Abstract: A thermally and electrically conductive (TEC) pad is disposed between a PCB and a heat sink in a cellular telephone base station. The TEC pad includes at least one aperture that overlies one or more signal vias on a ground plane of the PCB. The TEC pad apertures are larger than any underlying signal vias in order to electrically isolate the signal vias from the conductive material of the pad and the heat sink. The TEC pad allows ground vias on a PCB ground plane to ground to the heat sink.