Download IPC Standards - Everything You Need From Start To Finish

To achieve a high quality end product and maintain a competitive position in the marketplace, you need to infuse quality throughout the manufacturing process.

Did you know there is an IPC standard associated with nearly every step of printed circuit board production and assembly?  From design and purchasing to assembly and acceptance, Electronics.ca Publications offers IPC Standards to help you assure superior quality, reliability and consistency in the electronic assemblies that go into your product. Download IPC Standards Spec Tree – PDF file.

As with the manufacturing process — which uses a step-by-step approach – IPC standards also build upon one another. To achieve your desired results, it’s important to implement the appropriate IPC standards associated with each step of production.

Download IPC Standards Spec Tree – PDF File

Why Use IPC Standards in Your Manufacturing Process?

• Gain Control Over End Product Quality and Reliability — Quality and reliability are the cornerstones of competing in the marketplace and critical to your company’s reputation and profitability. By implementing IPC standards throughout the manufacturing process, you help ensure better performance, longer life and compliance with lead-free regulations.


• Improve Communication with Suppliers and Employees — IPC standards are the standards that your competitors, suppliers and EMS providers use. Working from an established IPC standard helps all of you to “speak the same language” — the language of the global electronic industry. In addition, using IPC standards eliminates confusion for employees, because they know they need to perform to an established industry standard.


• Help Contain Costs — Ensuring that your design and the bare boards you purchase comply with IPC standards allows you to produce electronic assemblies that meet stringent quality tests down the line, minimizing costly delays, rework and scrap.

The Most Popular IPC Documents are available from Electronics.ca Publications in PDF Format

Download IPC Standards

IPC A-610F – Acceptability of Electronic Assemblies
IPC-A-610 is the most widely used electronics assembly standard in the world. A must for all quality assurance and assembly departments.

IPC J-STD-001F – Requirements for Soldered Electrical and Electronic Assemblies
J-STD-001 Requirements for Soldered Electrical and Electronic Assemblies has emerged as the preeminent authority for electronics assembly manufacturing. The standard describes materials, methods and verification criteria for producing high quality soldered interconnections. The standard emphasizes process control and sets industry-consensus requirements for a broad range of electronic products. This revision now includes support for lead free manufacturing.

IPC A-620B – Requirements and Acceptance for Cable and Wire Harness Assemblies
Revision B is now available for the only industry-consensus standard for Requirements and Acceptance of Cable and Wire Harness Assemblies.

IPC-DRM-PTH-E
Now updated to Revision D of the latest IPC-A-610E and J-STD-001E – our Training & Reference Guide illustrates critical acceptance criteria for the evaluation of through-hole solder connections.

IPC-DRM-SMT-E
Useful as a training aid in the classroom or on the shop floor, DRM-SMT-E contains computer generated color illustrations of Chip component, Gull Wing and J-Lead solder joints.

IPC-J-STD-033C
J-STD-033 Provides Surface Mount Device manufacturers and users with standardized methods for handling, packing, shipping and use of moisture/reflow sensitive SMDs.

IPC-J-STD-020D-1
IPC-J-STD-020D-1 standard identifies the classification levels of nonhermetic solid state surface mount devices that are sensitive to moisture-induced stress.

J-STD-075

J-STD-075 provides test methods to classify worst-case thermal process limitations for electronic components. Classification is referenced to common industry wave and reflow solder profiles including lead-free processing.

IPC Collections:

IPC-C-103 – Electronics Assembly Standards Collection

IPC-C-1000 Essential Document Collection for Board Design, Assembly and Manufacture

IPC-C-108 Cleaning Guides and Handbooks Collection

Through Electronics.ca you can order IPC standards for printed circuit board design and manufacturing and electronics assembly, including handbooks, guidelines and IPC training videos.

Download IPC Standards - Everything You Need From Start To Finish

Download IPC Standards - Everything You Need From Start To Finish

To achieve a high quality end product and maintain a competitive position in the marketplace, you need to infuse quality throughout the manufacturing process.

Did you know there is an IPC standard associated with nearly every step of printed circuit board production and assembly?  From design and purchasing to assembly and acceptance, Electronics.ca Publications offers IPC Standards to help you assure superior quality, reliability and consistency in the electronic assemblies that go into your product. Download IPC Standards Spec Tree – PDF file.

As with the manufacturing process — which uses a step-by-step approach – IPC standards also build upon one another. To achieve your desired results, it’s important to implement the appropriate IPC standards associated with each step of production.

Download IPC Standards Spec Tree – PDF File

Why Use IPC Standards in Your Manufacturing Process?

• Gain Control Over End Product Quality and Reliability — Quality and reliability are the cornerstones of competing in the marketplace and critical to your company’s reputation and profitability. By implementing IPC standards throughout the manufacturing process, you help ensure better performance, longer life and compliance with lead-free regulations.


• Improve Communication with Suppliers and Employees — IPC standards are the standards that your competitors, suppliers and EMS providers use. Working from an established IPC standard helps all of you to “speak the same language” — the language of the global electronic industry. In addition, using IPC standards eliminates confusion for employees, because they know they need to perform to an established industry standard.


• Help Contain Costs — Ensuring that your design and the bare boards you purchase comply with IPC standards allows you to produce electronic assemblies that meet stringent quality tests down the line, minimizing costly delays, rework and scrap.

The Most Popular IPC Documents are available from Electronics.ca Publications in PDF Format

Download IPC Standards

IPC A-610F – Acceptability of Electronic Assemblies
IPC-A-610 is the most widely used electronics assembly standard in the world. A must for all quality assurance and assembly departments.

IPC J-STD-001F – Requirements for Soldered Electrical and Electronic Assemblies
J-STD-001 Requirements for Soldered Electrical and Electronic Assemblies has emerged as the preeminent authority for electronics assembly manufacturing. The standard describes materials, methods and verification criteria for producing high quality soldered interconnections. The standard emphasizes process control and sets industry-consensus requirements for a broad range of electronic products. This revision now includes support for lead free manufacturing.

IPC A-620B – Requirements and Acceptance for Cable and Wire Harness Assemblies
Revision B is now available for the only industry-consensus standard for Requirements and Acceptance of Cable and Wire Harness Assemblies.

IPC-DRM-PTH-E
Now updated to Revision D of the latest IPC-A-610E and J-STD-001E – our Training & Reference Guide illustrates critical acceptance criteria for the evaluation of through-hole solder connections.

IPC-DRM-SMT-E
Useful as a training aid in the classroom or on the shop floor, DRM-SMT-E contains computer generated color illustrations of Chip component, Gull Wing and J-Lead solder joints.

IPC-J-STD-033C
J-STD-033 Provides Surface Mount Device manufacturers and users with standardized methods for handling, packing, shipping and use of moisture/reflow sensitive SMDs.

IPC-J-STD-020D-1
IPC-J-STD-020D-1 standard identifies the classification levels of nonhermetic solid state surface mount devices that are sensitive to moisture-induced stress.

