To My Readers



If this is the first time you're visiting my blog, thank you. Whether you're interested or just curious to find out about PCB reverse engineering (PCB-RE), I hope you'll find something useful here.

This blog contains many snippets of the content in my books to provide a more detailed overall sampling for my would-be readers to be better informed before making the purchase. Of course, the book contains more photos and nice illustrations, as evidence from its cover page. Hopefully, this online trailer version will whet your appetite enough to want to get a copy for yourself.

Top Review

I started doing component level repair of electronics with (and without) schematics more than 40 years ago, which activity often involves reverse-engineering of printed circuit boards. Although over the years my technical interests have shifted into particle beam instrumentation, electron microscopy, and focused ion beam technology fields, till this day——and more often than not——PCB repairs have returned multiple multi-million-dollar accelerators, FIB, and SEM instruments back to operation, delivering great satisfaction and some profit.

Many of the methods described by Keng Tiong in great details are similar to the approaches I've developed, but some of the techniques are different, and as effective and useful as efficient and practical. Systematic approach and collection of useful information presented in his books are not only invaluable for a novice approaching PCB-level reverse engineering, but also very interesting reading and hands-on reference for professionals.

Focus on reverse engineering instead of original design provides unique perspective into workings of electronics, and in my opinion books by Keng Tiong (I've got all three of them) are must-read for anybody trying to develop good understanding of electronics——together with writings by Paul Horowitz and Winfield Hill, Phil Hobbs, Jim Williams, Bob Pease, Howard Johnson and Martin Graham, Sam Goldwasser, and other world's top electronics experts.

Valery Ray
Particle Beam Systems Technologist

Monday, March 20, 2017

Basic Preparation Work

"If you know both yourself and your enemy, you can win numerous (literally, a hundred) battles without jeopardy."
Sun Tze, The Art of War, c. 544-496 BC

The same is true when it comes to reverse engineering a PCB. I have mentioned previously the background that is expected of you—that's knowing your abilities and the areas you may be lacking for a start. Not that you can't start right away. It'll be good though to make an inventory list of the areas you need to brush up and get back up to speed, and where you really need to put in effort to build up that knowledge.

As for knowing your enemy—well, that's what Chapter 2 is all about!


Getting to Know Your PCB

I don't know about you, but as an electronics engineer, being able to look at a PCB and appreciate the ingenuity of the designer that brought it into existence, from initial ideas to implementation, from its baseline specifications to its intended functions, and from the choice of components to its final layout to achieve the best possible use of limited board space, it's more than just engineering and planning. There is an artistic beauty that is visible only to the initiated, and a hidden gem that is revealed to the keen-eyed. In every PCB there is a treasure to be discovered, some coveted design knowledge to be gained; and that is a strong enough reason and motivation for the hard work ahead.

Here are the key areas you need to pay attention to and gather as much information as you can before launching into the deep:

1.   Accessibility (probe points)
2.   Bill of materials
3.   Conformal coating
4.   Datasheets

I call these the ABCD's of preparation work. By working through these key areas, you'll gain a better overall picture of a PCB, which may help you decide if it's feasible to attempt, if you have the time and ability to do it, and whether it's worth the effort or not.
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