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Is it accepted practice to place components between the pins of a DPAK IC like in this picture?

KiCad says "courtyard overlap" in the DRC, but this shouldn't be a problem, I think. During assembly, the smaller components can be placed first and then the DPAK IC can be placed last.

dpak

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Note if reflow-soldering the DPAK, through-pad vias will suck up solder and can lead to poor connection. Sometimes these are plugged to prevent this. \$\endgroup\$
    – rdtsc
    Commented Oct 28, 2022 at 17:49
  • \$\begingroup\$ Given the excess pad area of the DPAK, it could misalign (float left) so the drain contact touches the resistor. (And allow for tolerance in trimming the drain's stub lead) \$\endgroup\$
    – user16324
    Commented Oct 28, 2022 at 18:29

1 Answer 1

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Provided you're meeting all your other geometry restrictions, minimum electrical clearance, in-house rules, specific device layout guidelines from the datasheet, etc, you can place items within the courtyard of another component. Note that placing component designators will be more complicated and it will be trickier to rework those components if it comes to that. I would personally move those vias that are currently in the pad over into the area between leads to avoid the soldering issues @rdtsc mentions and place the components somewhere else.

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