Some Wisdom from Designing for a High-Volume Production OEM – Part 4

 Tips to Begin Applying to Your Designs:

4. Footprint Library Standardisation and Padstack Naming Conventions

• Finally, it is important to have total control and oversight of the padstacks that were used in each design revision. This means that any upgrade to pad sizes or soldermask is recorded in your padstack name or controlled by your library EDM. You should never issue two artworks with the same padstack name/designation if special padstack changes occurred. A naming convention is useful, which should include copper dimension, shape type, and even soldermask info. Most DFM errors occur due to soldermask; you should control it and not let SM to the pcb fabricator. They will not assemble your board. The assembler should always have the final say in this matter.

   

• If you must make one-off padstack changes for design reasons, exporting and storing the altered padstacks inside your design revision folder is a good strategy, as well as including brief text notes. These pads will now travel with the design. When another genius takes your design and updates all the padstacks, wiping out your hard work, those pad files remain alongside your board to be recalled at will.  

 This is just one of a selection of pointers. Follow the links below for more:

Some Wisdom from Designing for a High-Volume Production OEM – Part 1

Some Wisdom from Designing for a High-Volume Production OEM – Part 2

Some Wisdom from Designing for a High-Volume Production OEM – Part 3

Some Wisdom from Designing for a High-Volume Production OEM – Part 4

If you have any questions or points to make on these topics, post a reply in the comments section below.