J-STD-075

J-STD-075 provides test methods to classify worst-case thermal process limitations for electronic components. Classification is referenced to common industry wave and reflow solder profiles including lead-free processing.

IPC Collections:

IPC-C-103 – Electronics Assembly Standards Collection

IPC-C-1000 Essential Document Collection for Board Design, Assembly and Manufacture

IPC-C-108 Cleaning Guides and Handbooks Collection

Through Electronics.ca you can order IPC standards for printed circuit board design and manufacturing and electronics assembly, including handbooks, guidelines and IPC training videos.

Download IPC Standards - Everything You Need From Start To Finish

Download IPC Standards - Everything You Need From Start To Finish

To achieve a high quality end product and maintain a competitive position in the marketplace, you need to infuse quality throughout the manufacturing process.

Did you know there is an IPC standard associated with nearly every step of printed circuit board production and assembly?  From design and purchasing to assembly and acceptance, Electronics.ca Publications offers IPC Standards to help you assure superior quality, reliability and consistency in the electronic assemblies that go into your product. Download IPC Standards Spec Tree – PDF file.

As with the manufacturing process — which uses a step-by-step approach – IPC standards also build upon one another. To achieve your desired results, it’s important to implement the appropriate IPC standards associated with each step of production.

Download IPC Standards Spec Tree – PDF File

Why Use IPC Standards in Your Manufacturing Process?

• Gain Control Over End Product Quality and Reliability — Quality and reliability are the cornerstones of competing in the marketplace and critical to your company’s reputation and profitability. By implementing IPC standards throughout the manufacturing process, you help ensure better performance, longer life and compliance with lead-free regulations.


• Improve Communication with Suppliers and Employees — IPC standards are the standards that your competitors, suppliers and EMS providers use. Working from an established IPC standard helps all of you to “speak the same language” — the language of the global electronic industry. In addition, using IPC standards eliminates confusion for employees, because they know they need to perform to an established industry standard.


• Help Contain Costs — Ensuring that your design and the bare boards you purchase comply with IPC standards allows you to produce electronic assemblies that meet stringent quality tests down the line, minimizing costly delays, rework and scrap.

The Most Popular IPC Documents are available from Electronics.ca Publications in PDF Format

Download IPC Standards

IPC A-610F – Acceptability of Electronic Assemblies
IPC-A-610 is the most widely used electronics assembly standard in the world. A must for all quality assurance and assembly departments.

IPC J-STD-001F – Requirements for Soldered Electrical and Electronic Assemblies
J-STD-001 Requirements for Soldered Electrical and Electronic Assemblies has emerged as the preeminent authority for electronics assembly manufacturing. The standard describes materials, methods and verification criteria for producing high quality soldered interconnections. The standard emphasizes process control and sets industry-consensus requirements for a broad range of electronic products. This revision now includes support for lead free manufacturing.

IPC A-620B – Requirements and Acceptance for Cable and Wire Harness Assemblies
Revision B is now available for the only industry-consensus standard for Requirements and Acceptance of Cable and Wire Harness Assemblies.

IPC-DRM-PTH-E
Now updated to Revision D of the latest IPC-A-610E and J-STD-001E – our Training & Reference Guide illustrates critical acceptance criteria for the evaluation of through-hole solder connections.

IPC-DRM-SMT-E
Useful as a training aid in the classroom or on the shop floor, DRM-SMT-E contains computer generated color illustrations of Chip component, Gull Wing and J-Lead solder joints.

IPC-J-STD-033C
J-STD-033 Provides Surface Mount Device manufacturers and users with standardized methods for handling, packing, shipping and use of moisture/reflow sensitive SMDs.

IPC-J-STD-020D-1
IPC-J-STD-020D-1 standard identifies the classification levels of nonhermetic solid state surface mount devices that are sensitive to moisture-induced stress.

J-STD-075

J-STD-075 provides test methods to classify worst-case thermal process limitations for electronic components. Classification is referenced to common industry wave and reflow solder profiles including lead-free processing.

IPC Collections:

IPC-C-103 – Electronics Assembly Standards Collection

IPC-C-1000 Essential Document Collection for Board Design, Assembly and Manufacture

IPC-C-108 Cleaning Guides and Handbooks Collection

Through Electronics.ca you can order IPC standards for printed circuit board design and manufacturing and electronics assembly, including handbooks, guidelines and IPC training videos.

Download IPC Standards - Everything You Need From Start To Finish

Download IPC Standards - Everything You Need From Start To Finish

To achieve a high quality end product and maintain a competitive position in the marketplace, you need to infuse quality throughout the manufacturing process.

Did you know there is an IPC standard associated with nearly every step of printed circuit board production and assembly?  From design and purchasing to assembly and acceptance, Electronics.ca Publications offers IPC Standards to help you assure superior quality, reliability and consistency in the electronic assemblies that go into your product. Download IPC Standards Spec Tree – PDF file.

As with the manufacturing process — which uses a step-by-step approach – IPC standards also build upon one another. To achieve your desired results, it’s important to implement the appropriate IPC standards associated with each step of production.

Download IPC Standards Spec Tree – PDF File

Why Use IPC Standards in Your Manufacturing Process?

• Gain Control Over End Product Quality and Reliability — Quality and reliability are the cornerstones of competing in the marketplace and critical to your company’s reputation and profitability. By implementing IPC standards throughout the manufacturing process, you help ensure better performance, longer life and compliance with lead-free regulations.


• Improve Communication with Suppliers and Employees — IPC standards are the standards that your competitors, suppliers and EMS providers use. Working from an established IPC standard helps all of you to “speak the same language” — the language of the global electronic industry. In addition, using IPC standards eliminates confusion for employees, because they know they need to perform to an established industry standard.


• Help Contain Costs — Ensuring that your design and the bare boards you purchase comply with IPC standards allows you to produce electronic assemblies that meet stringent quality tests down the line, minimizing costly delays, rework and scrap.

The Most Popular IPC Documents are available from Electronics.ca Publications in PDF Format

Download IPC Standards

IPC A-610F – Acceptability of Electronic Assemblies
IPC-A-610 is the most widely used electronics assembly standard in the world. A must for all quality assurance and assembly departments.

IPC J-STD-001F – Requirements for Soldered Electrical and Electronic Assemblies
J-STD-001 Requirements for Soldered Electrical and Electronic Assemblies has emerged as the preeminent authority for electronics assembly manufacturing. The standard describes materials, methods and verification criteria for producing high quality soldered interconnections. The standard emphasizes process control and sets industry-consensus requirements for a broad range of electronic products. This revision now includes support for lead free manufacturing.

IPC A-620B – Requirements and Acceptance for Cable and Wire Harness Assemblies
Revision B is now available for the only industry-consensus standard for Requirements and Acceptance of Cable and Wire Harness Assemblies.

IPC-DRM-PTH-E
Now updated to Revision D of the latest IPC-A-610E and J-STD-001E – our Training & Reference Guide illustrates critical acceptance criteria for the evaluation of through-hole solder connections.

