CFL EE FeatherDebugShield

Description

• This is a SWD breakout shield for the Feather M0 and a JTAG breakout shield for Feather ESP32.
• The Feather M0 has a provision for SWD debugging which requires soldering leads to the SWD pads on the bottom on the Feather M0. We made this shield so that we can debug a Feather M0 without having to solder leads. Instead, we use pogo pins to create the contact when the feather M0 is stacked on this shield.
• The Feather ESP32 can be debugged using the JTAG interface. This shield has a provision for debugging with ESP32 using solder bridges to create the necessary connections. This configuration has not been tested.

Debug shield

Note that this is a bare bones board (which is why the SM and silk screen are missing)

Using this repository

• The latest release contains all files required for creating the board.
• To fabricate this board
  • Download the .zip from the release page.
  • The files needed for manufacturing are in the Gerbers folder.
  • Just upload the gerber design files on a manufacturer's website and choose other board specifications.
  • We used 4PCB as our manufacturer.
  • The _bom.csv file contains the parts needed for assembly. You can directly upload the bom file into the digikey portal to get the required parts for assembly.
• Once the shield is fabbed and stacked, you can use the 10 pin JTAG conector cable to connecto to a J-Link debugger.

Assembly notes

• It is important to line up the pogo pins vertically to ensure there is a contact with the pads on the Feather. The following sequence helps with the allignment:
  • solder the 12 and 16 pin connector.
  • place the pogo pins in the correct position
  • stack the Feather on the shield.
  • then align the pogo pins with a pair of tweezers to ensure contact.
  • solder the pins in place
• We used stacking headers because we intend to use this as a triple stack with EmotiBit, but if you are only interested in debugging the Feather, then you can use normal female socket for the connector.

Additional Notes

• The design was created in Kicad 7.
• If you want to build on top of this design, please feel free to fork the repository and make the rewuired changes! you will need to download Kicad v7+ to work with the design files.