I need to solder the sensor using SMD method and connect the I/Os to through hole vias in order to begin testing and connecting to my MCU.
I drew the sensor’s layout and footprint, and connected its IOs to vias (through hole type)
What are the next steps in order to send the gerber to manufacture it?
What should I order as extra material to solder it? solder paste, heat gun etc…
I know it’s a simple question as I’m a beginner in this field. I need the PCB asap in order to have time for testing
I seems to me that you want to design a board to just test this single component. Have you considered soldering wires directly to the pads? The pads on the 832M1 look big enough to give it a try.
You can manually solder SMD elements like THT elements - you need not to use paste - tin wets the pads on the board and the element so it will go under element even you have no direct access there.
What is useful is soldering iron with a thin tip, but your SMD element is huge so it may be not necessary.
I have considered that in fact, but I didn’t know that it is a possible method to test it.
do I risk to damage the sensor?
the solder can be removed without having problems later with SMD soldering?
Provided you do not dwell too long with a soldering iron it will not be damaged.
Practice by soldering the end of one wire to another wire.
I’d also suggest the other ends of the six wires are attached (soldered or screwed) to some sort of solid terminal block and the whole lot held in place on a board with double sided sticky tape if you are going to do some testing.
You could also use a piece of blank PC board and score six isolated pads with a sharp knife to solder to both wires and sensor. Much quicker, easier and cheaper than getting a temporary board fabricated.
The solder will mostly just flow onto the iron when you unsolder the wires and what is left will flow onto the pads of your final PCB.
Look for ‘Liquid’ solder paste. Be aware that a lot of it is leaded and not ROHS compliant.
I really recommend a 998D Heat station. CHEAP and CHEERFUL; works very well. I paid about £40 for mine!
The trick with SMD solding is to use a heat-pad or equivalent to preheat the PCB. This allows you to spend less time blowing at it with hot air.
I used to do repair work for MOD based company. We used METCAL rework station which did NOT have hot air. We did all our SMD solding under a binocular microscope with a really really incredibly Fat tip. The large tip on the soldering iron means that the tip doesnt become deprived of heat upon contact and so you spend a lot less time with tip-to-component. Fine tips can not convey enough heat and so you spend a lot more time tip-to-component which destroys components and makes tracks lift. Not recommended. The Metcals are damned expensive.
Also, be very limiting with the amount of rosin based flux if you use any at all. You should not need it if the tracks etc are clean enough. With SMDs and ICs the residues can be very hard to clean out from under the components and will serve to damage performance of the final board, under many circumstances. You can use Isopropanol to clean the flux but you MUST expose your board to some amount of air flow for some time in order to guarantee the alcohol has fully evapourated before you power up your board. The stuff is very flammable and in some cases will flash fry your components. Very much the bad kind of deep fried chips.
You MUST look at the datasheets for the heat tolerances of each component. Heatsinking, a very traditional technique, is not always recommended as on very sensitive components the hot/cold difference can create electrical transients that will fry your component.
Maybe a little more than you need to worry about here. Its not all that bad
And sorry this isnt related but I was searching 998D when I found this
Nah, I started with an early HP with a magnified red led display and a rechargeable nicad battery pack.
When that died, after about 15? years, I slummed it by going to a casio fx100s which I use to this day (and still possess the destruction manual!). It must be over 30 years old now!
@jadkh
For what you are doing here, some thin solder and a clean, reasonably fine tipped, soldering iron should suffice, but as I said, practice on some harmless wire first, and leaded solder is easier to use when you are new to the game and just prototyping.
Just before my matura exam in 1977 I got this one: https://vintage-technology.club/pages/calculators/casio/casiofx17.htm
I used it during all my study. I borrowed it for a day to a friend and he spilled tea with sugar on it and the keys stuck to case, but I managed to clean it and it still works.
I do not use it because the lamp display drains the batteries (4 x AA) quickly.
