nRF24L01+ ground die pad

[Philip]

Hi, I am creating a PCB design and am not sure if I should connect the pad under the nRF24L01+ to the ground plane with a couple of vias.

The data sheet says it should be left unconnected, however it then later shows an example where the ground die pad is connected to the ground plane with 3 vias? A bit confusing.

Has any one else come across this? A few examples I have looked at seem to connect the pad underneath to the ground plane using vias.

Thanks

Phil

[Jay Tyzzer]

Hello Phillip,

The ground pad under the nRF24L01P has connecting vias coming up thru the board from the bottom layer containing ground. It is recommended that this ground pad be covered with solder mask to keep it isolated from the ground lug on the nRF24L01P. With that said, I have heard of others soldering it down without any reported issues. I would go with the recommendation from Nordic to keep it isolated.

This is not the case with some of the other chips that Nordic provides and should be looked at device by device.

Regards,

JT

[Philip]

Thanks for the reply JT.

That makes sense, although why not just not remove the via's so that you can solder to the pad for mechanical strength?

Maybe people have found it solders better without solder on the centre pad.

Cheers Phil