This is a KiCAD capability that isn’t covered very well in the documentation, so variations of this question appear every few months. From time to time I have posted complete footprints illustrating the technique, that you may study for instructional value. See the threads associated with:
A typical example is a ic with exposed pad for thermal conduction or for better gnd connection (EMC).
Example chip: TI bq76PL536 (http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/slusa08a/slusa08a.pdf page 58)
There the best way is to define the smd pad with negative mask clearance + separate overlapping pins for the holes.
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I apologize for bumping this topic up again, as it is rather old, but I was wondering if anyone had solved this problem? A lot of SMT parts now have an “exposed pad”, sometimes called a “paddle” that is used for heat transfer. Typically this is “stitched” full of vias to improve thermal conductivity. Occasionally a polymer heat-transfer “gap pad” is used to carry heat from the back Cu to a heatsink or the case. In Altium and other programs the solder mask can be omitted from this area. I have be…
Okey i will do that thank you very much for your feedback!!
Dale