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NEMI Project to Address Test Methods for PCBs with Limited Access

Project Draws Broad Participation from Manufacturers and Equipment Suppliers

HERNDON, Va. · October 30, 2001 · The National Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (NEMI) today announced a new project that will address some of the challenges faced by electronics manufacturers in testing today’s printed circuit boards (PCBs). Organized as part of NEMI’s Board Assembly Technology Integration Group (TIG), the Test Strategy Project has launched with eight participants, including strong representation from equipment suppliers.

"As packaging and interconnect become increasingly dense and operate at higher frequencies, physical access for traditional bed-of-nails testing becomes limited, resulting in loss of in-circuit test (ICT) fault coverage. Reduced fault coverage, combined with limited diagnostic resolution at ICT and functional test (FT), often add up to excessive debug times in ICT/FT repair cycles. These longer repair cycles can severely impede, if not prevent, effective manufacture," explained Amit Verma, product marketing engineer at Teradyne Inc. and co-chair of the NEMI Test Strategy Project. "Electronics manufacturers are finding that they can no longer use a single method of test for PCBs. However, faced with an increasing number of test alternatives, it is difficult to know which method · or combination of methods · will give them the best results."

Verma also noted the need to reduce conversion costs. NEMI’s 2000 roadmap indicates that cost per I/O of each electronic assembly must be reduced over time, and an important factor in accomplishing this reduction is enabling higher quality, higher utilization and shorter product cycle times. Another factor is the cost of test. Test costs can be as high as 30% of overall assembly cost.

"Further complicating the challenges manufacturers must face is the fact that traditional test and inspection solutions, such as manual visual inspection (MVI), FT and ICT, do not provide any means of measuring the soldering process," continued Verma. If you can’t measure something, you can’t improve it. The industry needs effective test and measurement solutions that can measure solder joints so that quality can be improved and repair time reduced, which, of course, will help shorten cycles and lower costs."

The Test Strategy Project will address industry needs with three areas of investigation:

Test analysis coverage · Analyze fault coverage of several automated inspection systems, including optical, x-ray and solder paste inspection. The project will characterize the capability of each inspection system studied to detect board assembly structural defects (component and solder defects), determining which approaches find which defects.
Test vehicle analysis · Assess measurement capabilities, including repeatability and reproducibility, of the tools studied. The project will · for the first time · correlate, quantify and characterize the ability of each inspection machine studied to determine solder joint acceptability according to reliability standards.
Develop an inspection strategy cost modeling tool · The team will create the first model for estimating the costs associated with finding and repairing manufacturing assembly defects using various types of test and inspection strategies. An economic model is an important part of this project. It will help communicate the potential needs and benefits of automated inspection methods. This model will help users understand, for example, the impact of removing inspection stages vs. sampling strategies vs. 100% inspection methods.

Project participants are: Agilent Technologies Inc., Alcatel Canada Inc.; Celestica Inc., Teradyne Inc. (formerly GenRad Inc.), GSI Lumonics, Hewlett-Packard Company, Intel Corporation, Plexus Corp. and Solectron Corporation.

Any company interested in participating in NEMI’s Test Strategy Project can contact David Godlewski at (717) 651-0522 or dgodlewski@nemi.org.

About NEMI

The National Electronics Manufacturing Initiative’s mission is to facilitate leadership of the North American electronics manufacturing supply chain. Based in Herndon, Va., the industry-led consortium is made up of more than 60 electronics equipment manufacturers, suppliers, industry associations and consortia, government agencies and universities.

NEMI roadmaps the needs of the North American electronics industry, identifies gaps in the technology infrastructure, establishes implementation projects to eliminate these gaps (both business and technical), and stimulates standards activities to speed the introduction of new technologies. The consortium also works with government, universities and other funding agencies to set priorities for future industry needs and R&D initiatives. For additional information about NEMI, visit www.nemi.org.

Press contact:
Cynthia Williams
phone: 207-871-1260
cwilliams@nemi.org

Project contact:
David Godlewski
phone: 717-651-0522
dgodlewski@nemi.org