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Offline Alex EisenhutTopic starter

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Blue components
« on: August 09, 2014, 05:44:56 am »
Found a Motorola X8 mobile computer on the ground, actually a car drove over it so it was easy to take apart!

The PCB was surprisingly clean but all the RF cans had the shape of the parts inside stamped in... (shoulda taken a pic   :-[ )

After I popped all the cans off, the one thing that stood out to me was these blue parts near the GPS chipset. What's that about?

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Offline SeanB

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Re: Blue components
« Reply #1 on: August 09, 2014, 06:06:46 am »
Most likely low value capacitors used with the chipset, likely NPO ceramic capacitors. You can see them used to couple the differential lines into and out of the chip to the other parts, likely used so that there is no change in value with time, temperature and voltage.
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Offline SirNick

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Re: Blue components
« Reply #2 on: August 12, 2014, 08:01:30 pm »
I dunno, the dot kinda looks like a polarity marking. (?)
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Offline Stonent

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Re: Blue components
« Reply #3 on: August 12, 2014, 08:15:02 pm »
Quote from: SirNick on August 12, 2014, 08:01:30 pm
I dunno, the dot kinda looks like a polarity marking. (?)

Well in that case, maybe tantalums.
« Last Edit: August 12, 2014, 08:21:25 pm by Stonent »
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Offline SeanB

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Re: Blue components
« Reply #4 on: August 12, 2014, 08:25:12 pm »
Definitely not tantalum caps, they could be unmarked SMD resistors though. Could even be a mix, as small SMD parts tend to look alike when small enough, and as they are placed by a PNP off a reel it makes no difference actually having them all look the same and unmarked, it makes the camera alignment for placement easier to handle.
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Offline SirNick

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Re: Blue components
« Reply #5 on: August 12, 2014, 09:47:19 pm »
Based on the placement, the beige ones seem like caps.  (A few series caps, but mostly looks like rail decoupling.)  So yeah, kinda looking like resistors with a funky color scheme, and a dot for who knows what purpose.
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Offline Alex EisenhutTopic starter

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Re: Blue components
« Reply #6 on: August 13, 2014, 03:37:55 am »
Most likely microwave resistors with the film on the bottom side. But I didn't find a manufacturer with exactly that color scheme.

Eh, if it rains tomorrow I'll unsolder a few and look closer.
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Online T3sl4co1l

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Re: Blue components
« Reply #7 on: August 13, 2014, 04:05:22 am »
I vote for resistors, but that off-center dot is oddly conspicuous.  They don't seem to be arranged in any obvious patterns, but the board appears to have filled (laser drilled?) vias, so they can do that -- no need for vias set off to the side of pads, they can just place them wherever.

The tan parts are definitely high-K ceramic capacitors, bypass or what have you; also appears to be some ferrite beads (black), though they could also be resistors by a different manufacturer.

The chip is a:

Qualcomm 28 nm Mass Market LTE/DC-HSPA+ Chipsets for Mobile Broadband Products (Press Release Feb. 14, 2011)

Which I guess should be unsurprising.

Good luck finding a datasheet; I'm sure you have to join seven different $10k+/yr organizations, plus signing their mile-long NDAs, before you get to see the product brief, let alone the full spec sheet.

I notice Qualcomm's website is fantastically vapid, literally devoid of content; all I can see is marketing splooge.  I guess this should be unsurprising for businesses with such a market model.

Tim
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Offline Alex EisenhutTopic starter

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Re: Blue components
« Reply #8 on: August 13, 2014, 03:33:27 pm »
Well it's raining today now all I need is to find my fine tip...
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Offline Alex EisenhutTopic starter

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Re: Blue components
« Reply #9 on: August 13, 2014, 10:51:11 pm »
Ta dah!

Murata 0201 chip inductors!

http://www.murata.com/new/news_release/2012/0925/images/ind_img02.jpg

I did not know such parts were made. Cars need to drive over expensive electronics more often.
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Offline Stonent

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Re: Blue components
« Reply #10 on: August 14, 2014, 12:51:00 am »
I had considered a coil because of it being blue.  Today interestingly enough I found an 0806 blue thing with white dot on the antenna section of a BT module.
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Offline SirNick

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Re: Blue components
« Reply #11 on: August 14, 2014, 03:33:51 am »
That... is a lot of inductors.
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Offline Alex EisenhutTopic starter

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Re: Blue components
« Reply #12 on: August 14, 2014, 03:39:52 am »
Quote from: SirNick on August 14, 2014, 03:33:51 am
That... is a lot of inductors.

I'm baffled too.
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Offline jeremy

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Re: Blue components
« Reply #13 on: August 14, 2014, 04:12:21 am »
Damn, didn't get here fast enough  ;)

Yep inductors, if you look at em under the microscope it is obvious. You find them a lot in old nokia phones around the RF bits.
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Offline Alex EisenhutTopic starter

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Re: Blue components
« Reply #14 on: August 14, 2014, 04:38:56 am »
Quote from: jeremy on August 14, 2014, 04:12:21 am
Damn, didn't get here fast enough  ;)

Yep inductors, if you look at em under the microscope it is obvious. You find them a lot in old nokia phones around the RF bits.

Sorry, don't see it. Just looked at 100x and 400x with a lab microscope, it's just featureless blue paint on a ceramic chip.
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Offline jeremy

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Re: Blue components
« Reply #15 on: August 14, 2014, 04:58:09 am »
Interesting, well I have definitely seen the exact same parts, but the blue was sort of transparent and you could see the tiny winding. Perhaps it was cheaper to move to full ceramic?
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Online T3sl4co1l

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Re: Blue components
« Reply #16 on: August 14, 2014, 05:27:47 am »
Oh, I've used those, the blue resin capped ones from Abracon I think?  I don't recall that they go real teeny, but then, the ones I used were 1008, monsters next to this stuff ;)

Tim
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Offline Stonent

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Re: Blue components
« Reply #17 on: August 14, 2014, 08:14:23 am »

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Offline Alex EisenhutTopic starter

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Re: Blue components
« Reply #18 on: August 14, 2014, 12:35:30 pm »
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