We have one engineer, an analog kind of guy, who likes to insist hatching is better for EMI. He can't say why. But most of our designs are RF, solid planes have turned out to be critical. Trying make sure all those microvias get a good solid connection, and don't split up the planes, means you need a small enough hatch, you might as well make it solid and stop worrying. Gary brought me back to the days when, just for kicks, I would take other guy's designs and remove all of their vias, just to prove I could do it. I've gotten help, I'm cured, a thousand vias is nothing anymore. But that memory made me feel old until Richard brought up soldering with iron sticks. --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 15.0 To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet To temporarily halt or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL) To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100 ext.2815 -----------------------------------------------------