FEATURED VIDEO
SMT Component Sizes
Here’s a look at a few of the SMT package sizes we use at our contract manufacturing facility in the northeastern United States.
In addition to using the smallest 01005 components in our high-mix facility, we are seeing ever more complex circuity packed into the small 0402 and 0201 packages. This allows us to design and manufacture very small printed circuit board assemblies with component density of 350 parts per square inch.
Video Transcript
SMT or Surface mount technology components are… really small.
Today we’ll look at a few of the package sizes we use at our manufacturing facility in the northeastern united states.
For size comparison, this through-hole component is about the smallest part we used when we started Z-AXIS in 1989.
This equivalent SMT component is in an 0805 package – it’s .08 by .05 inches (about 2 x 1.3 mm).
• This is an 0603
• This is an 0402 – .04 by .02 inches (about 1 x .5 mm)
• This is an 0201
• and this is the smallest SMT package – an 01005
For US manufacturing, 0603s and 0402s are the most common and the use of 0201s is growing. 01005s are still mainly used in very high-volume offshore manufacturing, but we do occasionally use them in our high-mix process here in New York.
This is a small outline diode package, or SOD-523. It has leads that extend out from the end of the 1.25 x .85 mm package.
And now we are packing ever more complex circuitry into these small-format packages. For example this IC is a regulator boost circuit, in a ball grid array package – or BGA. The leads are on the bottom of the package.
And this is a complete DC-DC converter – essentially a capacitor mounted over other components on a tiny circuit board with leads on the bottom – to form a single surface-mount component.
The small components and ICs allow smaller, denser printed circuit board assemblies, for example this board with 44 parts – or 350 parts per square inch – including some of the micro BGAs.
It takes some fairly sophisticated equipment and processes to place and solder these SMT packages with high yield and high reliability. Much of it is done with the robotic pick and place line. The components, on reels of tape, and are fed into the pick and place machine, where a robotic head picks them off the tape and places them on the printed circuit board.
After soldering, the boards are separated (or depaneled) using a laser for narrow, precise cuts with no stress on the components.
The small components, and sophisticated equipment to handle them, along with rigorous processes and training, allow us to reliably produce the compact PCB assemblies that our customers require.
Contact us to learn more about SMT contract manufacturing in the USA.