Patent ID: 7098408

Claim:
A pad layout for mounting with a circuit board component, the pad layout comprising: a set of pads arranged on a surface of a circuit board in a two-dimensional array having at least two pads in a first direction and at least two pads in a second direction that is substantially perpendicular to the first direction, each pad of the set of pads having (i) a central portion and (ii) multiple lobe portions integrated with the central portion and extending from the central portion of that pad; a solder mask on the surface of the circuit board, the solder mask extending around a periphery of each pad of the set of pads, the solder mask defining a set of apertures, each aperture having (i) a central aperture portion and (ii) multiple lobe aperture portions integrated with the central aperture portion to mirror a profile of a corresponding pad, the solder mask defining clearance regions around each pad of the set of pads; wherein, for each pad of the set of pads, that pad has exactly four lobe portions that extend from the central portion of that pad; wherein the circuit board component includes an integrated circuit package and multiple pre-soldered contacts extending from the integrated circuit package; and wherein the set of pads provide multiple metallic surfaces configured to simultaneously solder to the multiple pre-soldered contacts of the circuit board component during a circuit board assembly process involving printing solder paste onto the multiple metallic surfaces, picking and placing the circuit board component onto the solder paste and applying heat; and wherein, for each pad of the set of pads, (i) each lobe portion defines a distally disposed edge which is convex, (ii) each central portion define central portion edges which are concave, (iii) the distally disposed edges and the central portion edges blend smoothly in a manner that is free of sharp angled intersections, and (iv) each concave edge has a radius which is at least twice as large in value as a radius of every convex edge.