>> Maybe someone that's really really good with homemade PC
>> boards can do this, but that's going to take some experience
>> and experimenting at best

Making the PCB is the easy bit. I can go as small as you like
with a Sharpie. SSOP (0.65mm), TQFP (0.8mm) are reasonably
routine for me as a lot of ICs are not desirable or available in DIP

> It is doable, but painful. QFN is a horrible package to deal with at
> home, especially if it's more than 20 pins and tight pitch. Getting
> heat to flow under the chip with such thin traces is really hard.

Agree. The experimental failure rate is 'off-putting'. I don't even
consider QFN at home any more

SSOP is about as small as I'm comfortable with for hand-soldering.
I've found the best way is to very thinly tin the copper and reflow
with the iron. Extra solder can be added, carefully, at a distance
and letting it run to the pin, which avoids bridging

Joe
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