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

Thursday, July 2, 2020

The Company That Nobody Leaves

These days it's hard to find a company that provides job satisfaction and continuous career growth path to retain valuable employees. At the same time, it's definitely harder to find loyal employees who will stick with a company through thick and thin. That's why Linear Technologies stands out among the myriads of electronics component manufacturers with one of the lowest staff turnover rate. So what is their secret?


Besides the solid engineering foundation and strong legacies left behind by its founders and legends in the analog design world, the company's top management believes in one important virtue: PATIENCE. What that means is, they value their engineers' passion and ideas, and give them the time and personal space to bring out their best ideas and innovations. They are able to achieve this remarkable feat by reducing company politics to near zero and bureaucratic processes to a minimum.

Incidentally, the above portraits of Linear Technologies' past design gurus are featured in my sequel book, PCB-RE: Tools & Techniques. There are many other engineering anecdotes that will inspire you and give you one of the best reading experience that a good engineering book should.


Click on the book cover to order your copy on Amazon now.

Note: As of August 2016, Linear Technologies was acquired by Analog Devices, Inc.

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