FEZ pills?

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-02/27/tiny-arm-chip

NXP had these for about 2 or 3 years :slight_smile:

I’m sure i can solder one of those… :whistle:

Dunno what i would need it for but i want some :smiley:

Good for DL modules probably.

Yeah but me thinks due to the pad size not something you or I are likely to be able to use…

I will use these to build an army of really small FEZ robots to take over the world! Bwhahaha </evil_laugh>

Erm, I mean; that’s a pretty neat chip you got there. :whistle:

Good for robotizing roaches (there was a post recently). :smiley:

Honey, I shrunk the FEZ!

I placed one of these on a board and got it going:
http://www.ti.com/product/tmp006

The TMP006 is 1.6mm x 1.6mm with a 3x3 ball arrangement, with 0.5mm between balls

The KL2 is 2mm x 2mm with a 5x4 ball arangement with 0.4mm between balls. Only slightly more dense… :slight_smile:

I wonder if there is a DIY friendly setup to inspect solder job when the parts this small are involved.

@ GMod(Errol) - lubbly jubbly…

I was thinking that a 4x4 grid would require too many pcb layers etc for me to play…

A 4x4 grid is no problem. The problem comes in when both sides have more than 5 rows.

Best you nip on down to Nuremberg and ask for a couple of free samples and whip out the frying pan :whistle:

@ Architect - That is what is needed is a DIY X-Ray inspection machine with AOI built-in too.

How does one connect one of these chips?

It almost looks like BGA like on CPUs; but that wouldn’t make much sense, as you’d need a socket and that would likely take up too much space.

I don’t think there are sockets for chip this small.

Indeed it is BGA (Ball Grid Array). The “balls” are balls of solder, which are soldered onto a corresponding pattern of pads on the PCB. They’re difficult for hobbyists, because it’s a delicate operation to place them correctly and solder all the balls without bridges. It has been done, however, even by at least one of our own, I believe.

BGA are used when size matters, because they’re very compact (no pins sticking out on the sides), and have a higher connector density than QFN-style packages that only have connectors around the edges.

I think that you are thinking of PGA, Pin Grid Array. They had sockets. BGA are always soldered.

Attached is my board for the TPS006, or whatever it is.

The white soldermask square, on red and blue, in the middle is 1.6mm x 1.6mm.

This is an image of the assembled board. The cap in the background is 0402 size. The TPS is a bit skew but it works…

Sorry, this was supposed to have been added to the previous post, but i pressed the wrong button…

That chip looks extremely lonely on that board. :smiley: