Mentor Blogs

Component Lead Forms Before we go deeper into the various component families, we need to clarify the component lead forms of today’s component packaging technology and what is going to be eventually phased out and what is new and why. The pin (component lead) pitch and the overall body height are continually shrinking. This is why the SSOP and TSOP land pattern names have to be dropped from the standard. … Read More

library tools, CAD

SOT (Small Outline Transistor) Components The SOT23 is the most popular of this component family. It has 3, 5, 6 and 8 pin variations and 3 popular pin pitches. 0.50 mm Pitch 0.65 mm Pitch 0.95 mm Pitch  Note: All pictures are shown in the “Nominal Environment” land pattern. Figure 19 illustrates 0.5 mm pitch SOT23 3-pin and 8-pin examples. FIGURE 19 0.5 mm pitch SOT23 fanout … Read More

library tools, CAD

Molded Body Components The next most popular component family on a PCB design layout is the Molded Body Tantalum Capacitor (CAPM). The CAPM components have an “L-Bend” component lead form. Most Molded Body Tantalum Capacitors are metric by default including their standard EIA names – 3216 – 3.2 mm X 1.6 mm 6032 – 6.0 mm X 3.2 mm 7243 - 7.2 mm X 4.3 mm 7343 – 7.3 mm X 4.3 mm The … Read More

library tools, CAD, CAD Library

CFD, Giving Our Prototype Machinists a Break Computational fluid dynamics, of CFD, was a central focus of recent industry events, and I find the topic keeps cropping up in mil/aero discussions of late. In fact, CFD simulation tools are increasingly being employed by military prime contractors (aka, primes) to meet contract requirements, such as survivability in extreme environments and temperatures, … Read More

Mentor.com, Mentor Graphics, Hardware, aluminum, Azonix, Heat Sink, Mechanical, Mentor, Aerospace, Embedded Systems, Copper, Crane, Engineer, CAD, FloEFD, CFD, Design Automation, Mil-Aero, Thermal, Vetronics, Software, Terra Server, Model, prototype, Milaero, Military

Chip Components Smaller Than 1608 (EIA 0603) Before you read this blog ‘Part 2″, read Part 1 White Paper of this series - “PCB Design Perfection Starts in the CAD Library” for the introduction information. Download it here - http://www.mentor.com/products/pcb-system-design/techpubs/download?id=60454 Parts 3, 4, 5 etc. will be posted here over the next couple weeks. I’m really looking forward to … Read More

library tools, CAD

I normally don’t do posts about these kinds of things but I was really excited to hear this. Recently FloEFD was given an EDN Magazine’s Hot 100 Electronic Products for 2009 award. The Hot 100 consists of EDN’s list of “the products and technologies that in 2009 heated up the electronics world and grabbed the attention of our editors and our readers.” Fantastic! I know I’m a proud parent but FloEFD … Read More

Concurrent CFD, EDN Hot 100, CAD, FloEFD, Physical Prototype, Electronics Cooling, Embedded