AMICUS18-COMPANION-SHIELD AMICUS, AMICUS18-COMPANION-SHIELD Datasheet - Page 5

• Manufacturer Part Number: AMICUS18-COMPANION-SHIELD
• Description: Amicus18 Companion Shield
• Manufacturer: AMICUS

Specifications of AMICUS18-COMPANION-SHIELD

• Silicon Manufacturer: Microchip
• Core Architecture: PIC
• Core Sub-architecture: PIC18
• Features: USB Interface, In Circuit Serial Programming Interface
• Kit Contents: Board
• Silicon Family Name: PIC
• Silicon Core Number: PIC18F25K20
• Rohs Compliant: Yes
• Lead Free Status / RoHS Status: Lead free / RoHS Compliant
• For Use With: PIC18F25K20 Microcontroller

Amicus18 Companion Shield
The two flavours of the shield allow the boards to be stackable or at the top of the stack:
The illustration above shows the Amicus18 board at the bottom of the stack, then a socketed shield,
then a pinned shield. A pinned shield could carry an LCD or other user interfacing device that would not
suit being stacked between other PCBs. The socket and pin headers used for the companion shield have
long legs, thus allowing plenty of clearance between the stacked PCBs, 12mm for the pinned header,
and 14mm for the socketed header.
Building the Companion Shield
If you are going to choose the blank companion shield, it must be pointed out that it contains surface
mount components (not supplied with it). These components are purely optional, but if you are consid-
ering using them, make sure you have the required skills to solder surface mount devices. It’s not diffi-
cult, and there are plenty of SMT soldering tutorials on the internet.
Start by soldering the decoupling capacitors C5 and C9 on the board, both are 100nF 50 Volt ceramic
capacitors with an 0805 casing:
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Crownhill AssociatesLimited 2009 - All Rights Reserved
Version 1.0
06-10-2009