We have created this page in an attempt to provide our customers with a resource that may help to quickly answer any pertinent questions you may have.  We pride ourselves on the speed at which we respond to inquires so please, do not hesitate to Contact Us as well.

 

Cadence Allegro - We have extensive experience with the Cadence Allegro tool suite; we currently support versions 15 and 16.  We are proud to be one of a handful of Early Adopter Program Members with Cadence.

Mentor Graphics Expedition, Power PCB (PADS) and Board Station - We currently support WG2004, EXP2005.1 and EXP 2005.3 versions of Expedition, versions 2005sp1 and 2005sp2 of PADS and Board Station versions EN2002, EN2004, BSTN2005, BSTN2006, and BSXE2006.  PADS 2007 is currently under evaluation for future support, please contact us for more information.

Valor Enterprise 3000 – This is a cornerstone process tool for Freedom CAD to assure manufacturability and minimal delays in the fabrication process.  We are a Valor Certified Design Partner.

Below is a list of information that we would need in order to generate the most accurate quote for your job.  Of course, the more accurate the data you supply, the more accurate the quote will be. The bold bullets indicate the most important items needed.

We provide a set of industry-standard deliverables for fabrication, assembly and test, but can customize to your company’s standards and naming conventions.

Standard output package: (Download PDF)

 123456f0.psl                  Gerber Primary Side Silkscreen

 123456f0.pmk               Gerber Primary Side Soldermask

 123456f0.ppa                Gerber Primary Side Solder Paste

 123456f0.l01                 Gerber Layer 01

 123456f0.lN                  Gerber Layer N

 123456f0.smk               Gerber Secondary Side Soldermask

 123456f0.ssl                 Gerber Secondary Side Silkscreen

 123456f0.spa                Gerber Secondary Side Solder Paste

 123456f0.vpt                 Gerber Via Plug Primary Side (If required)

 123456f0.vpb                Gerber Via Plug Secondary Side (If required)

 123456f0_fab.art           Gerber Fabrication Drawing 274D

 123456f0_fab.hpgl         HPGL Fabrication Drawing

 123456f0_fab.dxf           DXF Fabrication Drawing

 123456f0_fab.pdf           PDF Fabrication Drawing

 123456f0_tassy.art        Gerber Primary Assembly Drawing 274D

 123456f0_tassy.hpgl     HPGL Primary Assembly Drawing

 123456f0_tassy.dxf       DXF Primary Assembly Drawing

 123456f0_tassy.pdf       PDF Primary Assembly Drawing

 123456f0_bassy.art       Gerber Secondary Assembly Drawing 274D

 123456f0_bassy.hpgl     HPGL Secondary Assembly Drawing

 123456f0_bassy.dxf      DXF Secondary Assembly Drawing

 123456f0_bassy.pdf      PDF Primary Assembly Drawing

 123456f0.brd                 Data Base File

 123456f0_ODB.zip        Valor Data Base

 123456f0.cad               Fabmaster/Unicam File

 123456f0.b                   Valout Cimbridge Extraction Brd

 123456f0.p                   Valout Cimbridge Extraction Pad

 123456f0.s                   Valout Cimbridge Extraction Sym

 123456f0.r                    Valout Cimbridge Extraction Rte 

 smd_top.rpt                  Surface mount comps topside with fiducials

 smd_bot.rpt                  Surface mount comps bottom side with fiducials

 thru_hole.rpt                 Thru-hole comps only

 placed.rpt                     Placement File, X-Y Coordinates

 sympins.rpt                  Symbol Pins Report

 netlist.rpt                      Netlist Report

 bottom_probe.tap          Bottom Probe Ncdrill File Testpoints only

 123456f0.tst                 Test Prep. Log  Test point locations

 123456f0.ipc                 IPC356D File

 123456f0.drl                  Ncdrill File

 123456f0.dpm               Ncdrill Parameter File

 art_aper.txt                   Gerber Aperture List for 274D Files

 art_param.txt                Gerber Parameter File for 274D Files

Other output files available:

GenCAD

Circuit CAM

IDF

EMN, EMP

The routers we utilize are the Cadence Spectra router and the Mentor Destiny router.

In general, auto-routing is done to help expedite the job only after all the critical circuitry has been hand-routed and locked down.  In many rules-driven, highly constrained boards, 50-80% of the board may be critical and need to be hand routed.

Like all tools, auto-routers have a place and time for their use. We utilize them for up front test feasibility routes to determine layer count and hot spots.  And we utilize them when the customer would like to hand route just a few critical circuits and then go for a first-pass to test the board.

