> First, are you sure it must be connected ?

> Good luck!
> J

http://www.linear.com/pdf/3205i.pdf  (380kB)

Yes, it's the ground for the charge pump

According to the d/s the only package is a 24-pin QFN, which is
just 4mm square, and PGND is a 2.5mm square pad in the middle
of the bottom

This pad is very nearly flat on the board. The pins extended past
the bottom of the package by 0.00 - 0.05mm, leaving almost no
room for mechanical tinkering

Your idea of a via might be the most "via"ble ;-) Reflow the PGND
connection first to make sure that the chip is being held and then
do the pins

Or for a single-sided board, drill a hole where the pad will be. Solder
a few pins to hold the chip down, then insert a tinned wire into the hole
until it meets the PGND pad and make the connection that way. Being
such a small pad there should be enough heat to make it stick

Perhaps a fine wire or two could be pre-soldered to the pad and
passed through the hole ?

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