Have you been using common pads in your designs? Please provide your feedback

Hi there

I have heard of a couple of cases of PCB designs where a common pad is shared between two separate components. At it’s simplest case, two 0603 components lie end to end but instead of four pads, two for each, there are only three in total. The two pads closest to each other overlap meaning only one is visible on the board. In other words they share a common pad.

This scenario is typically done when there will be build variants on a single PCB layout but I have heard that in some cases instead of just one component of the two being fitted, both components would be fitted to a variant. I would think this would cause problems with solderability and placement accuracy when both are fitted hence why I would like your feedback on this subject to hear your views on the different scenarios.

Thanks

Mark