Resources: * Stencils* AVR Dx/Ex for Arduino* Modern tinyAVR for Arduino* Classic ATTinyCore
To buy them, go to my Tindie store - the pages below will contain essentially a brief listing of what's available, and link to further documentation if such is felt appropriate and necessary, and it has been written.
As the maintainer of of ATTinyCore and creator of megaTinyCore and DxCore, I think it's fair to say I'm somewhat of an authority on the modern AVRs. I breakout boards for most tinyAVR and AVR Dx-series parts, and AVR64EA48 bboards are coming very soon along with AVR128DB64, AVR128DB48 and two nano-inspired designs, the Azduino Nano DB (AVR128DB32), as well as the ultramini series of tiny and lowpincount devices only made in surface mount packages; These are mounted on tiny PCBs that, using machined pin header, will fit into normal narrow PDIP (0.3" row spacing. They also all have an extra 3-pin 0.1"-spacing connection point for a 3-pin programming header, or you can use "test probes".
Ultramini: tinyAVR and DD20 sized to fit a DIP socket Order Today! Additional documentation
tinyAVR Pro
AVR Dx/Ex Pro
Azduino Nano Dx
Through-hole prototyping boards - make a DIY breakout board and prototyping area with the chip and a few common components, with markings and connections appropriate for the part in question
We sell a variety of premium quality prototyping board. This is very similar to what is sometimes called solderable breadboard, perma-proto board, Veroboard, and so on. Stripboard is very similar. This product line was created owing to our utter disappointment with the currently available options. Typically single sided and of poor build quality, these boards are typically a disappointment. Most have no surface treatment, rendering the copper entirely exposed to the air, ledading to a loss of solderability. The PCB material generally ranges from cheap phenolic (that brown stuff that breaks really easilly, to the strange blue-n-chewy material of Veroboard. Solder mask is almost unheardof; Pads often lift (due to general low quality process and the lack of soldermask*. Stripboard requires you to use a tool to cut the copper in each strip. Some prototyping board consists of a nice grid of plated through holes. None connected to eachother or anything... just a grid of holes. I don't know about you, but when I'm using prototyping board, I usually want to do more than just connect every pin to itself, and that means some very ugly soldering work, most prototyping board is crap in at least one way, and most of it is in multiple ways. Either that, or it's eyewateringly expensive and mimics solderless breadboard - and the limitations of the layout on solderless breadboard. There's a place for that I suppose, but it's not here.
We have taken prototyping board to a new level. All of these boards are fabricated through the same exact process as any of our other PCBs (there are I think 3 exceptions that are made with a different process - we have one 4-layer protoboard with the inner layers for shielding, and our heavy-duty MOSFET boards are made with 2oz copper, and we may launch a pair of aluminum-substrate LED panels). Some of our latest versions even have ENIG surface treatment (the rest have HASL) We have these in MANY syles, so have a look at the full list.
Most people have heard of the miracle of MOSFETs and the advantages they offer over older technologies like BJTs. This comes down to two fundamental differences:
This leads to MOSFETs, used correctly, dissipating a fraction of what the "BJT solution" would while switching a load like that, which allows lower overall power consumption and less waste heat. Certainly, in the steady state, 20A continuous and a good sized power MOSFET should barely make it warm... if your fet has
We offer breakout boards with FETs ranging from small signal MOSFETs in SOT23 up to the beefiest transistors made in SOT-23 up to 4-channel high current FETs rated for tens of Amperes, including some options with a "gate driver" to permit a higher voltage the controlling logic to switch the MOSFET, and allowing PWM frequencies far higher that could be achieved by directly driving a gate from a microcontroller pin (anyone who tells you that you can generate 15 kHz PWM on a microcontroller, and directly switch a 10-20A load with that is either mistaken, or lying. If they're trying to sell you MOSFETs, and they're not the manufacturer, the latter is more likely. (Manufacturers very rarely straight up lie - they may be misleading, they highlight meaningless stats that look good rather than important ones that look bad, and so on - but they very rarely outright lie.
As we have found many people are unaware the basics of MOSFETs while in the midst of projects involving them, we have produce an guide to how MOSFETs work from the perspective of the user (there is no discussion of the underlying physics - that belongs in another document, as it has little bearing on how we use MOSFETs. If you want to learn how to use a MOSFET as an electrically controlled switch - their normal use - and how using PWM can cauise problems, and how to prevent those problems, written from a practical perspective with as little dropping into theory as possible, and you're not already an expert on these, this guide will probably be useful. On the other hand if you want to undersand how a charge between two parts of the silicon die causes the resistance between one of those, and another part of the silicon die to fall from near infinity to near zero, to learn about the concepts of carriers and enhancement and depletion zones - this is not the guide for you.
Note that the above guide covers only "normal" MOSFETs, not the ones made from exotic semiconductors like GaNFETs or SiCFETs, nor IGBTs,
MOSFET board index
The RN2383 is a very popular LoRaWAN transciver (the the part numbers reflect different frequencies required by nationial telecom rules - RN2383 = Europe, 868 and 434 MHz. RN2903 US, Canada, most of the Americas) (915 MHz - no low frequency - the FCC places draconian restrictions on the use of the 433 MHz band in terms of not only power but maximum transmission duration - you can in fact violate FCC rules with just a 40 cent 433 MHZ RF transmitterfrom aliexpress and a source of power. Simply tie the data pin to Vcc, apply power, and you're now violating FCC regulations. These regulations were intended as a way to prevent consumer devices from interfering with eachother, but they are so restrictive that the preclude many uses on the 433 MHz band, including LoRaWAN (they also appear to be effectively unenforced in the 433 MHz band unless someone is engaging in flagrantly antisocial behavior, eg, jamming or unauthorized access (open EVERY GARAGE DOOR and ring EVERY REMOTE DOORBELL as you drive around, also drowning out any legitimate traffic at 433MHz). In any event - I don't think we're missing much - out of all the people who ordered RN2383 board and added an optional antenna, customers who wanted a 433 MHz antenna have been a tiny minority, while the 868 MHz one is quite popular).
Nobody likes hand soldering them newfangled packages like QFN or DFN but there are some things that can be done to make the process easier. The major manfacturers of breakout boards for ICs in general don't do many of them sometimes any of them - and yet if you try to find a breakout board for a QFN-20 or QFN12 - they'll charge you an arm and a leg, and you'll get a few copies of a marginal breakout board. We charge between 50 cents and $2 depending on the size of the board, and sell in packs priced between $4 and $8, which is what a leading manufacturer of similar breakout boards charges for a single one of their uninspiring breakout boards, and we add helpful features like: