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In printed circuit boards, a teardrops are typically drop-shaped features at the junction of vias or contact pads and traces.
The main purpose of teardrops is to enhance structural integrity in presence of thermal or mechanical stresses. Structural integrity may be compromised, e.g., by misalignment during drilling, so that too much copper may be removed by the drill hole in the area where a trace connects to the pad or via. An extra advantage is the enlarging of manufacturing tolerances, making manufacturing easier and cheaper.
While a typical shape of a teardrop is straight-line tapering, they may be concave. To produce a "snowman"-shaped teardrop, a secondary pad of smaller size is added at the junction overlapping with the primary pad (hence the nickname).