What package types do you prefer to work with (i.e. are easiest to work with)?
not-sidehack here, but he's mentioned a few details before:
If it was BGA I wouldn't be messing with it. The QFN is bad enough by itself. I wish this chip had a larger cross-section of pad at the edge, which would make checking solder jobs better because it'd wrap around a bit.
I concur.
Basically, does it have actual leads (e.g. TSSOP, QFP, etc.)? Awesome - dead-simple to solder, even down to fairly fine pitches, even hobbyists can work with this and a rusty old soldering iron.
Doesn't have any leads out, but at least they go to the side of the package (e.g. QFN)? Still pretty doable.. plenty of soldering surface and easy to inspect, benefits from some SMD experience but decent soldering iron will still do the trick.
Doesn't have any leads out, and they barely go to the side of the package or not at all (e.g. LPCC)? Starting to get problematic, depending on exact geometry, it becomes difficult to gauge whether solder connections are solid.
( note: the BM1384 suffers from this a bit - instead of a single exposed pad, it has multiple for power - but they're fairly large so not too bad )
Is it a (fine pitch - which they all tend to be) BGA? Now you're going to need dedicated equipment.
Is it an LGA? Good luck. with that.
Depending on what you're designing, I'd at least try to target QFN, and try to stay away from the crazy custom pads unless advantageous
