Here's a matrix of tiny PCBs. The array will be assembled, then snipped apart, and the little boards will be hand soldered as surface-mount components onto a bigger PCB. There are glob-topped BGA GanFets on this, and if they blow up the baby board can be replaced. They would be a nightmare to rework on the main board.
-- John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc picosecond timing precision measurement jlarkin att highlandtechnology dott com http://www.highlandtechnology.com
How do you heat sink them?
The boards are 32 mils thick, 2 oz copper. They get some heat sinking through the solder joints to the main board power planes, and there will be a silicone gap-pad between the baby boards and a water-cooled aluminum baseplate.
The chip-scale EPC Gan fets are scary. They are so small that it's hard to get enough copper into them to conduct the heat away. And it's tough to etch really fine features into 2 oz copper. The EPC rep says that they will never offer a packaged part.
This is our second try. We had etching problems first version, about
20% PCB assembly yield.-- John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc picosecond timing precision measurement jlarkin att highlandtechnology dott com http://www.highlandtechnology.com
I fear these will go the same route as fast PNP's. Few designers will be interested in tackling the heat sink problems and problems with fracture.
Sales will not support the cost of the devices. They will stop making them.
If they made a packaged part, things might be different.
Not packaging must make the parts really cheap to make. They can scribe a wafer into hundreds of thousands of parts ready to sell.
Their market is small, high-frequency, high power switching power supplies, not low volume stuff like our products. I don't think the high volume manufacturers mind assembling stuff like this. Some cell phone parts are 0.2 mm pitch.
-- John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc picosecond timing precision measurement jlarkin att highlandtechnology dott com http://www.highlandtechnology.com
The only thing I understand about that is the cork? What is that machine?
looks like a nibbler, that black steel hook descends between the aluminium rails taking a chomp out of anything that gets in its way.
That's not a cork. its a sintered bronze air silencer.
eg:
--
?
It's nose picker, size large.
NT
OK, thank you!
Its a de-paneler
Nah, there are too many SMPS applications where those are the bee's knees.
Cheers
Phil Hobbs
-- Dr Philip C D Hobbs Principal Consultant ElectroOptical Innovations LLC / Hobbs ElectroOptics Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics Briarcliff Manor NY 10510 http://electrooptical.net http://hobbs-eo.com
7 mils is large; 3 mils methinks is closer to repeatable PCB fab limit.
I think he means the pin pitch on the parts. But even that shouldn't be a big deal for anyone as they are using much smaller passive parts than 0.2mm pitch. Very few IC parts are actually 0.2 mm pitch while 0.4 mm pitch is quite common.
Rick C.
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