PCB First Pass Yield Plan: Laying It Out First Buyers and engineers often focus on the finished product and forget the production line behind it. In practice, most field failures can be traced back to process decisions made during assembly. Understanding PCB first pass yield plan gives you a practical…

Board Holder Setup: 6 Rules for Safer Rework A board holder is the fixture that supports and clamps an assembly during rework, and it does more than hold the board still. It controls how heat spreads through the panel, how much the board warps when it is heated locally, and…

Etch Compensation on PCB: 6 Rules That Hold Trace Width Etch compensation is the deliberate widening of the artwork so that the finished trace reaches its designed width after etching. The etchant removes metal sideways as well as downwards, and if the artwork were drawn at the target width, the…

Router Depaneling: 6 Controls That Keep Cut Edges Clean Router depaneling separates boards from a panel with a small carbide cutter that follows a routed channel. Unlike a guillotine or a V-cut break, the router removes material rather than fracturing it, so the board edges carry far less bending load…

Spindle Runout: 5 Effects on Drilled Hole Quality Spindle runout is the wobble of a rotating drill spindle, measured as the total indicated movement of the tool or the collet at the point where the bit enters the board. A spindle with runout spins the bit off centre, so the…

Dendrite Growth on Assembled Boards: 5 Drivers Dendrite growth is the formation of metal filaments between two conductors on an assembled board, driven by voltage, moisture and ionic contamination. A dendrite grows across the surface rather than through the laminate, and it starts as a faint trail that raises leakage…

Pink Ring and Wedge Voids: 6 Causes in Drilled PCB Holes Pink ring is the halo that appears around a drilled hole in a microsection where the resin has separated from the inner layer copper, leaving an area that etches differently from the surrounding laminate. It is named for the…

PCB First Pass Yield Data: What the Numbers Say Electronics manufacturing has become a discipline of small details. Solder paste volumes, placement accuracy, temperature profiles and inspection limits all add up to the final result. This guide looks at PCB first pass yield data from the perspective of a PCBA…

PCB First Pass Yield Limits: Where the Edges Are Electronics manufacturing has become a discipline of small details. Solder paste volumes, placement accuracy, temperature profiles and inspection limits all add up to the final result. This guide looks at PCB first pass yield limits from the perspective of a PCBA…

PCB First Pass Yield Maintenance: Keeping It Working Modern electronics depend on boards that are assembled correctly the first time. Every product – a phone, a charger, a medical instrument or an industrial controller – relies on thousands of solder joints that must conduct current for years. This article explains…