So I’m working on a board that will have a chip in a DFN package on it. DFN is essentially the same as QFN except that it only has leads on two sides. How does one go about soldering such a beast? Not only are the leads almost completely on the bottom of the chip, but there’s even a center pad! For the rest of the pads on the board I was thinking I might make the pads a little long so that they stuck out from beneath the chip. Then with a really fine soldering iron tip I’m hoping I can individually heat up each pad. But what about the center one? Argh.
Is the only way to do this with a hot air station? I’ve been thinking about getting one - but I don’t want to get a Hakko knockoff (I don’t like to support companies that blatantly rip off other people’s designs) and I also don’t want to go broke… Argh again.