I am trying to create a footprint for a DPAK heatsink (Aavid thermalloy 573100).
The footprint is simply a rectangular pad, however the solder mask for this pad should not cover the whole pad, there should be a pattern of 7 stripes of alternating covered-exposed copper (stripes do not have the same width - there are 3 different widths).
I could not find a way to do this.
You will probably get more help if you post a sketch of this footprint (possibly copied from the datasheet), or the datasheet itself, or at least a link to the datasheet.
Dale
You can draw the copper as SMD pad or pads and then disable the paste and solder mask of the pad, and then select the paste (or maks) layer and draw separate graphics on them.
It is a bit hard to see what you’re drawing, but when viewing your intermediate results in the 3D viewer (Shortcut Alt + 3 ) makes it more clear.
When hand drawing, make sure you follow sensible rules, such as only draw solder paste on bare copper and not on solder mask.
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Yes this would definitely work. I would however suggest to use mask only pads for this task as they are easier to define in an exact manner compared to simple graphical elements.
Thanks.
I guess I will do it by joining together several pads, side by side - those that need to be exposed will have the mask land paster layer and those that need to be covered will not have the mask and paste layer.
I would do it a bit different. Make one large copper only pad and several mask only pads. I would do it that way to avoid doing maths that can be error prone. (Make the footprint as similar to the datasheet drawing as possible.)
Thanks - I already started something but still did not check what I get in the Gerber, so I do not mind trying something else.
Just to be sure - where a mask only pad is placed, the copper on the pad underneath will be exposed, and I will also have to define it as a paste layer. Correct?
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