Re: gEDA-user: OT: Search for good SMD and IC prober

[Gabriel Paubert <paubert@xxxxxxx>]

On Fri, Feb 05, 2010 at 09:06:34PM +0900, Torsten Wagner wrote:
> Dear geda users,
> 
> I know it is off topic but I guess it is somehow related to PCB and
> many of you face the same problem or found already a solution.
> I am looking for a good set of micro probes to address single pins of
> ICs or other SMD components on a PCB. I saw some kit which looks very
> promising but a bit pricey [1] however, 

Down to 0.2mm (8mil pitch)? That's half the smallest pitch I've seen.
Can such a pitch be soldered, even with paste printing and reflow?

> I'm still unsure about which
> kind of systems exist and what might be considered as good and what is
> actually not worse the money. Actually, I am looking for something to
> contact single legs of SMD-packed ICs for debugging and testing
> purpose. I tried a very cheap clamps [2], however, they are not really
> good for my purpose and the clamps are weak and inaccurate. Most
> probably o.k. for the price but I am looking for something more
> reliable and precise.

It also depends on what you want to measure, only a voltage or do
you want to look at the signal with a scope, up to which frequency?

If it's for debugging, you probably want the connection to be reliable,
and in this case nothing beats soldering a wire (the clips of my 
LeCroy scope work down to 0.5mm pitch, but they are fragile and they 
easilsy snap off when moving something around).

However, at high frequencies, even a fairly short wire can cause
significant distortion.

For testing/verification after production, when you only need the
contact for a short time, you can find very thin tungsten probes 
that give good contact (either for multimeters or for scopes).

	Gabriel


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