Having a "positive" B.mask

Layout
1

I am making an RF board and wants essentially no solder mask on the board. However, in a few positions, I want small solder mask where I solder components. This topic has been up for discussion before here:

and here:

However, no satisfactory solution was found. I would think that with the new custom rules introduces in KiCAD 6 it should be possible to do this. However, I have not managed. What I did was to add a zone that fills the whole B.Mask layer. That works well to completely remove the mask. Now, I need that zone to not fill in a few places. How to do this? I have tries several methods, but none successful. These are some attempts that do not work:

(rule "b.mask keepout"
   (constraint disallow zone)
   (condition "A.intersectsArea('xx')")
)

(rule "b.mask keepout"
   (constraint physical_clearance (min 0mm))
   (condition "A.intersectsArea('xx')")
)

Where “xx” is a rule area, also on B.Mask.

Thanks for any input!

2

Select the board-wide B.Mask zone. Right click and select Zones > Add a Zone Cutout.

The cutout must be manually shaped; there’s no rule-based automation for it. But it’s better than nothing.

3

Thanks you. This is a workable solution for me in this particular instance since I only have a few places I need it. However, it is planned for adding rule execution to these layers also in the future? It would be very useful for RF board designs in particular.

4

It’s on the wishlist, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s “planned” yet.

5

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