Solder balls and routing out of pad corners

Question

I was approached the other day by a co-worker who claims he avoided routing out of corners of smd pads due to higher odds of solder balls forming. I have so far been under the impression that it is mostly a function of solder paste quantity, then pad shape secondarily.

Is there any experience (personal) among members here, evidence or literature about this claim. I have not found it myself but i do wonder if others of experience have run into this.

Answer 1

Assuming there is solder mask, I wouldn't expect routing decisions to affect solder flow. I guess it might be a different case on a home-made board with no mask and/or if wave soldering instead of reflow.

aka... I've never seen it happen but you probably shouldn't take my word for it ;)