The Art of PCB Reverse Engineering: Tools & Techniques: January 2020

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

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Occasional Bulk Orders

Among the trilogy of my PCB reverse engineering books, the sequel PCB-RE: Tools & Techniques is the most popular, with the first book The Art of PCB-RE coming in a close second. Sales of these books are quite constant across each month but occasionally there would be a bulk order made, which I suspect were procurement by a company instead of an individual.

Why would I say that? Well, individuals don't just buy 10 or 20 books at one go unless they want to give the books away as Christmas gifts to their friends, and we're talking a big group of friends who have interest in this niche topic. On a company level, however, there are some good reasons to do so:

1. It's core business is providing PCB-RE training to customers and since my books are currently the only available resources on this subject, they are used as a kind of reference textbooks for the training program.

2. It is engaged in PCB-RE products or services and one of the best corporate gifts is books related to their nature of business. It's a kind of reward for loyalty to the company or appreciation for long-term customers.

3. It is advantageous to use the books as attraction at exhibition booths to potential customers looking for a solution to their obsolescence problem, or who are thinking of buying PCB-RE product software or else engaging such services.

The above three points are real-life examples from companies who have ordered from me personally at special rates, instead of ordering online at the retail pricing. But whatever the reasons, I'm grateful for these companies who supported me in honest purchase of my books, and I wish them well in their businesses and future ventures.

Thursday, January 9, 2020

Circuit Topologies

Next to identifying and deciphering components, familiarity with electronic circuit topologies that are common to different PCB types may prove crucial between a prematurely aborted and a successful PCB-RE attempt. The term 'topology' used here is not referring to network theory in the strictest sense that is taught in the classroom; rather, it refers to the 'configuration' or 'model' of a circuit, as in an op-amp configuration or a filter model.

In this respect, any circuit——digital or analog——is made up of a collection of discrete and/or integrated components that conforms to a certain pattern of connectivity to perform a known function. For example, consider the various passive filter topologies made up of LC discrete components:

Depending on the positions and values of the inductors and capacitors, these can form lowpass, high-pass or bandpass filters of either balanced or unbalanced configurations, as shown below:

Then, of course, there are the active filter topologies made up of op-amps and RC discrete components:

This is just a small sample of what circuit topologies is about. There are many types in analog, digital and power circuits across the spectrum of electronics and PCB designs, too numerous to include here. However, there is no reason to despair or become discourage, since these resources can be readily found online in electronics educational sites and discussion forums. Articles and videos are also helpful sources of information or tutorials to increase your knowledge and understanding of how circuits are designed and work.