IPC-DRM-SMT-E
Useful as a training aid in the classroom or on the shop floor, DRM-SMT-E contains computer generated color illustrations of Chip component, Gull Wing and J-Lead solder joints.

IPC-J-STD-033C
J-STD-033 Provides Surface Mount Device manufacturers and users with standardized methods for handling, packing, shipping and use of moisture/reflow sensitive SMDs.

IPC-J-STD-020D-1
IPC-J-STD-020D-1 standard identifies the classification levels of nonhermetic solid state surface mount devices that are sensitive to moisture-induced stress.

J-STD-075

J-STD-075 provides test methods to classify worst-case thermal process limitations for electronic components. Classification is referenced to common industry wave and reflow solder profiles including lead-free processing.

IPC Collections:

IPC-C-103 – Electronics Assembly Standards Collection

IPC-C-1000 Essential Document Collection for Board Design, Assembly and Manufacture

IPC-C-108 Cleaning Guides and Handbooks Collection

Through Electronics.ca you can order IPC standards for printed circuit board design and manufacturing and electronics assembly, including handbooks, guidelines and IPC training videos.

Download IPC Standards - Everything You Need From Start To Finish

Download IPC Standards - Everything You Need From Start To Finish

To achieve a high quality end product and maintain a competitive position in the marketplace, you need to infuse quality throughout the manufacturing process.

Did you know there is an IPC standard associated with nearly every step of printed circuit board production and assembly?  From design and purchasing to assembly and acceptance, Electronics.ca Publications offers IPC Standards to help you assure superior quality, reliability and consistency in the electronic assemblies that go into your product. Download IPC Standards Spec Tree – PDF file.

As with the manufacturing process — which uses a step-by-step approach – IPC standards also build upon one another. To achieve your desired results, it’s important to implement the appropriate IPC standards associated with each step of production.

Download IPC Standards Spec Tree – PDF File

Why Use IPC Standards in Your Manufacturing Process?

• Gain Control Over End Product Quality and Reliability — Quality and reliability are the cornerstones of competing in the marketplace and critical to your company’s reputation and profitability. By implementing IPC standards throughout the manufacturing process, you help ensure better performance, longer life and compliance with lead-free regulations.


• Improve Communication with Suppliers and Employees — IPC standards are the standards that your competitors, suppliers and EMS providers use. Working from an established IPC standard helps all of you to “speak the same language” — the language of the global electronic industry. In addition, using IPC standards eliminates confusion for employees, because they know they need to perform to an established industry standard.


• Help Contain Costs — Ensuring that your design and the bare boards you purchase comply with IPC standards allows you to produce electronic assemblies that meet stringent quality tests down the line, minimizing costly delays, rework and scrap.

The Most Popular IPC Documents are available from Electronics.ca Publications in PDF Format

Download IPC Standards

IPC A-610F – Acceptability of Electronic Assemblies
IPC-A-610 is the most widely used electronics assembly standard in the world. A must for all quality assurance and assembly departments.

IPC J-STD-001F – Requirements for Soldered Electrical and Electronic Assemblies
J-STD-001 Requirements for Soldered Electrical and Electronic Assemblies has emerged as the preeminent authority for electronics assembly manufacturing. The standard describes materials, methods and verification criteria for producing high quality soldered interconnections. The standard emphasizes process control and sets industry-consensus requirements for a broad range of electronic products. This revision now includes support for lead free manufacturing.

IPC A-620B – Requirements and Acceptance for Cable and Wire Harness Assemblies
Revision B is now available for the only industry-consensus standard for Requirements and Acceptance of Cable and Wire Harness Assemblies.

IPC-DRM-PTH-E
Now updated to Revision D of the latest IPC-A-610E and J-STD-001E – our Training & Reference Guide illustrates critical acceptance criteria for the evaluation of through-hole solder connections.

IPC-DRM-SMT-E
Useful as a training aid in the classroom or on the shop floor, DRM-SMT-E contains computer generated color illustrations of Chip component, Gull Wing and J-Lead solder joints.

IPC-J-STD-033C
J-STD-033 Provides Surface Mount Device manufacturers and users with standardized methods for handling, packing, shipping and use of moisture/reflow sensitive SMDs.

IPC-J-STD-020D-1
IPC-J-STD-020D-1 standard identifies the classification levels of nonhermetic solid state surface mount devices that are sensitive to moisture-induced stress.

J-STD-075

J-STD-075 provides test methods to classify worst-case thermal process limitations for electronic components. Classification is referenced to common industry wave and reflow solder profiles including lead-free processing.

IPC Collections:

IPC-C-103 – Electronics Assembly Standards Collection

IPC-C-1000 Essential Document Collection for Board Design, Assembly and Manufacture

IPC-C-108 Cleaning Guides and Handbooks Collection

Through Electronics.ca you can order IPC standards for printed circuit board design and manufacturing and electronics assembly, including handbooks, guidelines and IPC training videos.

Download IPC Standards - Everything You Need From Start To Finish

What Benefit Do IPC Standards Have For The Electronic Hardware Supply Chain?

For more than 50 years, IPC has developed industry standards for the production of electronic hardware. After having been long considered North American standards, IPC standards over the past two decades have spread globally. The question now is: what benefit do IPC standards have for the electronic hardware supply chain?

Providing answers to that question, several companies in Europe representing electronic design, CAD, bare board production, assembly and soldering explain how they use IPC standards in their daily business routines.

This first article covers electronic design/CAD company, GED GmbH, located 30 km southeast of Cologne in Germany.

First experience with IPC standards

GED offers PCB design and engineering and, through the assistance of external subcontractors, bare board, assembly and test services. Currently the company has 14 employees and CAD systems from six different layout vendors. With these resources, the company produces 160 new PCBs and 80 updates per year for rigid, flex, flex-rigid and HDI boards for customers in Germany, Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, France and the Czech Republic.

From its establishment in 1986 to the middle of the 1990s, the company used its customers’ internal standards from companies such as Siemens, Philips, Rheinmetall and Thyssen. This meant that a different standard was used for every customer. An example of this frustrating situation, says Hanno Platz, owner and managing director, “was when we received an inquiry from Hewlett Packard in Germany with an attachment of 100 pages of requirements for the PCB in question.” At that time, the staff did not know about IPC and its standards. In 1995, the company had a U.S. customer that demanded that the assembly and soldering of a back plane, developed and produced in Germany, be conducted at their U.S. premises according to IPC-A-610, Acceptability of Electronic Assemblies, Class 3 acceptance criteria.

Technology focused on standards

GED found IPC standards through FED, a local German organization with a long-time relationship with IPC, and bought first set of IPC standards. The back plane could now be designed and produced according to IPC standards. Having standards from different areas of the production chain that linked together was a new and positive experience for the company. The staff now regularly discusses how to use IPC standards in their own designs as well as in the purchasing process of bare boards plus assembling and soldering.

Currently, all employees have passed CID (Certified Interconnect Designer) and CID+ (Advanced Certified Interconnect Designer) and are familiar with nearly all IPC standards for electronic design and CAD. All of their order acknowledgments for designing a complete PCB include the following statement, “If nothing else has been agreed upon, PCBs will be manufactured according to IPC standards and its Class 2 acceptance criteria.”

