About IDF Files

Intermediate Data Format (IDF) is a neutral format for exchanging data between electrical CAD and mechanical CAD systems.

Circuit Board Design works with IDF 2.0 and 3.0 file formats. The following topics are discussed:

This page discusses:

Data Managed

This section summarizes the data managed in IDF files and in particular highlights the changes made in IDF version 3.0.

There are two digital files:

  • The IDF file which contains the physical description of the board and the locations of components placed on the board. Components are identified by a part number and a package name. In version 3.0, an optional panel file was added to allow the exchange of manufacturing panel information.
  • The Library file which contains the physical description (size and shape) of components referenced in the IDF file.

In version 3.0, the following elements were also added:

  • An Annotations section. It contains notes for the design that can be displayed to allow the electrical and mechanical engineers to communicate additional information about the design entities. Annotations are not intended for manufacturing purposes. At the moment, they can only be in CATIA then exported.
  • An Offset field. This field represents the mounting offset for a component onto the board. It is also available for board mounting offset onto the panel.
  • An optional Properties record. This record specifies properties for components such as capacitance, resistance, tolerance, user-defined attributes, and power_max, etc. You can set the values in the Properties dialog box. Your changes will be taken into account in the export file.

In version 3.0+, tracks, layers and partial holes can be exported in an IDF file.

IDF File Extensions and Units

This section describes the IDF File Extensions and Units.

Three different IDF extensions are recognized:

  • .idf: the general format
  • .brd: the Mentor Graphics specific format
  • .bdf: the Allegro specific format

Two unit systems can be read with CATIA:

  • MM: millimeters
  • THOU: 1/1000 of inch

Component Import from Database

This section explains how boards and panels are imported from database.

By default, when importing boards and panels from IDF files, components are imported from database.

Note: To be able to import geometry from the database, components must already have been saved in the database.

When searching the database for components, Circuit Board Design imports components if the part number and representation name of the database component correspond to the part number and package name respectively of the component in the IDF file identified in the Circuit Board Design dialog box.

Migrated Components

Migrated components refers to components migrated using the File Base Design Import (FBDI) tool. For more information, see the File Base Design Import User's Guide.

To ensure the best search results, edit migrated components before saving them in the database.

To edit a migrated component, click the Component command, then click OK in the dialog box that opens. This validates the component package name.

Import Error Report

This section explains that if an import error is detected, a report is generated.

If a problem is detected during IDF file import, the import operation continues and the items generating errors are listed in a Report dialog box.

The document resulting from the import is incomplete. This means that some components, areas or parts of the board may be missing or incomplete but the import operation itself was done.

Export

This section describes the Export conditions.

To be exported to an IDF file, the document must contain at least one board or panel. Other exported features are:

  • Components
  • Constraint areas, including multi-domain areas. Merged constraint areas, however, are not supported.
  • Holes
  • Cutouts
  • Hole and constraint area patterns, including patterns of pattern (one level)
  • Pad patterns

Notes:
  • Pockets created within constraint areas are not exported.
  • You may get unexpected results when exporting components that have more than one representation.

3D Curves & Axis Systems

You can also export Circuit Board Design features where the pad is based on 3D curves rather than a sketch. However, if the board pad is based on a 3D curve, the export is only possible if an axis system has been defined as the origin of the board.

Use Axis System to define the axis system.