I have a question that has me totally puzzled. What is the value of opening up real estate on a board? The value when you hit a price point, like 6L to 4L or 6/6 to 8/8 is easy. What if you can reduce all passive pads by 10%, but the line widths don't change and the layer count is the same? Is there a $ number or time value you all use? or are you just happy that hand routing, if required, will be easier? Thanks, Steve ################################################################ DesignerCouncil E-Mail Forum provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8c ################################################################ To subscribe/unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the body: To subscribe: SUBSCRIBE DesignerCouncil <your full name> To unsubscribe: SIGNOFF DesignerCouncil ################################################################ Please visit IPC's web site (http://www.ipc.org) "On-Line Services" section for additional information. For technical support contact Hugo Scaramuzza at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.312 ################################################################