Counterfeit Electronic Components
In a world of parts scarcity, buyer be “even-more-aware” holds. When a potential supplier offers valid looking parts with recent date codes at a reasonable price, while every other resource is coming up dry, there may be a reason. Malicious suppliers have invested heavily in equipment and resources with the intention of producing facsimiles of […]
Part Shortages and Effects on Production
Current electronics parts shortages are occurring primarily because of the recovering economy as the supply chain hasn’t caught up with the demand being created in the electronics manufacturing industry. Even one of the simplest parts we procure, monolithic ceramic capacitors (MLCCs), are highly constrained. These capacitors are typically treated as a commodity where you don’t […]
RoHS
The European Parliament and the Council of the European Union have adopted legislation restricting or banning certain substances in the electrical and electronic equipment. The RoHS Directive states that: “Member States shall ensure that from 1 July, 2006, new electrical and electronic equipment put on the market does not contain lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, […]
Conflict Minerals
United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations pertaining to “Conflict Minerals” such as Gold, Tantalum, Tin and Tungsten sourced from the Democratic Republic of Congo or adjoining countries controlled by non-governmental military groups, state that such minerals should not be utilized in products produced in or by U. S. Corporations. Download OTA Conflict Minerals […]
Industry 4.0
The classic lean approaches to business practices in general, and manufacturing in particular, are losing their ability to make further, meaningful gains as they have been in practice for so long that gains become minimal at best. The ability for organizations to integrate and transform systems into optimized confluences of activity could offer the next […]
PCB Assembly Testing
In-Circuit Testing One of the most powerful and comprehensive tools for printed circuit board test is called, In-Circuit Test (ICT). ICT test equipment uses a bed-of-nails (test probes) to access circuit noes on a board assembly and measure components on an isolated basis. That is, one component at a time, regardless of any other components electrically connected […]
Flying Probe In-Circuit Testing
A flying probe tester is an automated test system which some specific advantages for particular applications. The Basics Flying probe testers avoid a custom, unique “bed-of-nails” fixture for a given PCB assembly to access all the required nodes . Rather, the system uses a generic board fixture, and one or more probes moves across the board to […]
In-Circuit Testing
Basics of an ICT test system An ICT tester consists of Controller – The controller is a computer to drive the system and run the required software. Switch – Routes the system to the specific area or node of the board to test. Interface – To allow a variety of board fixtures to be placed […]
Manufacturing Defect Analyzer (MDA) Testing
A Manufacturing Defect Analyzer (MDA) is a tool that uses in-circuit test techniques to enable the detection of manufacturing defects within a printed circuit board assembly. Since the majority of manufacturing defects are simple connection issues, an MDA is restricted to making measurements of continuity. MDA Basics A MDA tester is based on the condition that the […]
RF / Bluetooth – Standards Based vs Proprietary Design
For wireless connectivity applications a fundamental decision that needs to be made, is whether to go with a standards based RF interface like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or ZigBee, or a proprietary RF design. There are many reasons and tradeoffs to consider, such as cost, security, power consumption, interoperability, design time, and certification requirements. Many of these […]
