Some things never cease to astound me. A lot can go wrong in a product design cycle. Creating a good layout from a complex schematic is a difficult enough job as is, but when component marking logic leaves the building,... Read more
With so many components on allocation, having extended lead times or simply not available, minor re-design is the popular task of the day. MCUs can often be replaced with another family member and most passives and power components have options... Read more
Should folks building small numbers of circuit boards use surface-mount parts, or should they stick with through-hole components that are so much easier to handle and solder (not to mention see)? I spend my days and nights surrounded by printed... Read more
In designing my YouDoYou lapel pin for the upcoming Open Source Hardware Summit (March 13, 2020 in New York city), I had a couple of firsts. This was my first design using a lot of 0201 passives and this was... Read more
Some parts just look cooler than others. I really like the super tiny WLCSP (wafer level chip scale package) BGAs that some newer ARM microcontroller and power components come in. They not only fit the "smaller is cooler" mantra, but... Read more
Yes. If you want us to install it, it must go in the bill of materials. For the most part, we solder thru-hole and surface mount components on the PC boards. As pretty much everyone knows, all of those parts... Read more
I really need to get back to writing about techniques and technology, but today, it's parts again. Parts pricing, specifically. We have some tariffs coming up on parts imported from China, starting on July 6th. Specifically, a 25% tariff will... Read more
I recently participated in the Altium pod cast where I discussed the origins of Screaming Circuits, some DFM hints and a few other topics. I was discussing some of the challenges everyone is having these days in procuring components and... Read more
Have you purchased any electronics components lately? Have you tried and failed to do so lately? Allocation is the word of the day and substitutions are your friend. Many, many parts are in short supply, or unavailable with extraordinarily long... Read more
The QFN (quad flat pack, no leads) package can no longer be considered exotic. It was when I first wrote about it a decade ago, but not any more. In fact, with the wafer scale BGA, it's one of the... Read more