At GED, designers also create PCB layouts. Today, most new PCBs are HDI (high density interconnected) with a high SI (signal integrity) level including high EMC (electromagnetic compatibility). IPC standards have an important influence on these complex boards. The company uses the following IPC standards in their design work:

• The IPC-2220 PCB design series for mechanical properties of track, isolation and PTH (plated-through holes)


• IPC-2223B, Sectional Design Standard for Flexible Printed Boards for flex-rigid PCBs and questions like adhesive type, placement of a flex layer into the rigid part and coverlay dimensions


• IPC-7351A, Generic Requirements for Surface Mount Design and Land Pattern Standard for footprint (land) design, which is even more important than before because of lead-free processes, especially when components like CSPs (chip scale packages) and QFNs (quad flat no leads) are specified in the BOM list.


• IPC-A-610F, Acceptability of Electronic Assemblies for acceptability of solder joints and assemblies


• IPC-2251, Design Guide for the Packaging of High Speed Electronic Circuits and IPC-2141A, Design Guide for High-Speed Controlled Impedance Circuit Boards.With the need to comply with EU Directive 2004/108/EC, and its requirements for high EMC on all PCBs placed in the EU market, SI has become more critical. These standards assist GED designers in selecting microstrip or stripline build up for impedance.

Tool with benefit

The company’s ISO 9002 certification states that Deutsches Institut für Normung e.V. (DIN) and IPC standards serve as the foundation for quality work. IPC standards are required as a tool when the company uses external vendors for bare boards and assembly. For all potential suppliers in Europe, the staff conducts company visits that include an audit of the bare board supplier and their use of IPC standards, especially the IPC-6010 board manufacturing series and IPC-A-600H, Acceptability of Printed Boards. According to Platz, “After visiting hundreds of bare board suppliers, we’ve concluded that the majority of suppliers understand IPC standards but very few can make boards according to IPC Class 3 acceptance criteria. This is absolutely something that needs to improve.”

According to GED, IPC standards are the basis of electronic product quality and reliability. In the design process, technical parameters like choice of base material, pad sizes, spaces/traces and isolation distances between layer and component pitches are constant considerations. The use of IPC standards makes it much easier to find solutions. Without IPC standards, the alternative can involve high repair/touch up costs and lots of scrap but also an imperfect electronic product from a quality and reliability point of view. In some cases, this has been a very costly experience for the company’s customers that have not used IPC standards. Platz gives two examples:

Example 1: Working to improve EMC capabilities on a PCB, a designer placed via holes directly in surface mount pads. The result was years of solder and wetting problems with only an 80 to 90 percent yield and difficult repairs. The designer, by not following the standard, placed vias in a pad that was too tight. The profit loss over several years was estimated to be 50,000 to 60,000 Euros. The company was ultimately able to solve the problem by redesigning via hole placement that improved EMC properties.

Example 2: A complex 12-layer HDI board with BGA components on both sides needed to be manufactured using a lead-free process. After the transfer, yield went down to 50 percent. The reason: wrong design parameters and bad layer configurations were used and pads too small for via holes were created. With a higher lead-free solder temperature, many irreparable barrel cracks were created in via holes. The total loss due to the 50% yield in the lead-free process was more than 100,000 Euros.

For GED, IPC standards have been an invaluable tool over the past two decades. IPC standards not only save money, they also make it easier to communicate with bare board suppliers and assembly companies across the world. IPC standards can significantly reduce mistakes and improve end-product quality and reliability.

What Benefit Do IPC Standards Have For The Electronic Hardware Supply Chain?

Download IPC Standards - Everything You Need From Start To Finish

To achieve a high quality end product and maintain a competitive position in the marketplace, you need to infuse quality throughout the manufacturing process.

Did you know there is an IPC standard associated with nearly every step of printed circuit board production and assembly?  From design and purchasing to assembly and acceptance, Electronics.ca Publications offers IPC Standards to help you assure superior quality, reliability and consistency in the electronic assemblies that go into your product. Download IPC Standards Spec Tree – PDF file.

As with the manufacturing process — which uses a step-by-step approach – IPC standards also build upon one another. To achieve your desired results, it’s important to implement the appropriate IPC standards associated with each step of production.

Download IPC Standards Spec Tree – PDF File

Why Use IPC Standards in Your Manufacturing Process?

• Gain Control Over End Product Quality and Reliability — Quality and reliability are the cornerstones of competing in the marketplace and critical to your company’s reputation and profitability. By implementing IPC standards throughout the manufacturing process, you help ensure better performance, longer life and compliance with lead-free regulations.


• Improve Communication with Suppliers and Employees — IPC standards are the standards that your competitors, suppliers and EMS providers use. Working from an established IPC standard helps all of you to “speak the same language” — the language of the global electronic industry. In addition, using IPC standards eliminates confusion for employees, because they know they need to perform to an established industry standard.


• Help Contain Costs — Ensuring that your design and the bare boards you purchase comply with IPC standards allows you to produce electronic assemblies that meet stringent quality tests down the line, minimizing costly delays, rework and scrap.

The Most Popular IPC Documents are available from Electronics.ca Publications in PDF Format

Download IPC Standards

IPC A-610F – Acceptability of Electronic Assemblies
IPC-A-610 is the most widely used electronics assembly standard in the world. A must for all quality assurance and assembly departments.

IPC J-STD-001F – Requirements for Soldered Electrical and Electronic Assemblies
J-STD-001 Requirements for Soldered Electrical and Electronic Assemblies has emerged as the preeminent authority for electronics assembly manufacturing. The standard describes materials, methods and verification criteria for producing high quality soldered interconnections. The standard emphasizes process control and sets industry-consensus requirements for a broad range of electronic products. This revision now includes support for lead free manufacturing.

IPC A-620B – Requirements and Acceptance for Cable and Wire Harness Assemblies
Revision B is now available for the only industry-consensus standard for Requirements and Acceptance of Cable and Wire Harness Assemblies.

IPC-DRM-PTH-E
Now updated to Revision D of the latest IPC-A-610E and J-STD-001E – our Training & Reference Guide illustrates critical acceptance criteria for the evaluation of through-hole solder connections.

IPC-DRM-SMT-E
Useful as a training aid in the classroom or on the shop floor, DRM-SMT-E contains computer generated color illustrations of Chip component, Gull Wing and J-Lead solder joints.

IPC-J-STD-033C
J-STD-033 Provides Surface Mount Device manufacturers and users with standardized methods for handling, packing, shipping and use of moisture/reflow sensitive SMDs.

IPC-J-STD-020D-1
IPC-J-STD-020D-1 standard identifies the classification levels of nonhermetic solid state surface mount devices that are sensitive to moisture-induced stress.

J-STD-075

J-STD-075 provides test methods to classify worst-case thermal process limitations for electronic components. Classification is referenced to common industry wave and reflow solder profiles including lead-free processing.

