PCB Inspection Lighting: Design, Process, and Quality Notes 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 Yield Data Analysis: Design, Process, and Quality Notes 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 yield data analysis gives you a practical advantage…

Bare Board Shelf Life and Storage Control A bare board is not inert while it waits to be assembled. The copper oxidises, the finish changes, the laminate absorbs moisture and the mask cures further. The shelf life of a board is the time over which those changes stay inside the…

Selective Soldering for Mixed Technology Assemblies Most modern boards are a mixture. A densely packed surface mount area sits on one side, and a handful of connectors, transformers or power devices are still pushed through holes on the other. Sending that board across a wave solder machine would reflow the…

Component Derating for Temperature and Voltage Margin Derating is the deliberate use of a component below its rated limit so that it has margin. It costs money and board area, and it is the cheapest reliability measure available when it is applied to the parts that actually limit the life…

Moisture Sensitivity Level And Popcorning In Assembly A plastic packaged component absorbs water from the air, and the amount it absorbs depends on the material, the thickness of the body and the humidity it has been exposed to. When the part is heated rapidly in a reflow oven, that water…

Tin Whisker Risk In Lead Free Assembly A tin whisker is a single crystal of tin that grows out of a plated surface over a period of months or years. It can be a few micrometres in diameter and long enough to bridge a gap between two conductors that were…

Can Seamer Control Board Design for Industrial Use A can seamer is an industrial machine that closes a lid onto a filled container with a pair of rotating rollers, and its control board has to coordinate several motors, read a set of position sensors and stop instantly when a guard…

Portable Fan Circuit Design: Motor, Battery and Noise A portable fan is a battery, a small brushless motor and a charging input in a housing that the user holds. The electronics are simple, and almost every design decision is about noise, run time and cost. What the Product Does The…

Charging Pile Control Board Design for Outdoor Use A shared charging pile is a networked power outlet with a meter, a payment interface and a safety chain. Its control board has to be robust, because it is installed outdoors and expected to run for years without attention. What the Control…