Why Use Surface Mount Technology?
SMDs have improved performance over through-hole components due to their smaller size, shorter internal leads, and smaller board layouts. These factors reduce the circuits parasitic inductance and capacitance. SMDs can also be more cost effective than traditional through-hole components due to the smaller board size, fewer board layers, and fewer holes. SMDs can also be easier to replace than through-hole components on multilayer boards. This is because it is very difficult to heat the long hole on a multilayer board, but much easier to heat just the pad and component terminal of an SMD on the surface of a board. This article is for those technicians and small manufacturers who would like to learn about and experiment with SMDs, yet do not initially have access to professional SMD rework stations, solder pastes, hot air jets, or illuminated magnifiers. SMDs can be challenging to solder, so it is best to learn general soldering skills on larger components before attempting to work with