IPC Collections:

IPC-C-103 – Electronics Assembly Standards Collection

IPC-C-1000 Essential Document Collection for Board Design, Assembly and Manufacture

IPC-C-108 Cleaning Guides and Handbooks Collection

Through Electronics.ca you can order IPC standards for printed circuit board design and manufacturing and electronics assembly, including handbooks, guidelines and IPC training videos.

Download IPC Standards - Everything You Need From Start To Finish

What Benefit Do IPC Standards Have For The Electronic Hardware Supply Chain?

For more than 50 years, IPC has developed industry standards for the production of electronic hardware. After having been long considered North American standards, IPC standards over the past two decades have spread globally. The question now is: what benefit do IPC standards have for the electronic hardware supply chain?

Providing answers to that question, several companies in Europe representing electronic design, CAD, bare board production, assembly and soldering explain how they use IPC standards in their daily business routines.

This first article covers electronic design/CAD company, GED GmbH, located 30 km southeast of Cologne in Germany.

First experience with IPC standards

GED offers PCB design and engineering and, through the assistance of external subcontractors, bare board, assembly and test services. Currently the company has 14 employees and CAD systems from six different layout vendors. With these resources, the company produces 160 new PCBs and 80 updates per year for rigid, flex, flex-rigid and HDI boards for customers in Germany, Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, France and the Czech Republic.

From its establishment in 1986 to the middle of the 1990s, the company used its customers’ internal standards from companies such as Siemens, Philips, Rheinmetall and Thyssen. This meant that a different standard was used for every customer. An example of this frustrating situation, says Hanno Platz, owner and managing director, “was when we received an inquiry from Hewlett Packard in Germany with an attachment of 100 pages of requirements for the PCB in question.” At that time, the staff did not know about IPC and its standards. In 1995, the company had a U.S. customer that demanded that the assembly and soldering of a back plane, developed and produced in Germany, be conducted at their U.S. premises according to IPC-A-610, Acceptability of Electronic Assemblies, Class 3 acceptance criteria.

Technology focused on standards

GED found IPC standards through FED, a local German organization with a long-time relationship with IPC, and bought first set of IPC standards. The back plane could now be designed and produced according to IPC standards. Having standards from different areas of the production chain that linked together was a new and positive experience for the company. The staff now regularly discusses how to use IPC standards in their own designs as well as in the purchasing process of bare boards plus assembling and soldering.

Currently, all employees have passed CID (Certified Interconnect Designer) and CID+ (Advanced Certified Interconnect Designer) and are familiar with nearly all IPC standards for electronic design and CAD. All of their order acknowledgments for designing a complete PCB include the following statement, “If nothing else has been agreed upon, PCBs will be manufactured according to IPC standards and its Class 2 acceptance criteria.”

At GED, designers also create PCB layouts. Today, most new PCBs are HDI (high density interconnected) with a high SI (signal integrity) level including high EMC (electromagnetic compatibility). IPC standards have an important influence on these complex boards. The company uses the following IPC standards in their design work:

• The IPC-2220 PCB design series for mechanical properties of track, isolation and PTH (plated-through holes)


• IPC-2223B, Sectional Design Standard for Flexible Printed Boards for flex-rigid PCBs and questions like adhesive type, placement of a flex layer into the rigid part and coverlay dimensions


• IPC-7351A, Generic Requirements for Surface Mount Design and Land Pattern Standard for footprint (land) design, which is even more important than before because of lead-free processes, especially when components like CSPs (chip scale packages) and QFNs (quad flat no leads) are specified in the BOM list.


• IPC-A-610F, Acceptability of Electronic Assemblies for acceptability of solder joints and assemblies


• IPC-2251, Design Guide for the Packaging of High Speed Electronic Circuits and IPC-2141A, Design Guide for High-Speed Controlled Impedance Circuit Boards.With the need to comply with EU Directive 2004/108/EC, and its requirements for high EMC on all PCBs placed in the EU market, SI has become more critical. These standards assist GED designers in selecting microstrip or stripline build up for impedance.

Tool with benefit

The company’s ISO 9002 certification states that Deutsches Institut für Normung e.V. (DIN) and IPC standards serve as the foundation for quality work. IPC standards are required as a tool when the company uses external vendors for bare boards and assembly. For all potential suppliers in Europe, the staff conducts company visits that include an audit of the bare board supplier and their use of IPC standards, especially the IPC-6010 board manufacturing series and IPC-A-600H, Acceptability of Printed Boards. According to Platz, “After visiting hundreds of bare board suppliers, we’ve concluded that the majority of suppliers understand IPC standards but very few can make boards according to IPC Class 3 acceptance criteria. This is absolutely something that needs to improve.”

According to GED, IPC standards are the basis of electronic product quality and reliability. In the design process, technical parameters like choice of base material, pad sizes, spaces/traces and isolation distances between layer and component pitches are constant considerations. The use of IPC standards makes it much easier to find solutions. Without IPC standards, the alternative can involve high repair/touch up costs and lots of scrap but also an imperfect electronic product from a quality and reliability point of view. In some cases, this has been a very costly experience for the company’s customers that have not used IPC standards. Platz gives two examples:

Example 1: Working to improve EMC capabilities on a PCB, a designer placed via holes directly in surface mount pads. The result was years of solder and wetting problems with only an 80 to 90 percent yield and difficult repairs. The designer, by not following the standard, placed vias in a pad that was too tight. The profit loss over several years was estimated to be 50,000 to 60,000 Euros. The company was ultimately able to solve the problem by redesigning via hole placement that improved EMC properties.

Example 2: A complex 12-layer HDI board with BGA components on both sides needed to be manufactured using a lead-free process. After the transfer, yield went down to 50 percent. The reason: wrong design parameters and bad layer configurations were used and pads too small for via holes were created. With a higher lead-free solder temperature, many irreparable barrel cracks were created in via holes. The total loss due to the 50% yield in the lead-free process was more than 100,000 Euros.

For GED, IPC standards have been an invaluable tool over the past two decades. IPC standards not only save money, they also make it easier to communicate with bare board suppliers and assembly companies across the world. IPC standards can significantly reduce mistakes and improve end-product quality and reliability.

What Benefit Do IPC Standards Have For The Electronic Hardware Supply Chain?

Download IPC Standards - Everything You Need From Start To Finish

To achieve a high quality end product and maintain a competitive position in the marketplace, you need to infuse quality throughout the manufacturing process.

Did you know there is an IPC standard associated with nearly every step of printed circuit board production and assembly?  From design and purchasing to assembly and acceptance, Electronics.ca Publications offers IPC Standards to help you assure superior quality, reliability and consistency in the electronic assemblies that go into your product. Download IPC Standards Spec Tree – PDF file.

As with the manufacturing process — which uses a step-by-step approach – IPC standards also build upon one another. To achieve your desired results, it’s important to implement the appropriate IPC standards associated with each step of production.

Download IPC Standards Spec Tree – PDF File

Why Use IPC Standards in Your Manufacturing Process?

