What is involved in the environment stress screening for PCB manufacturing?

An extremely crucial part and process that falls under PCB designing and manufacturing is the reliability testing. As the name suggests, this procedure determines the correctness of PCB design and how well it will  be able to withstand harsh conditions, deliver desired output and whether it has any faulty points or not.

ESS or environment stress screening is the most important tool under this type of testing. It exposes the board design to a variety of environment stresses and conditions to see how well it encounters those situations. The kind of stresses, a design is generally exposed to would be vibrations, power cycling and rapid temperature variations.

It helps in identifying any hidden and unknown defects and faults in electronic product design and structure, so that the team of engineers could work on those faults and flaws before finalizing the design and product. Electronic devices, gadgets and products have become an essential part of every modern industry. ESS gives the makers of electronic devices, gadgets and equipment a chance to look deeper into the layout and work on the design before going ahead in the production line and actual development of the product.

Before beginning with screening, the electronic manufacturer must first determine the type and number of flaws and defects, the design is most likely to have and the maximum acceptable number of defects. The aim of this testing is not to remove those latent defects, but to recognize them and put the type and number of flaws into a category which is acceptable.

Manufacturers that work on contractual basis make sure to implement ESS testing and provide their clients with the resulting recommendations and data. They make use of certain software applications for this purpose in order to draft the data that explains the failure of product during the testing phases. Below mentioned are some major points that you can expect to find in one such report.

·         List of components that failed

·         Time and date of failure

·         Tests that caused the failure

·         Tester’s name

·         A description explaining the symptoms of failures

·         Some additional important information associated with the failure

The last phase in PCB testing is monitoring which is generating reports and comparing the results of ESS with the set expectations. The parameters considered during comparison can vary as per the product and components under testing. However, some common parameters are:

·         Screen strength

·         Defects remaining

·         Incoming defects

·         Trend analysis

Designing and implementing a good testing process such as ESS is beneficial in more than one way, whether applied during the initial electronic productdesign stage or at any later stage of production.

How PCB prototyping helps in verifying electronic circuit design and other associated aspects?

Before you go ahead and order large volumes of circuit boards for the next design, the wise idea would be to first go for an assembling prototype in order to test it for errors. Prototyping has made such testing possible so that manufacturer is saved from losing big money in case anything goes wrong during final phase of production.
Although the financial advantage is prominent aspect of prototype assembly, but there are other benefits also. Outlined below are some of its benefits:
Changing the design:
Prototyping shows you how the final product will appear in the final stage. If the layout of electronic circuit design seems inappropriate or not efficient, enough for the company and the clients, then it becomes possible to make changes in the final design. Since you are dealing with only a low volume of prototypes, manufacture gets free from spending countless dollars just to make some simple changes to improve the assembly.
Troubleshooting:
The worst thing would be ordering large volumes of circuits, spending money and taking time to get everything assembled only to realize that after the product has reached the client, the PCBs are not working up to the standards. Definitely, everything first goes through testing, yet sometimes even the smallest of errors can create blunder. With the help of prototyping, PCB goes through rigorous testing phases to ensure that it will work without any failure during the life time.
Quality assurance
Apart from providing designing and troubleshooting advantages, prototype assembling also helps in finding out which category and type of devices are functional and in working condition, and which ones needs replacement or updating. As the technology is upgrading every day, components are constantly becoming obsolete. A prototype helps in finding out what will work best for you PCBs and assure highest level of quality.
New Products
A manufacture creates a prototype before he is going to implement a new product for the clients. Whether there is a need of a batch with low volume or a need to perform prototype assembling quickly, each new product has to go through testing and revision in order to implement required changes before taking it to the last assembly stage.
Testing assemblies
If you are looking for a quality PCB assembly service provider company, you can do it after requesting a prototype assembling work as per the design and specification. Depending upon the quality of prototype work carried out, you can assess how well the company listens to the request. It also gives an idea of costs they will charge and depending on whether you liked the quality of work done, you can see whether they fit the business requirement or not.
PCB prototyping assembly helps in assessing which electronic circuit design  would be ideal and would saves the manufacturers from losses.

How electronic circuit design is created?

As the technology advances, makers of electronic component and devices are now leaning towards the achievement of compactness. To achieve better and more efficient production of electronic gadgets and devices, the focus is shifting towards improving the circuit structure and design and hence, each production unit has research and development department that works to improve the efficiency by introducing unique and more effective circuit designs.

One who is a part of electronic industry would be familiar with how complex is the process of manufacturing a circuit or board and how much groundwork goes into producing an ideal and final output for a product in this industry. However, in this article we will discuss what the procedure of designing a circuit is. Take a look:

Every device in this industry is created for a certain purpose, be it educational, or for entertainment purpose. So the underlying purpose of the circuit which is going to be designed first needs to be evaluated and figured out before going towards the next step. As per the complexity of what task has to be accomplished, the project is further subdivided into other functions that work collectively in the pursuit of stated task.

