Hello, Just wondering if anyone(or everyone but us), makes direct connection to the ground plane through vias. We use thermals on all vias that connect to GND. Our layout is typically a SMT pad connected to an .006" or .008" trace about .020" long connected to a via. This via is then connected to GND with a thermal. Would we run into any problems on our SMT joint if we made the GND connection direct? Could this reduce our heat at the pad significantly? If anyone has any experience with this, I would appreciate some input. Thanks. Steve Quinn Heurikon Corp Madison, Wi