Review ESP32-S3-mini-1-N8 Schematics. USB Port is not detecting

[Ahtisham_A]

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This is my first PCB design for the ESP32-S3 Mini-1 N8. I manufactured a PCB and soldered components, but when I plug in the USB-C, nothing happens—the port is not detecting anything. I'm confused about what the problem is. Is it in the schematics, in the hardware, or is it necessary to add a USB-UART chip? However, I noticed that there are no USB-UART chips in the reference schematics.

Please review my schematics for any issues. If there are none, then check my hardware. Initially, I designed the circuit to be programmed via USB-C. Since it is a test circuit, I had it manufactured by a local manufacturer who has certain restrictions, such as a minimum clearance of 0.254 mm for a single-layer PCB. As a result, I had to remove the USB-C connector and replace it with a USB-B connector in the schematic. However, I later found a mini USB-C board that I ended up using.


My hardware image is below. It is really hard to solder the ESP32 S3 because its pads are internal, which are not visible to the naked eye. Is there an easier way to solder it?

[Ahtisham_A]

[Ahtisham_A]

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sch.png (122 KiB) Viewed 314 times

[Sprite]

Hard to say. Your schematic looks like it should work (though you should remove C27, it'll make your chip go into download mode on startup; that's not related to your current issue though.) You can check if the 3.3V is stable, but that's about it. You don't have TxD0 brought out, so you cannot really check liveness of the chip that way.

Normally you'd solder modules like that by reflowing them, like you would do with a QFN package. Agreed that they're a PITA to handle if you need to manually populate a PCB; I'd probably pick an ESP32-S3-Wroom for that as you can solder it down with a standard iron and then still have all pads available for measuring.