PCB Technologies Aims to Provide All-in-One Solution for PCB Design, Assembly and System Integration

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PCB Technologies has been dedicating resources to an All-in-One solution with the aim to provide comprehensive service, spanning from PCB design, through PCB assembly and full systems integration. This post provides the lab inspection angle of this holistic approach. As we all know, the production process of high-end/high-reliability electronic systems requires ongoing inspection and up-to-date lab equipment. 

Three main verticals are fundamental in order to get the optimal test & inspection of the process end-to-end:

1. A solid quality & inspection plan throughout the entire production process.
2. Detailed definition of the interfaces between all inspection steps to optimize risk assessment and root cause analysis.
3. Continuous feedback to enable improved yield and system performance.

To support these, the company has three operational labs:

1. Chemical lab – inspecting wet chemical procedures and materials involved in the production process.
2. Metallographic lab – inspecting panel coupons and boards: cross-sections, surfaces, plating, hole fillings, and lamination, as well as final product inspection
3. HATS (Highly Accelerated Thermal Shock) lab – inspecting PCB coupons for PTH and via reliability.

PCB Technologies has geared up and purchased new state-of-the-art equipment aimed at optimizing and automating their chemical inspection procedure, to which it is committed as per IPC standards and customer’s requirements. 

PCB Technologies' new equipment include:

1. Ionic Contamination inspection machine - reviewing production line preparation prior to the solder mask plating. The company can also supply this inspection for PCBA.
2. Elongation and peel strength tests machine – performing tests according to IPC standards, aimed at reviewing copper elasticity required in order to comply with alteration occurring in the PCB while using it.
3. Titrator– enabling the execution of large-scale automated chemical inspections in a speedy manner. One of its main advantages is the level of accuracy.

These three new machines cover around 60% of all inspections. The evident advantage relies on the utilization of their information systems documenting all the inspections and their results. This way the company is able to supply their customers' vital information when necessary (during audits for example).

PCB Technologies has conducted inspections throughout the production line. Its engineering team sets the order and frequency for the inspections for each and every product. Conducting this high number of inspections guarantees online identification of framework deviation, thus preventing accumulated errors that have the potential of bringing production to a halt.