• Gain Control Over End Product Quality and Reliability — Quality and reliability are the cornerstones of competing in the marketplace and critical to your company’s reputation and profitability. By implementing IPC standards throughout the manufacturing process, you help ensure better performance, longer life and compliance with lead-free regulations.


• Improve Communication with Suppliers and Employees — IPC standards are the standards that your competitors, suppliers and EMS providers use. Working from an established IPC standard helps all of you to “speak the same language” — the language of the global electronic industry. In addition, using IPC standards eliminates confusion for employees, because they know they need to perform to an established industry standard.


• Help Contain Costs — Ensuring that your design and the bare boards you purchase comply with IPC standards allows you to produce electronic assemblies that meet stringent quality tests down the line, minimizing costly delays, rework and scrap.

The Most Popular IPC Documents are available from Electronics.ca Publications in PDF Format

Download IPC Standards

IPC A-610F – Acceptability of Electronic Assemblies
IPC-A-610 is the most widely used electronics assembly standard in the world. A must for all quality assurance and assembly departments.

IPC J-STD-001F – Requirements for Soldered Electrical and Electronic Assemblies
J-STD-001 Requirements for Soldered Electrical and Electronic Assemblies has emerged as the preeminent authority for electronics assembly manufacturing. The standard describes materials, methods and verification criteria for producing high quality soldered interconnections. The standard emphasizes process control and sets industry-consensus requirements for a broad range of electronic products. This revision now includes support for lead free manufacturing.

IPC A-620B – Requirements and Acceptance for Cable and Wire Harness Assemblies
Revision B is now available for the only industry-consensus standard for Requirements and Acceptance of Cable and Wire Harness Assemblies.

IPC-DRM-PTH-E
Now updated to Revision D of the latest IPC-A-610E and J-STD-001E – our Training & Reference Guide illustrates critical acceptance criteria for the evaluation of through-hole solder connections.

IPC-DRM-SMT-E
Useful as a training aid in the classroom or on the shop floor, DRM-SMT-E contains computer generated color illustrations of Chip component, Gull Wing and J-Lead solder joints.

IPC-J-STD-033C
J-STD-033 Provides Surface Mount Device manufacturers and users with standardized methods for handling, packing, shipping and use of moisture/reflow sensitive SMDs.

IPC-J-STD-020D-1
IPC-J-STD-020D-1 standard identifies the classification levels of nonhermetic solid state surface mount devices that are sensitive to moisture-induced stress.

J-STD-075

J-STD-075 provides test methods to classify worst-case thermal process limitations for electronic components. Classification is referenced to common industry wave and reflow solder profiles including lead-free processing.

IPC Collections:

IPC-C-103 – Electronics Assembly Standards Collection

IPC-C-1000 Essential Document Collection for Board Design, Assembly and Manufacture

IPC-C-108 Cleaning Guides and Handbooks Collection

Through Electronics.ca you can order IPC standards for printed circuit board design and manufacturing and electronics assembly, including handbooks, guidelines and IPC training videos.

Download IPC Standards - Everything You Need From Start To Finish

Download IPC Standards - Everything You Need From Start To Finish

To achieve a high quality end product and maintain a competitive position in the marketplace, you need to infuse quality throughout the manufacturing process.

Did you know there is an IPC standard associated with nearly every step of printed circuit board production and assembly?  From design and purchasing to assembly and acceptance, Electronics.ca Publications offers IPC Standards to help you assure superior quality, reliability and consistency in the electronic assemblies that go into your product. Download IPC Standards Spec Tree – PDF file.

As with the manufacturing process — which uses a step-by-step approach – IPC standards also build upon one another. To achieve your desired results, it’s important to implement the appropriate IPC standards associated with each step of production.

Download IPC Standards Spec Tree – PDF File

Why Use IPC Standards in Your Manufacturing Process?

• Gain Control Over End Product Quality and Reliability — Quality and reliability are the cornerstones of competing in the marketplace and critical to your company’s reputation and profitability. By implementing IPC standards throughout the manufacturing process, you help ensure better performance, longer life and compliance with lead-free regulations.


• Improve Communication with Suppliers and Employees — IPC standards are the standards that your competitors, suppliers and EMS providers use. Working from an established IPC standard helps all of you to “speak the same language” — the language of the global electronic industry. In addition, using IPC standards eliminates confusion for employees, because they know they need to perform to an established industry standard.


• Help Contain Costs — Ensuring that your design and the bare boards you purchase comply with IPC standards allows you to produce electronic assemblies that meet stringent quality tests down the line, minimizing costly delays, rework and scrap.

The Most Popular IPC Documents are available from Electronics.ca Publications in PDF Format

Download IPC Standards

IPC A-610F – Acceptability of Electronic Assemblies
IPC-A-610 is the most widely used electronics assembly standard in the world. A must for all quality assurance and assembly departments.

IPC J-STD-001F – Requirements for Soldered Electrical and Electronic Assemblies
J-STD-001 Requirements for Soldered Electrical and Electronic Assemblies has emerged as the preeminent authority for electronics assembly manufacturing. The standard describes materials, methods and verification criteria for producing high quality soldered interconnections. The standard emphasizes process control and sets industry-consensus requirements for a broad range of electronic products. This revision now includes support for lead free manufacturing.

IPC A-620B – Requirements and Acceptance for Cable and Wire Harness Assemblies
Revision B is now available for the only industry-consensus standard for Requirements and Acceptance of Cable and Wire Harness Assemblies.

IPC-DRM-PTH-E
Now updated to Revision D of the latest IPC-A-610E and J-STD-001E – our Training & Reference Guide illustrates critical acceptance criteria for the evaluation of through-hole solder connections.

IPC-DRM-SMT-E
Useful as a training aid in the classroom or on the shop floor, DRM-SMT-E contains computer generated color illustrations of Chip component, Gull Wing and J-Lead solder joints.

IPC-J-STD-033C
J-STD-033 Provides Surface Mount Device manufacturers and users with standardized methods for handling, packing, shipping and use of moisture/reflow sensitive SMDs.

IPC-J-STD-020D-1
IPC-J-STD-020D-1 standard identifies the classification levels of nonhermetic solid state surface mount devices that are sensitive to moisture-induced stress.

J-STD-075

J-STD-075 provides test methods to classify worst-case thermal process limitations for electronic components. Classification is referenced to common industry wave and reflow solder profiles including lead-free processing.

IPC Collections:

IPC-C-103 – Electronics Assembly Standards Collection

IPC-C-1000 Essential Document Collection for Board Design, Assembly and Manufacture

IPC-C-108 Cleaning Guides and Handbooks Collection

Through Electronics.ca you can order IPC standards for printed circuit board design and manufacturing and electronics assembly, including handbooks, guidelines and IPC training videos.

Download IPC Standards - Everything You Need From Start To Finish

What Benefit Do IPC Standards Have For The Electronic Hardware Supply Chain?

For more than 50 years, IPC has developed industry standards for the production of electronic hardware. After having been long considered North American standards, IPC standards over the past two decades have spread globally. The question now is: what benefit do IPC standards have for the electronic hardware supply chain?

