Heidelberg Laser Writer Having Issue With Reading Cad Files

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Overview

The Heidelberg DWL66FS is a direct laser writing tool for photomask making and direct substrate writing. Photomask are offered in 4" and 5" plates with either chrome or iron oxide mask layers. A 375 nm 18 mW UV light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation diode is used for writing.

Mask writing specifications include:

• Structures down to 2 μm, with features from i to ane.v um possible every bit a "best effort"

• Address grid down to 200 nm

• Optical and air-judge auto focus

• GDSII, CIF, and DXF input formats

Additionally, for directly writing, it offers:

• Substrates upwards to 200 x 200 mm²

• Vector and Raster exposure style

• Grey scale writing

• Camera system for alignment

• Dorsum to front side alignment

Formatting

Layouts may be in GDS, CIF, or DXF formats. However, circumspection must be used with DXF files, as DXF files do not have a standard estimation betwixt programs.

Design rules for all formats

(from the Heidelberg Conversion Job Manager):

one. All Polylines must be closed.

• Some data formats permit automated closing of polylines

• Be aware of the possible ambiguities of polylines that are incorrectly airtight especially, when there is only a little gap between the get-go and cease-indicate of the polyline

• But avert any problems past closing polylines.

2. All closed polylines will be completely filled-out on the within.

• When placing a frame around any areas, make certain that the frame will not shadow all of the structures inside.

• Shadowing structures as a issue of framing tin can only be avoided by using the XOR- style feature

• See instructions regarding XOR-manner below if structures should be put within structures.

three. Polylines crossing themselves will produce data errors.

iv. "Doubled" vertices in polylines (which means the same coordinates are used twice without whatsoever other signal between them) will produce data errors.

5. Single lines without width will exist ignored (best case) or will cause the conversion to fail.

6. Polygons must prove no more than 1,000,000 vertices.

vii. Definition or reference depth can be at maximum 16.

8. The number of definitions or references can be at maximum 100,000.

ix. Text is not supported (except for DXF).

10. Designs must not exceed the limits of 2000mm from (0,0) in either axis.

Additionally:

-Prison cell names should not contain special characters (due east.one thousand. $ , .). These characters will cause bug recognizing the jail cell boundaries/extents.

-Merely a single meridian level cell should be present. Multiple top level cells (check in KLayout in the cells list with the "Flat Jail cell list" unchecked) may cause the blueprint to fail translation.

-Complicated patterns may give issues on standard 0.001 μm filigree. In these cases, the grid should be inverse to 0.05 μm to match the machine minimum writing grid.

GDS Graphic Database system

GDS files are the de facto standard for IC layouts. They are interpreted consistently by a broad range of programs, and as a result, are the preferred format for mask files.

GDSII Additional Translation Rules

1. The inclusion of other gdsii files or text libraries volition be ignored.

2. Node statements in gdsii are ignored.

Gratis GDS Editors

KLayout: KLayout is a gratis layout tool for Windows, MacOS, and Linux. It also allows for conversion from DXF and CIF formats.

CNST Nanolithography Toolbox: The Center for Nanoscale Science & Applied science offers a free Java-based library for generating complex designs in GDS.

Note: Text does not interpret directly for GDS files, so block text must be used. Here is a an example/reference of block text:

CIF Files usually translate well and without bug. GDS is recommended over CIF mainly due to the greater availability of GDS editors.

CIF Additional Translation Rules

1. Definition or reference depth can be at maximum 50.

DXF AutoCAD Drawing Substitution Format

DXF Boosted Translation Rules

1. Employ a 100% Autocad uniform editor.

• Try to load the file to Autocad itself and make certain, the file can be loaded.

2. Always bring together polylines correctly, be especially cautious, when using arcs within a polyline.

3. Only one font is provided with the dxf conversion package.

• The dxf standard font volition replace any font selected in the DXF-design.

iv. Only the post-obit attributes assigned to a text are supported: ROTATION, MIRRORING, SCALING.

5. Avoid placing structures in layer 0.

6. Do not utilize special characters in the layer names.

7. Try to design by ways of the metric organisation.

• Utilise millimeters (mm) as the standard unit (Some design programs will not accept inches!)

viii. Polylines with widths must not have a alter in its widths (tapered lines).

9. Various scaling in x and y when inserting a block is non supported.

x. External blocks are non supported.

xi. Try to use but the following entities: Circle, POLYLINE / LWPOLYLINE (with or without width), and TEXT.

12. Although our dxf translator supports newer dxf releases, we recommend to employ Release 12.

HIMT CONVERT

The software packet included with the Heidelberg is GUI HIMT CONVERT v2.21. This software translates the users layout into the Heidelberg specific LIC files. A limited number of formatting options are bachelor in the software, which the user may request the staff selects when translating.

• X and Y offest: The center of the design may be offset by a gear up corporeality.
• Mirror at Y/X: The design may exist mirror across the X or Y axis. Y Mirroring is selected automatically for "Right Reading Chrome Downwards" masks.
• Rotate past 90/180/270 degrees: Rotates the design past a fix amount. By default, staff will rotate the design so the longest layout dimension is along the Y centrality. (East.thou. a 70 mm ten 50 mm layout will be rotated by 90 degrees to make it a 50 mm past 70 mm layout.) This will but affect the relation between the titled text and the mask.
• Automated Centering: The design center will be automatically moved to (0,0).
• Add frame: A frame effectually the design will be written. This may be important for light field masks, otherwise the features on the far border of the mask volition not be separated from the unetched mask portions.
• Inverted: This allows the design to exist flipped from night field (normal) to light field (inverted), or vice versa.
• XOR: Multiple layers tin be combined and so that sections with either layer volition be written, simply not sections where both layers are nowadays.

Frequently Asked Questions

Expand for list of frequently asked questions

1. Is the MLA 150 connected to the cyberspace?

No, the MLA 150 is not usually continued to the internet. Design transfers should be done via USB stick.

2. Why can't I find my pattern in the pattern folder?

By default, the software shows patterns saved in lowercase filenames (e.g. .gds). If you've saved a file as a .GDS, these will not usually show up. To solve this, change the display to All.

Heidelberg Laser Writer Having Issue With Reading Cad Files

Source: https://wiki.itap.purdue.edu/display/BNCWiki/Heidelberg+MLA150+Maskless+Aligner

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