Vibration Resistance in PCB Design Vibration damage in electronics is rarely caused by the vibration itself and usually caused by resonance. A board has natural frequencies, and when the excitation in the environment matches one of them the deflection is amplified many times over. Vibration resistance is therefore mostly about…
Bga Rework: Design Rules and Process Limits BGA rework is a soldering process performed on an assembly that already exists, and that single fact changes everything about it. The board is populated, so it cannot be handled like a bare panel; the neighbouring parts are already attached, so they must…
XRF Measurement Of Plating Thickness X-ray fluorescence is the standard method for measuring the thickness of a thin plated layer without damaging the board. It works by exciting the atoms in the coating and measuring the X-rays they emit in response, and it resolves layers that are too thin to…
Solder Joint Reliability in PCB Assemblies A solder joint is a mechanical and electrical connection that is expected to survive the life of the product while being cycled in temperature, stressed by vibration and, in some cases, exposed to contamination. Solder joint reliability is the study of how those joints…
Component Derating Guide for PCB Assembly Derating is the practice of using a component below its rated maximum so that it has margin against the conditions the product will actually see. The rated values in a datasheet describe a part at a reference condition, and the reference condition is rarely…
PCB Router Limits: A Practical Review for Manufacturing Teams 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 router limits from the perspective of a PCBA factory floor,…
Solder Mask Registration And Opening Control Soldermask registration is the alignment of the openings in the cured mask to the pads beneath them. It decides how much of each pad is exposed, how wide the mask dam between two pads remains, and whether the mask encroaches on a land that…
Thermal Simulation: Design Rules and Process Limits Thermal simulation is worth doing when it answers a question that the design cannot answer by estimation, and it is a waste of effort when it produces a colourful picture that nobody acts on. The useful questions are specific: will this junction stay…
PCB Router Selection: Key Process and Quality Checks 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…
PCB Router Records: Key Process and Quality Checks 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 router records gives you a practical advantage when you…