Providing answers to that question, several companies in Europe representing electronic design, CAD, bare board production, assembly and soldering explain how they use IPC standards in their daily business routines.

This first article covers electronic design/CAD company, GED GmbH, located 30 km southeast of Cologne in Germany.

First experience with IPC standards

GED offers PCB design and engineering and, through the assistance of external subcontractors, bare board, assembly and test services. Currently the company has 14 employees and CAD systems from six different layout vendors. With these resources, the company produces 160 new PCBs and 80 updates per year for rigid, flex, flex-rigid and HDI boards for customers in Germany, Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, France and the Czech Republic.

From its establishment in 1986 to the middle of the 1990s, the company used its customers’ internal standards from companies such as Siemens, Philips, Rheinmetall and Thyssen. This meant that a different standard was used for every customer. An example of this frustrating situation, says Hanno Platz, owner and managing director, “was when we received an inquiry from Hewlett Packard in Germany with an attachment of 100 pages of requirements for the PCB in question.” At that time, the staff did not know about IPC and its standards. In 1995, the company had a U.S. customer that demanded that the assembly and soldering of a back plane, developed and produced in Germany, be conducted at their U.S. premises according to IPC-A-610, Acceptability of Electronic Assemblies, Class 3 acceptance criteria.

Technology focused on standards

GED found IPC standards through FED, a local German organization with a long-time relationship with IPC, and bought first set of IPC standards. The back plane could now be designed and produced according to IPC standards. Having standards from different areas of the production chain that linked together was a new and positive experience for the company. The staff now regularly discusses how to use IPC standards in their own designs as well as in the purchasing process of bare boards plus assembling and soldering.

Currently, all employees have passed CID (Certified Interconnect Designer) and CID+ (Advanced Certified Interconnect Designer) and are familiar with nearly all IPC standards for electronic design and CAD. All of their order acknowledgments for designing a complete PCB include the following statement, “If nothing else has been agreed upon, PCBs will be manufactured according to IPC standards and its Class 2 acceptance criteria.”

At GED, designers also create PCB layouts. Today, most new PCBs are HDI (high density interconnected) with a high SI (signal integrity) level including high EMC (electromagnetic compatibility). IPC standards have an important influence on these complex boards. The company uses the following IPC standards in their design work:

• The IPC-2220 PCB design series for mechanical properties of track, isolation and PTH (plated-through holes)


• IPC-2223B, Sectional Design Standard for Flexible Printed Boards for flex-rigid PCBs and questions like adhesive type, placement of a flex layer into the rigid part and coverlay dimensions


• IPC-7351A, Generic Requirements for Surface Mount Design and Land Pattern Standard for footprint (land) design, which is even more important than before because of lead-free processes, especially when components like CSPs (chip scale packages) and QFNs (quad flat no leads) are specified in the BOM list.


• IPC-A-610F, Acceptability of Electronic Assemblies for acceptability of solder joints and assemblies


• IPC-2251, Design Guide for the Packaging of High Speed Electronic Circuits and IPC-2141A, Design Guide for High-Speed Controlled Impedance Circuit Boards.With the need to comply with EU Directive 2004/108/EC, and its requirements for high EMC on all PCBs placed in the EU market, SI has become more critical. These standards assist GED designers in selecting microstrip or stripline build up for impedance.

Tool with benefit

The company’s ISO 9002 certification states that Deutsches Institut für Normung e.V. (DIN) and IPC standards serve as the foundation for quality work. IPC standards are required as a tool when the company uses external vendors for bare boards and assembly. For all potential suppliers in Europe, the staff conducts company visits that include an audit of the bare board supplier and their use of IPC standards, especially the IPC-6010 board manufacturing series and IPC-A-600H, Acceptability of Printed Boards. According to Platz, “After visiting hundreds of bare board suppliers, we’ve concluded that the majority of suppliers understand IPC standards but very few can make boards according to IPC Class 3 acceptance criteria. This is absolutely something that needs to improve.”

According to GED, IPC standards are the basis of electronic product quality and reliability. In the design process, technical parameters like choice of base material, pad sizes, spaces/traces and isolation distances between layer and component pitches are constant considerations. The use of IPC standards makes it much easier to find solutions. Without IPC standards, the alternative can involve high repair/touch up costs and lots of scrap but also an imperfect electronic product from a quality and reliability point of view. In some cases, this has been a very costly experience for the company’s customers that have not used IPC standards. Platz gives two examples:

Example 1: Working to improve EMC capabilities on a PCB, a designer placed via holes directly in surface mount pads. The result was years of solder and wetting problems with only an 80 to 90 percent yield and difficult repairs. The designer, by not following the standard, placed vias in a pad that was too tight. The profit loss over several years was estimated to be 50,000 to 60,000 Euros. The company was ultimately able to solve the problem by redesigning via hole placement that improved EMC properties.

Example 2: A complex 12-layer HDI board with BGA components on both sides needed to be manufactured using a lead-free process. After the transfer, yield went down to 50 percent. The reason: wrong design parameters and bad layer configurations were used and pads too small for via holes were created. With a higher lead-free solder temperature, many irreparable barrel cracks were created in via holes. The total loss due to the 50% yield in the lead-free process was more than 100,000 Euros.

For GED, IPC standards have been an invaluable tool over the past two decades. IPC standards not only save money, they also make it easier to communicate with bare board suppliers and assembly companies across the world. IPC standards can significantly reduce mistakes and improve end-product quality and reliability.

What Benefit Do IPC Standards Have For The Electronic Hardware Supply Chain?

PCB Industry Results for September 2015

North American PCB Sales Growth Continues

IPC — Association Connecting Electronics Industries® announced today the September findings from its monthly North American Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Statistical Program. Sales growth continued in September and the book-to-bill ratio fell back to a more normal but still positive 1.05.

Total North American PCB shipments increased 3.3 percent in September 2015 compared to September 2014. Year-to-date shipment growth finally reached positive territory at 0.3 percent, after struggling to overcome negative sales growth rates seen earlier this year. Compared to the previous month, PCB shipments were up 12.1 percent.

PCB bookings decreased 2.0 percent compared to September 2014, reducing year-to-date order growth to 5.2 percent. Orders were down 7.4 percent in September compared to the previous month.

“The North American PCB industry continues to see modest but positive sales growth, the result of strong order growth in most months of 2015. Orders contracted in September bringing the book-to-bill ratio down from a 5-year high in August to a more moderate level,” said Sharon Starr, IPC’s director of market research. “The book-to-bill ratio remains positive for the 12th consecutive month,” she added, “which is a strong indicator of positive sales growth in the fourth quarter of this year and into next year.”

Detailed Data Available

The next edition of IPC’s North American PCB Market Report, containing detailed September data from IPC’s PCB Statistical Program, will be available within the next week. The monthly report presents detailed findings on rigid PCB and flexible circuit sales and orders, including separate rigid and flex book-to-bill ratios, military and medical market growth, demand for prototypes, and other timely data.

