I am using the stock footprint USB_C_Receptacle_XKB_U262-16XN-4BVC11 of a USB-C connector. The footpring has both through-hole pads for the mounting tabs and SMD pads for the electrical connections and is marked as SMD type.
When I run DRC, I get an error that that the PTH pads do not match the SMD designation of the footprint. I then changed the footprint marking from SMD to Unspecified which eliminated the error but then I could not hide the footprint in the 3D view.
What is a good way to handle mixed footprints like this one?
For KiCad there is very little difference between SMT and THT. The obvious is of course the hole, and there is some flag to mark it as SMT or THT, but that is about it.
What’s more important is what you want to do with the “S1” pads. The are likely the metal outer shield. Do you want to connect this to GND or not? When I would use this footprint, I would make sure there is an “S1” pin on the schematic symbol, and then either connect it to GND, some filtering part, or add a No Connect flag to it, so KiCad knows these pins are not connected to something else.
Most of the symbols for USB connectors have a “shield” pin, sometimes that pin has an “S1” pin number, but often it has another pin number, and then KiCad does not recognize the connection to this footprint you have shown.
Other than for KiCad itself, it’s relevant for assembly. If you outsource it you should make sure you offer them files they want and just like they want. BOM and position files are relevant here. THD/SMD field may affect those.
If you do the assembly yourself, you can use that field in whatever way is most useful for you.
If you’re had assembling these then it doesn’t really matter. If you’re going out to an assembly house then I would keep the part as SMT. These come on a reel for automatic pick-and-place so even though there are some holes for mechanical stability (and RF shielding) this is really an SMT part.
That way it will show up in your BOM and pick files correctly.
