connectorffcpcb-design
I am looking at the mechanical drawing for the JAE WP7B-P050VA1 connector, and it has the following drawing suggesting a PCB footprint:
My question pertains to the "no exposed metal in this area" note: does this mean that I am not allowed to run any traces through this area, or is doing so fine as long as it is covered by solder mask?
That's going to be determined by the thickness of the stencil and the opening size, or if no stencil the thickness of the solder paste printed on the board. I believe it's a warning that too much paste will float the part and then you might not get good joints all around, or maybe the part might be uneven etc.
The only way you could affect it is if you are defining the paste layer yourself then you define the opening and put an assembly note in about stencil thickness.
But really I would say you should leave this to your assembly house to adjust correctly for their process when they order the stencils. They have to look at all the parts in the board and find a method that will work for all of them, it's part of the magic of being a good assembly house.
Here by the way is a link that talks about it more. Note that their guideline if a 2-3 mil standoff is "after assembly". Not a you should have a 2-3 mil standoff before assembly...
I believe they are just connections that are removed by the milling tool that defines the PCB outline- probably for hard gold electroplating.
Notice that all four gold contacts have the connections running off the PCB, not just the D+ and D-. They probably all short together on the PCB panel.
Best Answer
Solder masks are not meant to be used as insulators, their purpose is to keep the solder contained within the pads. Solder masks are thin and are easily pierced. So, no traces in the indicated area.