Friends don't let friends wire-wrap. Do people still do this? Do you still do this? When's the last time you did some wire-wrap? Digi-Key still sells an assortment of wire-wrap wire and wrapping tools, including the simple little hand tool... Read more
A lot of small quantity PCBs come individually routed these days, but when they get too small or come in larger quantities, panels can be very nice to have. When you have your PCBs panelized, what's your preferred method? And... Read more
As pitch gets smaller, things get more difficult. Did that blinding flash of the obvious hurt your eyes? Mine too. It's not always just more difficult though. Sometimes it's different as well. Like BGAs, for example. With 0.5mm and larger... Read more
Last year, Screaming Circuits started closely following the Ti OMAP processor and it's package on package (POP) form factor. The OMAP 35XX processors are very nice on their own, being a very hi-performance ARM jobby, but the package on package... Read more
In my continuing saga of answering the question "what are the real limits?", I'll spend a little time giving my thoughts on edge clearance. That makes the question for the day: "how close can I put parts to the edge... Read more
I recently wrote about spacing, IPC standards and such. James M. commented on the post with a question: "I run into this issue all the time. Assembly houses love to say that they can make anything that meets "IPC Standards... Read more
When I pick a subject, I seem to get moderately obsessed with that one topic and I'll end up covering it over and over again. I don't mean to. It just tends to happen that way. Castellated mounting systems seems... Read more
Last week, at the Embedded Systems Conference, a gentleman came up to me and asked me about component spacing. I started rattling off things about IPC standards when we interrupted me and said: "Not IPC. I want to know the... Read more
Back in August of 2009, we at Screaming Circuits assembled our first package on package chip set. We did a number of test components first to tune the process and then built up some Beagleboards. We've done a few more... Read more
Years and years ago, I was a product manager at In Focus, the projector manufacturer. It was a great time to be in the display industry. New technology was being invented left and right (and center and back, and some... Read more