Interpreting the Data

The book-to-bill ratios are calculated by dividing the value of orders booked over the past three months by the value of sales billed during the same period from companies in IPC’s survey sample. A ratio of more than 1.00 suggests that current demand is ahead of supply, which is a positive indicator for sales growth over the next three to six months. A ratio of less than 1.00 indicates the reverse.

Year-on-year and year-to-date growth rates provide the most meaningful view of industry growth. Month-to-month comparisons should be made with caution as they reflect seasonal effects and short-term volatility. Because bookings tend to be more volatile than shipments, changes in the book-to-bill ratios from month to month might not be significant unless a trend of more than three consecutive months is apparent. It is also important to consider changes in both bookings and shipments to understand what is driving changes in the book-to-bill ratio.

IPC’s monthly PCB industry statistics are based on data provided by a representative sample of both rigid PCB and flexible circuit manufacturers selling in the USA and Canada. IPC publishes the PCB book-to-bill ratio at the end of each month. Statistics for the current month are available in the last week of the following month.

Details of the new report, table of contents and ordering information can be found on Electronics.ca Publications’ web site.  View Report Contents: IPC’s North American PCB Market Report. Electronics.ca Publications is an IPC member and authorized distributor of IPC industry standards, workforce training products, and market research reports.

 

PCB Industry Results for September 2015

What Benefit Do IPC Standards Have For The Electronic Hardware Supply Chain?

For more than 50 years, IPC has developed industry standards for the production of electronic hardware. After having been long considered North American standards, IPC standards over the past two decades have spread globally. The question now is: what benefit do IPC standards have for the electronic hardware supply chain?

Providing answers to that question, several companies in Europe representing electronic design, CAD, bare board production, assembly and soldering explain how they use IPC standards in their daily business routines.

This first article covers electronic design/CAD company, GED GmbH, located 30 km southeast of Cologne in Germany.

First experience with IPC standards

GED offers PCB design and engineering and, through the assistance of external subcontractors, bare board, assembly and test services. Currently the company has 14 employees and CAD systems from six different layout vendors. With these resources, the company produces 160 new PCBs and 80 updates per year for rigid, flex, flex-rigid and HDI boards for customers in Germany, Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, France and the Czech Republic.

From its establishment in 1986 to the middle of the 1990s, the company used its customers’ internal standards from companies such as Siemens, Philips, Rheinmetall and Thyssen. This meant that a different standard was used for every customer. An example of this frustrating situation, says Hanno Platz, owner and managing director, “was when we received an inquiry from Hewlett Packard in Germany with an attachment of 100 pages of requirements for the PCB in question.” At that time, the staff did not know about IPC and its standards. In 1995, the company had a U.S. customer that demanded that the assembly and soldering of a back plane, developed and produced in Germany, be conducted at their U.S. premises according to IPC-A-610, Acceptability of Electronic Assemblies, Class 3 acceptance criteria.

Technology focused on standards

GED found IPC standards through FED, a local German organization with a long-time relationship with IPC, and bought first set of IPC standards. The back plane could now be designed and produced according to IPC standards. Having standards from different areas of the production chain that linked together was a new and positive experience for the company. The staff now regularly discusses how to use IPC standards in their own designs as well as in the purchasing process of bare boards plus assembling and soldering.

Currently, all employees have passed CID (Certified Interconnect Designer) and CID+ (Advanced Certified Interconnect Designer) and are familiar with nearly all IPC standards for electronic design and CAD. All of their order acknowledgments for designing a complete PCB include the following statement, “If nothing else has been agreed upon, PCBs will be manufactured according to IPC standards and its Class 2 acceptance criteria.”

At GED, designers also create PCB layouts. Today, most new PCBs are HDI (high density interconnected) with a high SI (signal integrity) level including high EMC (electromagnetic compatibility). IPC standards have an important influence on these complex boards. The company uses the following IPC standards in their design work:

• The IPC-2220 PCB design series for mechanical properties of track, isolation and PTH (plated-through holes)


• IPC-2223B, Sectional Design Standard for Flexible Printed Boards for flex-rigid PCBs and questions like adhesive type, placement of a flex layer into the rigid part and coverlay dimensions


• IPC-7351A, Generic Requirements for Surface Mount Design and Land Pattern Standard for footprint (land) design, which is even more important than before because of lead-free processes, especially when components like CSPs (chip scale packages) and QFNs (quad flat no leads) are specified in the BOM list.


• IPC-A-610F, Acceptability of Electronic Assemblies for acceptability of solder joints and assemblies


• IPC-2251, Design Guide for the Packaging of High Speed Electronic Circuits and IPC-2141A, Design Guide for High-Speed Controlled Impedance Circuit Boards.With the need to comply with EU Directive 2004/108/EC, and its requirements for high EMC on all PCBs placed in the EU market, SI has become more critical. These standards assist GED designers in selecting microstrip or stripline build up for impedance.

Tool with benefit

The company’s ISO 9002 certification states that Deutsches Institut für Normung e.V. (DIN) and IPC standards serve as the foundation for quality work. IPC standards are required as a tool when the company uses external vendors for bare boards and assembly. For all potential suppliers in Europe, the staff conducts company visits that include an audit of the bare board supplier and their use of IPC standards, especially the IPC-6010 board manufacturing series and IPC-A-600H, Acceptability of Printed Boards. According to Platz, “After visiting hundreds of bare board suppliers, we’ve concluded that the majority of suppliers understand IPC standards but very few can make boards according to IPC Class 3 acceptance criteria. This is absolutely something that needs to improve.”

According to GED, IPC standards are the basis of electronic product quality and reliability. In the design process, technical parameters like choice of base material, pad sizes, spaces/traces and isolation distances between layer and component pitches are constant considerations. The use of IPC standards makes it much easier to find solutions. Without IPC standards, the alternative can involve high repair/touch up costs and lots of scrap but also an imperfect electronic product from a quality and reliability point of view. In some cases, this has been a very costly experience for the company’s customers that have not used IPC standards. Platz gives two examples:

Example 1: Working to improve EMC capabilities on a PCB, a designer placed via holes directly in surface mount pads. The result was years of solder and wetting problems with only an 80 to 90 percent yield and difficult repairs. The designer, by not following the standard, placed vias in a pad that was too tight. The profit loss over several years was estimated to be 50,000 to 60,000 Euros. The company was ultimately able to solve the problem by redesigning via hole placement that improved EMC properties.

Example 2: A complex 12-layer HDI board with BGA components on both sides needed to be manufactured using a lead-free process. After the transfer, yield went down to 50 percent. The reason: wrong design parameters and bad layer configurations were used and pads too small for via holes were created. With a higher lead-free solder temperature, many irreparable barrel cracks were created in via holes. The total loss due to the 50% yield in the lead-free process was more than 100,000 Euros.

For GED, IPC standards have been an invaluable tool over the past two decades. IPC standards not only save money, they also make it easier to communicate with bare board suppliers and assembly companies across the world. IPC standards can significantly reduce mistakes and improve end-product quality and reliability.

What Benefit Do IPC Standards Have For The Electronic Hardware Supply Chain?