Future of ic's (DIL versus SMD)?

Mon Sep 30 18:26:00 CEST 1996

     It's a good question so when I got a chance I ran it by one of our 
     distributor representatives (who visits us at work every day or two). 
     He said that the dual-in-line package is here to stay, for several 
     reasons, including third-world country factories and support of 
     existing DIL assembly machinery. However one can expect longer 
     ordering lead-times for some components. We will see...

     They do make sockets for SM parts, to fit them into thru-hole 
     patterns. They're not cheap, however.

     I've soldered wires directly to SM chips and suspended them in mid-air 
     with the wires. Needless to say this is not a very elegant solution 
     and is prone to damage when breathed upon.

     Hand-soldering of SM chips is not too difficult, as long as the PCB 
     has sharp and clearly-defined and well-tinned pads. Unfortunately I 
     don't think you can make your own PCB's to such tolerances at home. 
     Once the SM parts are installed, removal can be a big problem. While 
     it is easy to remove a resistor or capacitor, anything with more than 
     two terminals requires special tools which I have not tried myself.

     - Gene
     gstopp at fibermux.com

______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Future of ic's (DIL versus SMD)?
Author:  Rick Jansen <rick at sara.nl> at ccrelayout
Date:    9/26/96 12:42 PM

In message <960926161431.ZM6807 at eipc22> you write: 
> 
> The way things are going in industry, in 5 to 10 years time it 
> may be a tough job finding any non-smt components. Maybe we'll 
> all be forced to hang up our soldering irons... 

Interesting point! I have no idea wether DIL chips are an 
on-going concern for the semiconductor companies... 
Personally I have never tried to build something with SMD's, 
though Elektor has published a few (very few) projects with 
them.

Anyone with an insight in the future of devices in the regular 
DIL packages?