Hello,
I am currently in the process of developing a PCB board and the IC’s being used are surface mount. The chips are really small and that is what drives my question: How can we prototype small chips like these ? they are too small to hook up to a normal breadboard! is there sockets available in the market that allow you to use regular DIP pins?
thanks ahead,
manuelUCF
There are little conversion boards available that allow you to solder the SMT board to them and then wire wrap to them etc. But it gets costly when you need several.
There are also SMT prototyping boards available.
The cheapest option though is usually just simulate the circuit and build prototypes that can be modified.
Get a hot air gun too.
I just started a new thread regarding a type of SMT packaging for prototyping! Anyway, it really depends on the package. For prototyping, I suggest using the larger through-hole variants if they are available. You can also use adapters like mattylad had suggested, too, and I have to agree that it does get costly.
One trick I learnt in shop class when dealing with SMT components is to apply solder to all the pads on the PCB first. Then place the PCB on an iron (ones you use to iron clothes), then carefully place the SMT components on top.