the CAD system writes them.
Gerber, ODB++ or IPC-2581
Gerber is a set of drawings; ODB++ and IPC-2581 are connected data models of the assembly. For bare board fabrication on its own, Gerber remains sufficient. For preparing an assembled board for manufacture, a classic Gerber set is missing information that then has to be reassembled from the bill of materials and the placement data.
Where hand-over typically goes wrong
A missing drill file, or one sent separately; unclear layer assignment because file names follow no convention; a set still exported in obsolete RS-274-D without aperture definitions; no panel build-up; and panelisation details that live in an e-mail instead of in the data. Every one of these costs a query back to the customer, and therefore days.
Where this shows up in PCBoffer
PCBoffer reads the fabrication data set itself and measures in it what drives the price: layer stack, copper weight, drill and via geometry, routing paths, panel build-up. Where the Gerber set does not carry a figure, it is reported, rather than quietly assumed.
EMS cost calculation softwareThe fastest way to tell whether a Gerber set is complete is to look at it. The viewer draws every layer on its own, counts the holes and measures the board, free and without an account. The file does not leave the browser.
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