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C

Continuum

Jan 1, 1970
0
What is the difference between hole mounted components and surface
mounted components?

Which is better?
 
B

Ban

Jan 1, 1970
0
Continuum said:
What is the difference between hole mounted components and surface
mounted components?

Which is better?

There is no difference electrically, just size and package.
Since there is no difference, the question of better doesn't even arise. You
just take whatever is your preference.
 
B

Bob Myers

Jan 1, 1970
0
Continuum said:
What is the difference between hole mounted components and surface
mounted components?

Which is better?

"Hole mounted" (i.e., "conventional lead") components have
long leads (attached pins or wires) which are intended to
go through plated holes in printed-circuit boards, and then
are soldered into place (either by hand or via various automated
methods, the most common/generic type being "wave"
soldering). "Surface-mount" components are just what the name
implies - rather than wirelike leads, these components generally
have short tabs with flat surfaces, or often simply metal "bumps"
on the sides/bottom of the package, which are placed against
conductive pads (without holes) on the surface of the PC board.
Such components are typically placed into position on the board
using automated "pick and place" equipment, held there via an
adhesive paste (often the same paste which carries the solder),
and soldered to the pads using various "reflow" methods
(in which the solder paste is melted - "reflowed" - in place,
AFTER being deposited, to create the soldered connection).

Which is better is too open-ended a question - better from
what perspective? SM components will often (if properly
placed and soldered) result in a more reliable product, are
certainly smaller (allowing more components per unit area),
and with little or no leads to speak of, SM components don't
have the problems which result from "parasitic" lead inductance
(such as lowered self-resonant frequencies for capacitors, etc.).
On the other hand, they're certainly more difficult for the hobbyist
to deal with (and even for pros to deal with, without the proper
equipment) in terms of construction, probing, and servicing of SM-
technology boards. Surface mount technology has become the
manufacturing method of choice for most high-volume electronics
production (which has had the side effect of making conventional
through-hole versions of some parts somewhat more difficult to find),
but may not be the best choice for low-volume production or for t
he hobbyist.

Bob M.
 
P

PeteS

Jan 1, 1970
0
<< There is no difference electrically, just size and package.>>

True at a basic level, but not at high frequencies. Bob noted lower
parasitics, and that's important in high speed interconnects (in fact,
even 0603 has high parasitics when presented with 2.5Gb/s pairs). For
really high speed stuff (up to 10Gb/s pairs) we're moving to 0201 and
even 01005 for things like series caps and pullups.

I agree with you that in a lot of cases, you choose what you prefer (or
need for the product), though.

Cheers

PeteS
 
B

Ban

Jan 1, 1970
0
PeteS said:
<< There is no difference electrically, just size and package.>>

True at a basic level, but not at high frequencies. Bob noted lower
parasitics, and that's important in high speed interconnects (in fact,
even 0603 has high parasitics when presented with 2.5Gb/s pairs). For
really high speed stuff (up to 10Gb/s pairs) we're moving to 0201 and
even 01005 for things like series caps and pullups.

I agree with you that in a lot of cases, you choose what you prefer
(or need for the product), though.

Cheers

PeteS

Right, but 1GHz and up has never been done with through-hole parts. People
used stripline with special HF parts and it hasn't changed that much today.
And if the OP has to asked this question, he will not be into this kind of
specialized engineering, but maybe wants to make a white LED supply which
also pulses or is fading.
For the normal hobbyist level it is actually easier to work with reasonably
sized SMD parts. Very important are some intelligently applied design rules
(here lies often the beginners fault) which usually require to modify each
of the library parts. Hand-soldering requires specialized pads, keep-out
areas, you also need to modify the silk-screen, so when a beginner uses the
standard lib parts, he will place the components too close, the distance
between signal and ground-pour is too small etc.etc. This will lead to
frustration and failure in getting the circuit running. On the hobbyist
level a certain understanding is needed, so it might be better to get some
experience with soldering leaded parts...
 
C

Continuum

Jan 1, 1970
0
Thanks everyone for your extremely quick and well detailed responses.

I was just wondering as I am just starting out with my electronics
hobby and was
wondering if learning to make PCB's is worth my time or if i should
just use surface
mounted.
 
P

Peter Bennett

Jan 1, 1970
0
Thanks everyone for your extremely quick and well detailed responses.

I was just wondering as I am just starting out with my electronics
hobby and was
wondering if learning to make PCB's is worth my time or if i should
just use surface
mounted.

If you use surface mount parts, you _need_ a PC board. Circuits using
through-hole parts can be made on perf board.
 
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