connect the top and bottom ground planes at the
PIC18F46J50’s VSS pins. Pin 3 of the ICSP portal is also a
thermal ground feed through. Three other thermal feed
through ground pads can be found at the pair of GND
pads and the ground pin of the external power source
connector. Good examples of feed through vias can be
seen at the tab of the TC1262-3.3 voltage regulator. Feed
through vias are placed everywhere a ground connection
may be pinched off on the top-side ground plane. In all
cases, the bottom ground plane uses the feed through vias
to provide a ground path to the isolated top plane area.
You can explore the various feed through vias, component
connects, and thermal pads by altering the views of the
ExpressPCB files in the download package and comparing
the physical attributes of the PIC18F46J50 daughterboard
to the graphics of Schematic 1.
Our universal design becomes truly universal when it
is mated to external devices. To insure the success of that
merger, all of the PIC18F46J50’s header pads, the ICSP
pads, the pair of thermal GND pads, and the external
power input pads are all on 0.1 inch centers. A fully
populated daughterboard is the focus of Photo 2.
BUILDING AN EDTP MICROSD
INTERFACE CARD
When I got the hots to do this project, I just couldn’t
wait for a PCB. So, I threw together the microSD card
contraption you see in Photo 3. Although it seems to be
solidly constructed in the photograph, it took a couple of
microSD card sockets and a couple of hours to get it all to
stick together. That was enough to slap me back into reality.
The trace elements of the microSD interface card are
routed in Screenshot 5. Pins 1 and 8 are not used in SPI
mode. So, to keep this PCB as small as possible, there are
no header connections for the unused pins.
Clicking on the microSD interface card components
will tell a story that confirms the story being told by
Schematic 1. A pair of pull-up resistors and a pair of
power supply bypass capacitors support the microSD card
socket and a tristate buffer. The MC74VHC1GT125DT
tristate buffer isolates the microSD card’s output which
allows other SPI devices to be serviced from the host’s SPI
portal.
The interface card headers are labeled from the
microSD card perspective. SDO — which is Microchip for
MISO (Master In Slave Out) — connects to the
PIC18F46J50’s SDI pin. SDI is Microchip for Master Out
Slave In (MOSI) and connects to the PIC18F46J50’s SDO
pin. The PIC18F46J50 is the SPI master device and
provides the clock which emanates from the
PIC18F46J50’s CLK pin. The microSD card and the tristate
buffer outputs are activated with a low-going logic level on
the CS pin. The header silkscreen legends are visible in
Screenshot 6.
■ PHOTO 4. This is a bit prettier than the lashup in Photo 3
and much easier to assemble and use.
DESIGN CYCLE
■ PHOTO 2. It’s all here
except the header pins.
The same ground
plane logic we used
on the daughterboard
is extended to the
microSD card interface
design. Note the
thermal feed through
at the GND pin and
the top-side ground
plane component
connections in
Screenshot 7. The
assembled EDTP
microSD interface card
you see in Photo 4 measures in at 0.675 x 1.10 inches.
■ PHOTO 3. Not only is this ugly,
it’s hard work.
LOADING THE BOAT
As I mentioned earlier, we’re probably going to need
an extra board or two to tie everything into a useful
design. In that the microSD interface card headers won’t
directly line up with the PIC18F46J50 daughterboard
headers, we’re going to need to add a motherboard to
provide a means to make the necessary connections.
Behold Photo 5. Now you know why I kept calling the
November 2010 57