Non-Functional Pad (NFP) Removal

Non-Functional Pad (NFP) Removal is a read-write DFM action designed to remove redundant pads from a layer in order to improve performance of subsequent actions. A pad is considered redundant if its removal will not change the electrical connectivity of a layer. There are four types of pads that are considered as non-functional; you may choose any combination to remove:

Isolated

not connected to any trace on the Affected layers.

Duplicate

multiple pads of the same size or smaller at the same location, usually on a drill layer.

Drilled Over

pads drilled by a drill hole that is larger than the size of the pad

Covered

pads that are fully covered by other pads or features.

The NFP Removal action may be applied to any layer. On negative layers it is possible to base the action on drawn features or an inverted representation of the layer (on copper).

Screen Parameters

Remove / Mark NFP

Remove = the action removes all pads which fit the user definitions for NFP.

Mark = the action does not remove those pads, but attaches to them the .nfp attribute.

It is possible to further control isolated pad removal by hole type. Only pads drilled by a specific hole type will be processed.

Special Reports

Histograms for all categories are included into the summary report.

Result Attributes

For each layer, the following attributes are produced:

Attribute	Description
..._isolated_deleted	Number of deleted isolated features in layer
..._duplicate_deleted	Number of deleted duplicate features in layer
..._drilled_over_deleted	Number of drilled over features in layer
..._covered_deleted	Number of deleted covered features, and a total for all deleted features for all layers per category is reported
isolated_deleted	Total number of deleted isolated features
duplicate_deleted	Total number of deleted duplicate features
drilled_over_deleted	Total number of drilled over features
covered_deleted	Total number of deleted covered features

Note: An ellipsis (…) indicates where to insert a layer name, such as in the Result Attributes list.

For example: ...copper_balanced_added indicates that a layer name is required at the beginning of the attribute.