VIA In Pad

[mstamler]

In your "Advanced PCB Layout" course, Lesson 2 you recommend to avoid using via-in-pad, claiming it is unreliable, more expensive and unnecessary. I wanted to know if you still believe this to be true given the advancement of PCB manufacturing processes today and the very high density BGAs that are in use today.
10x

[qdrives]

I have not 'produced' a board with via-in-pad, but look at it for a recent design.
- It still is more expensive
- Reliability depends on how you do it - filled vias, solid copper or tiny holes
- Unnecessary - that depends on your design.

[robertferanec]

I still don't use them. I wanted to use them 1 year ago and still could not justify it.

[mstamler]

Wow, that is amazing. Of course, the exception is when the pitch is simply too small or is this also not correct since the vias can always be small enough!!

[robertferanec]

yes, if the pitch is too small (if it's not possible to fit a via between pads), then you have to use vias in pad