Tool/software:
Please see circled component (Capacitor?) on my recently purchased IWR6843ISK. Is this a defect, and if yes, should I care? (it seems to output point cloud data but I haven't had a chance to analyse it yet). If I should care, is it simply a matter of soldering to the pad marked "C" to the left? Or should I return the board? My board doesn't match photos on the web (different rev I suppose).
Cliff,
Welcome to the TI E2E forums!
You have the latest revision of the IWR6843ISK EVM (rev D.). What you are looking at is C104. It is part of the RF2 Supply. The empty pad is not actually a pad for C104. It is a pad for C103, which is DNP. The silver surface you see is actually tied to GND. So to save space, these caps use the exposed ground plane as their second pad. You can also see this enacted with C102, just to the 5:00 position of your green circle.
This is documented in the design files found on the IWR6843ISK page of TI.com. I've linked it directly here: https://www.ti.com/lit/zip/swrr164
So, no defect here. I hope this helps! Feel free to post more questions in the forums as you continue your designs!
Thanks!
Blake
