Screaming Circuits got its start back in 2003 with the intent of making prototype PCB assembly much easier, faster and available on the Internet. The world of electronics was a lot different back t
Author: root
Solder Mask of Many Colors
It wasn’t that long ago when solder mask was something to be used and not seen. It had a utilitarian purpose, which was to protect the metal from oxidation and control the deposition of solde
Inspect those parts pulled from the drawer
Now that more of us are taking advantage of the cut strips in the parts bin that we just knew “we might use someday”, it’s a good good idea to put out a reminder to look for bent
Creating a Good Parts Kit
We’re seeing more and more of our PCB assembly jobs come in as kitted orders. In the past, it was often more convenient to buy all new parts for an assembly job and ignore the spare cut strip
QFN Footprints to prevent Float
The QFN (quad flat pack, no leads) package has long been the staple of the small PC board. In fact, with the wafer scale BGA, it’s one of the more common packages for new chip designs and is
Electronics Manufacturing Options
Electronics manufacturing can mean a lot of things to a lot of people, and that can make the vendor evaluation process a bit daunting when you just want a couple of PC boards built, or if you’
Where in the Schematic do you put your Capacitors?
Where do you put your bypass capacitors? I’m not asking about where to put them in the PCB layout. On the finished PC board, bypass capacitors need to be strategically located as per the chip
Top Reasons to Outsource During the Fall
August is behind us and September is well underway. That means summer is at end and fall nearly upon us. I think April was just “12 minutes ago” and we were all trying to remember what
The Anxiety of the Last “save”
I’ve been designing electronics since the days when PCB layout was often done by hand with black tape and etch resist pen. And I don’t create particularly complicated designs, but I hav
The Law of Conservation of Components
As much as you dig through your CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, you won’t find reference to “The law of conservation of components.” That’s because it’s my law