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I'm working on a PCB and have found it very convenient to connect adjacent passive components by running traces between them diagonally, as shown below:

enter image description here

Is this bad for any reason?

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I do it all the time. I like the way it forms nice smooth 135 degree angles trace to pad, pretty much no chance of having etchant traps. On the other hand, you need to be careful. Depending on the component size, having traces come off pads asymmetrically can prevent them from centering during reflow. I've never had a problem with this with anything 0603 or larger. 0402 and smaller, you better think really hard before doing it. It helps to keep your solder mask as tight as board house tolerances will allow.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Looser solder mask clearances (or relatively looser given a smaller part) might also end up exposing copper under the device that can bridge & short. \$\endgroup\$ – Nick T Mar 6 '15 at 7:53
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No, it's fine. Just make sure that if the pad is rectangular rather than square, then the trace still comes out if the corner. Very sharp corners (internal or external) are bad.

Also, make sure your clearances to other pads/traces are OK.

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You may want to consider some other changes though. Here is one example:

enter image description here

moderator note: I would agree that this is more of a comment than an answer. But Michael needed to post images (and image is worth many words), so this had to be posted as an answer.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Doesn't really answer the question, but +1 for showing off your PCB-editting-in-Paint skills. \$\endgroup\$ – The Photon Mar 6 '15 at 3:43
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    \$\begingroup\$ Wait, are you saying you don't use Paint for layout? \$\endgroup\$ – Joe Baker Mar 6 '15 at 4:27
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    \$\begingroup\$ Back in middle school I've used plenty of ZSoft PaintBrush for quick-and-dirty layouts. I had a library of symbols (pads, etc.) as PCX files. Everything was at 300dpi and got printed on transparencies on a LaserJet. It still beat drawing it by hand in nail polish directly on the board. Yep, the original HPLJ that would make a hole in the floor if you happened to push it off the table :) \$\endgroup\$ – Reinstate Monica Mar 8 '15 at 21:51

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