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BREADBOARDING

by Stuart Ball

Start ý Grounding ý Placing Copper Strips ý Power Wiring and Supply Bypassing ý Lead Wiring ý Test Points ý Surface-Mount Parts ý Other Tips ý Putting It All Together ý Other Techniques ý Sources and PDF

SURFACE-MOUNT PARTS

The electronics world is moving to surface-mount parts for most products. Many parts are still available in both DIP and surface-mount packages, but many newer parts are available only in surface-mount packaging.

The easiest way to handle surface-mount packaging is to convert it to 0.1ý spacing. If you can get your parts in plastic PLCC packages, you can get sockets with holes on 0.1ý centers that will accommodate them.

For dual inline SMT packages such as SOICs, you can get adapters that consist of a SOIC pattern on top and 0.1ý spaced pins on bottom. You solder the SOIC to the top and plug the pins into a standard IC socket. These adapters are expensive, so you wonýt want to fill an entire board with them. Aries makes a typical line of these parts, series 35000x.

Finally, you can get perfboard with holes on 0.050ý centers instead of 0.1ý centers. This will let you prototype with SMT devices, as long as the leads are no closer than 0.050ý. I have found that the best way to wire this perfboard is to bend the IC legs so they fit into the holes, insert the wire-wrap wire leads into the same hole as the IC leg, and solder them in place. However, it is difficult to do because you need a small soldering iron tip and a steady hand.

There is no doubt that surface-mount parts are harder to breadboard with, and many of the smaller ones are simply impractical to use without a printed circuit board.

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