Ken,

It really depends on the Fab house and on the software they are using.  I
don't know what version of PADS you are running but it was my understanding
that a year or so ago that PADS could not export in 356-A format.  Our old
GC-CAM (Graphicode) software did have an option available that would import
a number of CAD netlist formats.  We would then compare the gerber extracted
netlist against the CAD netlist supplied.  If all was OK we would proceed.
The netlist data used for the test fixture was still generated from the
Gerber files but at least we knew they matched.  Our new software (Genesis)
can only read 356 or Mentor "Neutral" netlist data.

I suspect that you will be out of luck with what you want to try, but to be
sure contact your favorite fab shop.

Regards
John Parsons
Enigma Interconnect - Vancouver

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