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PCB Editor DRC errors with non-plated mechanical holes that are just holes

Jessicak

Hi All,

I have connector that requires mounting holes. These are just holes, no copper. I have defined the padstack as non-plated. and mechanical. but it seems not to undrstand that there can be no copper.

I have added a pad as padstack requires it, I have tried smaller than the drill size, equal drill size but I get the following DRC errors when I use the symbol.

Annular Ring: Pin Pad Missing mask. But I do not need or want a mask there is no copper to mask as it is drilled away

Annular Ring: Pin hole to Pad Again no annulus ring as there is no copper.

It is as if Cadence does not understand that sometimes all you want is a hole.

I guess there is something hidden somewhere that I can set that tells cadence that it is just a hole

Thanks for any help

Jessica

  • 0

    I believe you are doing it the right way. When you need a copperless (padless I understand) hole, you define the pad size smaller than the drill size. You can still define mask layers on it to avoid the DRC, right? They will be drilled in any case. Or is there something I'm not uderstanding from your query?

  • 0 in reply to JuanCR

    Thank you Juan, The issue is, and yes I am doing it correctly i think, that to pass DRC I have to have an annular ring, ie the copper has to be larger than the hole. and the mask lager than that. The mask is not too much of an issue, but the annular ring is if I want to have a clean DRC. Currently I have to waive these DRC errors to get the board trough, However as we all know to our peril, waiving DRC's can accidentally waive a real error.

    To my mind there must be a way to tell cadence that a padstack is a hole.

    Jessica

  • 0

    Hi Jessicak on the error you receive was that error caused when you were trying to save the padstack or is the error caused when creating a footprint that uses that padstack in the editor ?

    Normally the padstack editor wont allow the creation of a padstack that gets drilled away. The idea here is that the padstack editor is trying to protect you from a possible problem.

  • 0

    I think you are following the correct procedure. When a copperless (padless) hole is required, the pad size must be smaller than the drill size. You can still define mask layers on it, correct? They will be drilled no matter what. Or is there something I'm missing in your question? color tunnel

  • 0

    In Pad Editor starting with version 17.2, on the Design Layer tab you can define a "Keep Out" area for any padstack.  For round non-plated holes I will typically add a circle Keep Out that is 20mils larger than the drill hole on all layers to keep copper 10mils away from the hole.  Also note that it is possible to have the Regular Pad set as "None" for non-plated through holes.  When you go to save the padstack it will give you a warning but just click on "Close" and then another pop-up will appear that says "Save with warnings" and you just need to select "Yes".

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