A footprint or land pattern is the arrangement of
pads
Pads (also called leg guards) are a type of protective equipment used in a number of sports and serve to protect the legs from the impact of a hard ball, puck, or other object of play travelling at high speed which could otherwise cause injuries t ...
(in
surface-mount technology
Surface-mount technology (SMT), originally called planar mounting, is a method in which the electrical components are mounted directly onto the surface of a printed circuit board (PCB). An electrical component mounted in this manner is referred ...
)
or through-holes (in
through-hole technology
In electronics, through-hole technology (also spelled "thru-hole") is a manufacturing scheme in which leads on the components are inserted through holes drilled in printed circuit boards (PCB) and soldered to pads on the opposite side, eithe ...
) used to physically attach and electrically connect a component to a
printed circuit board
A printed circuit board (PCB), also called printed wiring board (PWB), is a Lamination, laminated sandwich structure of electrical conduction, conductive and Insulator (electricity), insulating layers, each with a pattern of traces, planes ...
. The land pattern on a circuit board matches the arrangement of
leads
Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...
on a component.
Component manufacturers often produce multiple
pin-compatible
In electronics, pin-compatible devices are electronic components, generally integrated circuits or expansion cards, sharing a common footprint and with the same functions assigned or usable on the same pins. Pin compatibility is a property des ...
product variants to allow
systems integrator
A systems integrator (or system integrator) is a person or company that specializes in bringing together component subsystems into a whole and ensuring that those subsystems function together, a practice known as system integration. They also solv ...
s to change the exact component in use without changing the footprint on the circuit board. This can provide large cost savings for integrators, especially with dense
BGA components where the footprint pads may be connected to multiple
layers
Layer or layered may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Layers'' (Kungs album)
* ''Layers'' (Les McCann album)
* ''Layers'' (Royce da 5′9″ album)
*“Layers”, the title track of Royce da 5′9″’s sixth studio album
* Layer, a ...
of the circuit board.
Many component vendors provide footprints for their components, including
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) is an American multinational semiconductor company headquartered in Dallas, Texas. It is one of the top 10 semiconductor companies worldwide based on sales volume. The company's focus is on developing analog ...
an
CUI Other sources include third party libraries, such a
SnapEDA
EDA software like Altium Designer and KiCad have access to footprint libraries.
See also
*
Chip carrier
In electronics, a chip carrier is one of several kinds of surface-mount technology packages for integrated circuits (commonly called "chips"). Connections are made on all four edges of a square package; compared to the internal cavity for mount ...
*
List of electronic component packaging types
Integrated circuits and certain other electronic components are put into protective packages to allow easy handling and assembly onto printed circuit boards and to protect the devices from damage. A very large number of package types exist. So ...
*
IPC
IPC may refer to:
Businesses and organizations Arts and media
* Intellectual Property Committee, a coalition of US corporations with intellectual property interests
* International Panorama Council, an international network of specialists in ...
(standards body)
*
JEDEC
The Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (JEDEC) Solid State Technology Association is a consortium of the semiconductor industry headquartered in Arlington County, Virginia, Arlington, United States. It has over 300 members and is focused ...
(standards body)
References
Electronic engineering
Electronics manufacturing
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