We understand the importance of Intellectual Property and take all Non-Disclosure Agreements very seriously.  We hold our employees to very high confidentiality standards.

Customer data at Freedom CAD is backed up on a secure system.  When the time comes to archive a project, not only does the customer receive a copy but we also archive a copy and lock it in an off-site fireproof safe for retrieval if necessary.

Our File Drop® system for transferring data is further secured with encryption software.

Freedom CAD also employs a Disaster Recovery Plan that covers us with a complete pro-active approach to any disaster, allowing us to be up-and-running in 24 hours with minimum impact to our customers’ schedules. Ask us about it.

FCS’s default standard is IPC. Our mode of operation is to design to your standards. Your standards will be adopted and conformed so as to insure seamless interaction with your in-house resource and down-stream manufacturing. If you do not have standards, we will help guide you in the latest standards.   

Freedom CAD recognizes that the challenges facing our industry today are Time, Technology and Cost. To support our customers, Freedom CAD offers critical value-added services through strategic partnerships with world-class companies. Our goal is to save you time and money while delivering you a quality product. 

Engineering Services: Freedom CAD supports our customers with leading edge technology assistance in the high speed computing and communications and IC development. Our services cover areas in:

            Signal Integrity Analysis

Schematic Capture

Mechanical Engineering

            Electrical Engineering

PCB Fabrication: Freedom CAD works with fast-turn industry leaders to meet your fabrication requirements. Our program managers have in-depth knowledge of the PCB fabrication business. Combining this knowledge with our proven design process and tools allows us to bring your products to market sooner, with less rework, and at a lower price.

Fixed-price designs are a simple way to compare one design house to another if price is the bottom line.  Should the scope of work change significantly during a fixed-price design, the job may need to be re-quoted; change orders to a fixed-price quote will be evaluated on the individual basis.  Minor tweaks and edits are assumed, and should not change the price.

Our philosophy on this is simple: we work hard to make the outsourcing model work for you. 

Without outsourcing, you take on the challenge of adding and balancing many liabilities/costs.  During peaks, you hire, train, manage and outfit your in-house team with expensive tools. During valleys, you may need to lay-off designers and continue to pay for idle licenses and overhead.

By outsourcing with Freedom CAD, you save the tangible and intangible time and money required to sustain an extended full in-house design team, all the while getting fast, professional results from an outstanding team that acts as an extension of your engineering department.

Our people are our company.  The people we employ are hand-selected and understand our mission and goals clearly: service and quality on time.  We are well versed in rules-driven, highly constrained, high speed, analog, power supply, military, medical and RF design technology, to name a few.  We run on the Cadence and Mentor suites - the two highest-end design software companies in the North America.

The scale of our operation allows us to take on large, multi-board projects with ease and keep them on-time, even when extensive changes occur.  Our strategy is to be an extension of your engineering team and seamlessly augment your in-house design team.

We take a teamwork approach toward projects, making sure that we align the right designer with the correct technology to meet your needs. We create teams for complex projects and match 1^st and 2^nd shifts to expedite work when you request faster turnaround.  When 1^st and 2^nd shift is not enough to meet your time line, we have the ability to run 24 x 7 for as long as it takes to complete your project. This is not out of the ordinary at Freedom CAD; on average we have several requests per month and execute this process fluidly.

Our designers participate in training and information sharing on a weekly basis, keeping them up to date on the latest technologies, techniques and software. This allows us to efficiently execute your design. As a general rule, in-house design teams do not have the luxury of this kind of training investment.

Also, we are committed to operating on advanced software suites and leading-edge hardware that take advantage of automation and fast processing speeds so we can efficiently complete your designs in minimal time. Again, because design is all we do, we take added steps that most in-house teams cannot.

"Early Adopter Program” members are given access to Cadence's newest PCB design software revisions six months before their formal release.  This early access enables steeper learning curves as the Program Members are provided extensive training by Cadence during this beta phase.  As a result, we are often able to help our customers make their transition to these new tools more efficient by sharing our experiences and offering structured training classes when appropriate.

Cadence’s The Allegro Physical Viewer is a database viewer for Allegro PCB Editor, Allegro PCB SI, and Allegro IC package solutions.  Allegro Physical Viewer includes all of the features of Allegro FREE Physical Viewer plus property and element query, measure distance, find, reports, and more.
http://www.cadence.co.in/products/si_pk_bd/downloads/allegroviewers/index.aspx

Mentors’ Expedition Free Viewer Link
http://www.mentor.com/products/pcb/browsers.cfm

Valor’s Universal Viewer Link
http://www.valor.com/en/Products/Valor Universal Viewer.aspx