For electrical considerations, some designers will use an automatic fill command to put ground plane in "open" areas of their boards. This will, in most cases, also help out in current distribution during plating. But there is no such thing as a free lunch. We are having some (OK a lot of) discussion concerning the best fill geometry to use. The two main contenders are solid and cross hatching on 15 mil centers. My "opinion" concerning the two methods: Crosshatching Advantages; less Gerber data, better adhesion to FR-4 than bare copper, cosmetically more appealing, less thermal mass for soldering process Disadvantages; (a major one) Slivers,places where photoresist can lift and redeposit [Our design system does not automatically prevent formation of these slivers prior to producing a Gerber file], hard to visually inspect Solid fill Advantages; No slivers, easier to inspect Disadvantages; More gerber data, more thermal mass for soldering processes, greater chance for discoloration of bare copper under solder mask, less adhesion Our main concern is with the slivers associated with crosshatching. Does anyone have suggestions concerning area sizes that should be crosshatched? Is there a better geometry to use? What are you doing to prevent slivers in your designs? Regards, Jamie Baumgart DSC Communications (214) 519-2500 [log in to unmask]