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

Friday, June 9, 2017

Why PCB Layout Diagram?

You may be wondering why you need a PCB layout diagram for doing RE work? Well, that depends on your style of working or preference. Some might think it's a hassle and prefer to just photocopy the PCB and use it as the basis to work on the schematics. I won't stop you from doing that, but allow me to give you a word of caution from my own experience—it'll get messy and confusing as you progress, and the less than ideal resolution of most photocopy printout might prove too much for your eyes, especially if the PCB is densely populated; also, if there are missing reference designators, you'll have to manually label them. And each time you screw up and need to redo the printout, it's going to be a perpetual pain you'd wish you had a decent layout diagram to print on demand.


A PCB layout diagram serves the following purposes:

1. Proper documentation of the PCB, including missing reference designators and additional data you might care to put in, such as the BOM side by side for quick reference.

2. Ease of locating specific components since it is in electronic form and therefore searchable even across multiple pages.

3. Facilitate marking (highlighting) of probed points to allow you to view your progress and cut down on repetitive probing, saving time and reducing wear or possible damage to the PCB.

Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)