Standard 0.5mm-pitch LQFP stencil paste openings are pretty thin. From my experience, solder paste is often smeared during stencil removal and manual component placement. Here is my modified land pattern / stencil configuration for solder bridging prevention (usable only for reflow soldering): [![LQFP 0.5mm][1]][1] Paste shrink: 0mm Mask swell: 0.05mm Distance between pad centers are the same as standard LQFP48/64/100 (see STM32 datasheet). Idea is to use wider stencil openings and place them farther away (alternate paste openings placement): [![enter image description here][2]][2] Stencil and land pattern comparison: [![enter image description here][3]][3] [![enter image description here][4]][4] All drawings/photos in this answer are made by me. Pdf summary: https://www.thundertronics.com/Modified%20LQFP%20land%20pattern%20for%20solder%20bridging%20prevention.pdf [1]: https://i.sstatic.net/vYAVG.png [2]: https://i.sstatic.net/c3y9f.jpg [3]: https://i.sstatic.net/MsCtK.png [4]: https://i.sstatic.net/VQaWV.png