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MSP430 chip mounting options

Brock
Intellectual 970 points

Other Parts Discussed in Thread: MSP430F2619

I'm investigating my options for attaching my chip to my PCB. I was going to originally have it soldered on a surface mount board and access the chip via JTAG but I'm wondering if I have other options that would allow me to swap out the chip in case something would happen(voltage spike) without having to swap out the board too. I could use something like a ZIF socket such as the ones used on the target boards but that is a little too bulky for what I'm looking for. Are there other options I have? A device here in my shop has a chip that you 'snap' into a sort of socket that is soldered into a the pcb...but i'm not familiar with what those are called. I think the lack of terminology is keeping me from what I want to find. What are my options?

  • Guru 17650 points

    Hi Brock,

    since you didn't mention which device you want to use one can only guess! Well, there are a lot of companies out there selling 'breakout boards' like these: http://www.nkcelectronics.com/tssop-to-dip-adapter-28pin-065mm-28065.html .

    So, search the web for one suitable for your device!

    Rgds
    aBUGSworstnightmare

  • in reply to Joerg Quinten
    Intellectual 970 points

    hey abugs, nice to see you back on teh boards...I'm using the MSP430F2619, 64pin.

     

    Thanks for the link I will check it out!

  • in reply to Brock
    Intellectual 970 points

    Ah i think this is exactly what i was looking for.

  • in reply to Brock
    Intellectual 970 points

    Do i have any options for a socket type connection? Is the idea behind the breakout board you linked to solder some headers into the holes and plug those into a socket soldered onto the PCB?

  • in reply to Brock
    Guru 17650 points

    Hi Brock,

    yes, that's the idea behind the breakout boards. You can solder the chip too, and the insert the board into a socket, solder it to your target, solder wires to it, or whatever.

    They are good for prototyping but too expensive to be used for product development (since you're still in need for a second PCB).

    Rgds
    aBUGSworstnightmare

  • in reply to Joerg Quinten
    Guru 227245 points

    aBUGSworstnightmare said:
    They are good for prototyping but too expensive to be used for product development (since you're still in need for a second PCB).

    Yes and no. It highly depends on what you're doing. A breakpout PCB from 3rd party is a nice thing if you have SMD parts and want to use them for experiments on a breadboard. And then the high costs for this kind of pcb won't count as much as tehy woudl if you want to use it in production.

    But if you're already doing your own PCBs, nothign will keep you from doing your own breakout PCB. It is small and if ordered in nubmers, it will cost only a few cents each.
    The connectors needed are by far the more expensive part. And you can avoid them by soldering the breakout pad directly onto the target PCB. Use a thin PCB type (0.5mm) and route all the pins to the border. This way, if you need to replace teh processor, you can just desolder the breakout pcb (which is easy due to the fact that the edges of the breakout will help splitting the solder points) and put on the next one. It's easier and less destructive the the copper pads on the base PCB than desoldering and resoldering the processor directly. It also allows re-using the processor if you fried the surrounding circuit.

    There is, however, some thing to consider:  If you're using external crytals, the additional copper and tin increases the parasitic capacitance on the cpu/crystal connection, resulting in altered conditions for the load capacitors. Unless oyu include the crystal pads on the beakout PCB.

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