This analysis action is designed to supply the special needs of sales departments. It should provide the sales agent all the information necessary to make a quotation in a short period of time.
Since this is an analysis for quotation and not for production, we make some assumptions that enable us to shorten analysis run time at the expense of slightly less accurate results. Those assumptions will be detailed later on.
The following tests are optional. You can specify which tests to run.
The action runs spacing checks on the given layer(s). Spacing is checked according to the value of parameter pp_spacing. The action does not report same net spacing (self_spacing).
Automatically adjusts the spacing value according to the layer data, making for a faster spacing check. How SASV works is described later in this chapter.
By using the ERF variable classify_spacing you can get all the spacing reports in one category, or in several categories. Spacing values can be placed into different categories corresponding to the type of features involved (e.g. pad, SMD and circuit, where circuit denotes all the features in the layer other than pads).
The method the action uses to determine if a pad is an SMD pad is described in the section on SMD checks.
The action runs AR (Annular Ring) checks on the given layer(s). The action finds the annular ring for each pad in the layer that is pierced by a drill.
This measurement is different from the measurement made in the SLA (Signal Layer Analysis). Here the action measures only the distance between the pad and its hole, and not the distance between the hole and the entire copper which covers it.
By using the ERF variable classify_ar you can get all the AR reports in one category, or categorized into several categories corresponding to the type of drill involved (PTH, NPTH and Via).
Pads with a drill size larger than the pad will not be reported.
The action reports lines in the line category.
If a line violates conditions defined by one of the 3 ERF variables max_line_width, min_line_len, or len2width_ratio, the line is ignored.
Any line that has one of the following attributes is ignored: .tear_drop, .pattern_fill, .nomenclature, .sliver_fill.
A line that is a part of drawn area is ignored.
A double conductor is reported as one big line.
A shaved line will be ignored.
The line size checks carried out here are different from those carried out in the SLA (Signal Layer Analysis). There could be reports of lines that appear in one action but not in the other.
The action locates all SMD pads in the given layers and reports them in the SMD category. The action also reports the pitch for each row.
This test is similar to the test that exists today in the SLA (Signal Layer Analysis) action. This test runs only on outer signal or mixed layers.
The action will consider as an SMD pad the following:
A pad that has an .smd attribute.
1. If there is no pad with an .smd attribute in the layer, than any undrilled pad is considered as an SMD pad if its size is larger than the value of min_smd_size . This assumption is controlled by the ERF variable assume_smd_pad . If assume_smd_pad = Yes, then the assumption is made. If assume_smd_pad = No, then the assumption is not made.
The action checks each copper layer against all Rout piercing layers.
Spacing is checked according to the value of parameter Rout To Cu (pp_r2c). The detected spacing measurements are reported in the Rout To Copper (r2c) category. Rout features with .plated_rout or .drill=plated attributes are reported in Plated Rout To Copper (pr2c) category.
The action does not consider rout compensation in the spacing checks.
The action searches for Gold Finger Pads rows in the outer layers.
Any SMD row that is close to the layer's profile (close being defined as any distance less than the value of the ERF variable v_gold_finger_dist) is considered a Gold Finger Pads Row. Each row is reported as follows:
In the summary report the action reports how many rows were found in each side, if any, and the total Gold Area Size.
SASV automatically adjusts the spacing value according to the typical spacing value the algorithm finds in the layer data, making for a faster spacing check.
Statistical analysis shows that:
1. The algorithm randomly picks a small number of features and checks the spacing between them and their neighbors.
2. It calculates the average value for those spacing measurments, and creates the typical spacing value.
3. This value is multiplied by the value of the ERF variable v_sasv_delta .
4. The action than uses this value for the spacing search. The action does not report spacing larger than this value, although it is smaller than pp_spacing .
The SASV value is reported in the special category: Self Adjust Spacing Value. It is also reported in the action summary and action attribute.
The SASV algorithm can be disabled by setting the ERF variable v_use_sasv = No (which is the default value of this ERF variable).