This a more elaborate phrasing of my previous question on the subject, which did not get much love. I would appreciate a clear and thorough answer since it is my last question (after a long journey) before I finally send the PCB for manufacturing (cross fingers).
I have 4-layer PCB (signal, ground plane, power plane, signal). On the top side, there is a QFN-76 IC which has a heatsink pad on the bottom. According to the datasheet, it is connected to the ground and should be connected to the ground plane by vias, which I have done so as you may see:
As said, those vias, and consequently the pad, are connected to the ground plane. On the other side of the PCB, I have placed the required decoupling caps physically as closer as I could near the corresponding power pins and I have used the vias of the heatsink pad in order to connect them with the ground plane, as depicted below:
My Questions
- Is this a bad practice? Is it possible to cause any problems? If so, what is the proper way to do?
- On the first image, top of the PCB, I have also connected some of the IC ground traces to the pad. Is this, also, a bad practice?
- One thought of mine was to create an identical pad on the bottom of the PCB, using the same vias to ground as well, for the caps to connect. What do you think of that?
As always, all your recommendations and guidelines are more than welcome. Thanks in advance.