Re: Utility of copper pours on four-layer boards

Joel Koltner wrote:
"Terry Given" <my_name@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:1207695134.621115@xxxxxxxxxx
solder mask stops evil bridging. Having been not so much bitten as having had several limbs torn off by this once in the past, I leave the solder mask alone unless absolutely necessary

Understood. What I meant was on large, contiguous copper pours that are acting as heat sinks (e.g., the 1+ sq. in... er, 645+ mm^2 that you have poured around the source terminal of a D-PAK to help it get the heat out).


Don't overdo it with heat sinking into FR4. If the board gets noticeably hot with soldermask chances are that you'll see some delamination in the field. It won't become much better without the solder mask.

And something has to protect the copper or it'll look like the roof of a Gothic cathedral some day ;-)

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Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/
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