Introduction: Smart IC Tester

By Visit my Website
About: A New York City based creative technologist who loves designing pretty PCBs and playing around with LEDs ❤️. I am currently pursuing my master's degree in design and technology from Parsons School of Design.

We all know what IC Testers do... but for those who don't - IC Testers are devices which are used to test Integrated Circuits by sending in Pulses as per their Truth Table. Generally, IC number is fed into IC Tester and a comparison test is made against that particular IC's Logic Table.

A smart IC tester is far more capable and better than a generic IC Tester, it has an ability to detect and check the connected IC along with a manual mode. Our IC Tester features a Touch LCD which gives a better user experience and easy to understand UI.

IC Testers maybe costly instrumentation devices but this one is just under ₹1600( ~$25), pretty cheap right ?

Step 1: Let's Shop Some Stuff !!

Electronics

  • 1x Arduino Mega 2560
  • 1x 20 Pin ZIF Socket
  • 1x 2.4 inch TFT touch Screen LCD with inbuilt SD Card Slot
  • 1x 4GB MicroSDHC
  • 1x 6-pin Extra Length Female Header
  • 3x 8-pin Extra Length Female Header
  • 1x Male Header Strip
  • 2x WS2812B (Optional)
  • 2x 100 nF 0805 Capacitor (Optional)
  • 1x 180Ω 0805 Resistor (Optional)

Tools and Additional Supplies

  • Soldering Iron
  • Solder
  • A Laptop
  • USB Cable to connect Arduino Mega 2560
  • MicroSDHC Adapter

Step 2: Designing the PCB

I designed a shield for all components to fit-in and chose the Arduino Mega as my micro-controller board since both the ZIF Socket and LCD can be put side by side giving the build a compact and portable look and feel. I used Autodesk Eagle for the PCB Designing part (I've attached the eagle files below).

A big shoutout to guys at JLC PCB for sponsoring PCBs for the project. Do check them out they offer $2 PCB Prototyping and Free Shipping on First Order.

Attachments

Step 3: Shut Up and Solder

Once you have all the components along with the PCB, just solder them in place as shown and you are ready to go !!

Once you're done with soldering put-on the LCD Shield and Female Headers and this completes your assembly for IC Tester.

Remember - "If it smells like chicken, you're doing it wrong" ;)

Step 4: Code? Yes..!!

Open up your Arduino IDEs and Open up the code... You can replace my name with your own so it boots up with your name. You're free to play around with colour schemes as per your choice.

All code files are available on GITHUB

Step 5: Preparing Database... a Time Consuming Task

I've compiled up a basic database for Component Tester that includes basic ICs. The database is in database.txt file on GitHub. Copy this txt file on SD Card and insert it in the Touch LCD Shield.

Thanks to instructable user JorBi for his Instructable - Arduino IC Tester from where I got inspiration to build one.

Pattern -

$[IC Number]

[IC Name]

[Pins]

[Test Case 1]

[Test Case 2]

...

[Test Case N]

Sample Test Case-

Say I have IC-7426, a sample test case would be

0000HHG000000V

Here 0/1 would be used to specify Input and H/L (High/Low) to specify output and V is used to denote VCC and G is used to denote Ground. Follow order from Pin 1, 2, 3, ..... 7, 8, 9, .... 14 for above IC

Step 6: Fingers Crossed !! Testing It All Together

Let's Upload the code and boot the IC Tester.

FINGERS CROSSED !!


And it worked great !!

Step 7: Happy Testing !!

You are welcome to contribute to the project and database on GitHub.

Epilog Challenge 9

Participated in the
Epilog Challenge 9