Pad is as Pad Does

I've recently written a bit about soldermask and pads relative to BGAs. In most cases, we recommend NSMD (Non Solder Mask Defined), or copper pad defined, pad for BGAs. With the BGAs, the NSMD pads will allow the BGA to... Read more

Spam, Spam, Eggs and Spam

I normally expend most of my writing words on challenges our customers and other engineers might face in their day to day design and layout activities. But not today. Today, it's about a specific challenge faced by your typical blogger.... Read more

Random Via-in-Pad Myth #7

Myth #7: In regards to via-in-pad, all PCB finishes are the same Well, it might seem so, but let's look a little closer. No. Not that close. Back the camera up a bit. Here's a good example: In some cases,... Read more

The Sky Is Falling

Or - The top ten things to do if you're depressed about the economy. 10: Tell every young person you know not to get into engineering because it's a dead-end job. Wait. No. Don't do that. Scold yourself if you... Read more

Window Pane in not a Pain

QFN parts (also known as MLF or Micro Lead Frame) parts used to cause a lot of problems a few years ago, as evidenced by the number of blog posts covering the subject. Can I use my own blog as... Read more

Mismasked PCB

Personally, I think this PCB and stencil is prettier with the green showing through. It breaks up all of the boring silver color. It adds some life in. ...unless you are a chip wanting to be soldered down. If that's... Read more

Reference Designators

Not a subject I give much thought to. For one, we here at Screaming Circuits don't really care too much what convention you use for your components. We want them to match and be properly formatted when in your BOM,... Read more

Dripping Wet Is Too Much

Well, that's obvious. But what's not so obvious is that some components may look perfectly fine but act like Orville Redenbacher when in the reflow oven. Well, they won't actually act like Orlville, but rather, like his pop corn. Sort... Read more

To Lead or not to Lead. That is the question

Back at the Embedded Systems Conference in September, I had a number of folks ask me about mixing leaded and lead-free components on a PCB. It's a difficult situation for some people - especially when using old and very new... Read more