Post : Prototyping with very, very small ICs
URL : http://hackaday.com/2012/08/17/prototyping-with-very-very-small-ics/
Posted : August 17, 2012 at 10:30 am
Author : Brian Benchoff
Tags : breakout board, LGA-16, smd
Categories : hardware, tool hacks

http://hackadaycom.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/ic.jpg

Gone are the days when all the cool chips are able to be thrown into a breadboard very easily. [starlino] was working with a circuit that uses an accelerometer, but unfortunately these chips come in hard to solder LGA-16 packages. [starlino] figured out a way to prototype with these packages (http://www.starlino.com/reverse_surface_mount.html) that doesn't require a custom breakout board or spending any time watching a reflow oven.

[starlino]'s LGA-16 adapter board began with a piece of perf board drilled out to form a space that perfectly fits his accelerometer. A piece of tape is placed over the pads of the chip and perf board, and the gap between the chip and board is filled in with a two-part plumbers putty.

Once the putty has cured, the leads on the acclerometer are connected to the pads on the board with a silver conductive pen (http://store.caig.com/s.nl/sc.2/category.174/.f) . After putting a few header pins in the corners of the board, [starlino] soldered the pads to the pins and had a permanent breakout board for a very small accelerometer.

It's not by any means a pretty build, but after [starlino] sealed the entire build in liquid electrical tape and installed it in a DIP socket, he had a completely functional accelerometer in an easy to prototype package. Not bad for a breakout board that can be built from stuff just lying around a workbench.

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