CREATING A STANDOFF FOR A LOW-PROFILE COMPONENT WITHOUT ADDING A PROCESS STEP

Aspects of the invention include receiving a printed circuit board (PCB) having one or more of mounting pads thereon, determining a stencil for applying a solder paste to the one or more mounting pads, the stencil having a smallest aperture for a component requiring a standoff, determining a maximum threshold size for standoff particles based on the smallest aperture, determining a first concentration of the standoff particles based on the smallest aperture, determining a minimum threshold size for standoff particles to create the standoff for the component, determining a second concentration of the standoff particles to create a three-standoff seating plane for the component, introducing the standoff particles to the solder paste, the standoff particles in the solder paste having a concentration between the first concentration and the second concentration, and a size between the maximum threshold size and the minimum threshold size.