Quickly Prototyping SMT Components – What Methods Are Best?

Prior to the advent of surface-mount technology (SMT), all analog semiconductor products were manufactured using dual-in-line (DIP) packaging, making circuit prototyping quick and easy. Over the past 15-20 years, high-performance analog semiconductor products have universally adopted surface mount packages.

In many cases, the adoption of SMT has made circuit prototyping difficult and time-consuming because surface-mount packages are generally very small and difficult to incorporate – this is especially true with leadless packages like DFNs and QFNs. As the industry has progressed, analog semiconductor products offered in DIP formats have become more obsolete at an ever increasing rate; therefore, the continued support and maintenance of legacy systems has become a difficult proposition.

Back in the day, there was a company by the name of Wainwright Instruments (or RDI Wainwright in Telford, PA) that made available small single-sided copper clad pcbs (“Solder-Mount”) patterned with popular SMT footprints with an adhesive backing.

Nonetheless and sensitized to this circuit design and manufacturing challenge, we’ve recommended two alternatives for quickly prototyping SMT components:

SchmartBoard

925-362-0799

E-mail

Web site

and

BrownDog Electronic Component Adapters

918-747-3874

E-mail

Web site

We’ve yet to find a suitable, cost-effective solution for DFNs and QFNs. If you’ve found a supplier or can share some interesting prototyping techniques, let us know.

Adolfo A. Garcia
Vice President – Marketing and Applications at Touchstone