After figuring out the purpose and task to be done, next comes the task of picking necessary components required for building the circuit. Here physical components are not bought, only the specifications and datasheets are prepared to design the sub-circuits. The phase is crucial as the characteristics and tolerances are worked out here for the entire project. For instance, is the circuit going to be exposed to hear to other mechanics and stresses such as shaking, falling, etc.? Accordingly the chosen components will be required to fit in with those resistances, features and outside conditions as well as electric needs such as current draw, etc.

After this, comes the phase of schematic designing in which the electronic circuit design is created with the help of diagrams. The schema is used as a guide and document for final implementation, because the schematic design is the one which goes on to be finally converted into actual and physical circuit board. This phase is quite challenging as it involves multiple types of analysis so as to make the circuit work as required.

Once the functional part of the circuit part is designed which has been represented with schemas, next phase is designing the board into physical form. This is the step where actual physical components are soldered on to the circuit. Manufactures make use of several automated tools for creating boards with a schematic design. Since manual designing is highly complex and difficult, especially in terms of big projects, it becomes nearly impossible to carry it out manually. That is why automated technology and tools are used for this phase.

Understanding the process and steps involved in the  electronic circuit design  procedure is crucial for developing and manufacturing an ideal circuit board product.

Rules adhered by PCB design companies to minimize the cost of fabrication!

Designing of printed circuit board is not as easy as it may seem to be! Therefore, number of rules & regulations are followed for designing the boards by the PCB design companies in order to get the respective layouts-as quality can make a drastic difference. Following are some printed board design rules:

·         Single sided PCB: Circuit boards can be designed in two forms single sided and double sided. But as far as possible, companies prefer single sided because circuitry can be routed easily with the use of jumpers on these boards, as compared to the double sided boards. Moreover, double sheets also causes price hike of 1 to 2 times more than single sided boards. Hence, so far companies prefer these as the cheapest PCB for making out consumer products.

·         Panelisation of PCB: Panelisation plays major role in cutting the cost of PCB fabrication. This is because of the prominent fact that it helps to save up 80% to 90% of PCB lamination. However, if not done so, wastage up to50 % would occur which is not at all worthwhile. Therefore, usually manufacturers prefer standard sizes that comprise of dimension 40 inches * 48 inches.

·         Small size: The fundamental rule of printed circuit board design is to use small size of board during its layout, in order to have best output of fabrication. Few points taken into considerations in relation to size are spacing, track width and various other constraints.

·         Silkscreen: It should be either eliminated or minimized up to a great extend because if used, later it would cause difficulty in trouble shooting. Hence, PCB companies itself or while recommending make sure that if they are using silkscreen on top overlay then they won’t be using it again on bottom overlay.

·         Reduce number of holes: The basic role when it comes to drilling is keeping it simple as much as possible. Therefore, utilization of machine is not preferred much as it would be raising the price of board.

·         Reduce type holes: Common drill bit sizes are preferred by the companies while designing of boards which comprise of 0.7mm, 0.8mm, 0.9mm, 1.0mm, 1.2mm, 1.5mm, 2.0mm and 3.0mm. Changing these drill bits are avoided because making changes by machine takes a lot of time that eventually causes an effect on the cost of PCB.

·         Limited track width and track spacing: Likewise, printed company adhere the rule for the reduction in holes and types holes, similarly they also make it a note to have minimize track width and spacing. For example, for designing of 0.3mm width, they make use of 0.5mm and similarly, for spacing they use 0.5mm, when 0.3mm is required. Eventually, this would help yield a productive printed circuit board during the fabrication period with an effective cost.

Having discussed all the rules of  Printed circuitboard design  in this document, you must have got a complete idea of design rules that are followed by then PCB designing companies.

Why you should choose a good electronic design company?

The electronic design is by far the most essential aspect of any gadget and there is need for close attention to be paid towards screening it properly so that the right results are achieved. However complicated it might tend to seem, if you choose the right service provider for this requirement, you are bound to get the best results.

Though, it usually tends to become really difficult for one to get a good service provider for this requirement without having to search far and wide for it. If the design of the gadget isn’t perfect, you are going to have to compromise with its quality of functionality and structure over time.

It might even start giving you technical problems after a while and dealing with those problems shall mean a lot of time, money and opportunity for doing business wasted! So to save yourself of this entire ruckus, you need to put in practice such a plan of action that can help you in choosing the most appropriate service provider, not only for the design but also for the proper development and management of the gadget you set out to make.

Selecting a company or service provider which serves you to the best of their capabilities might not be as hard as you might think. Keeping in mind, a couple of essential points can definitely help you find such a company not only visualizes your dream in the most genuine manner, but also works towards making it come true.

A good company is the one that leads you through the step by step process of product specification, development and final presentation of the sellable item. If it is a custom electronic design you need to choose such a trusted and renowned name for it, which has previous experience in the field so that you don’t risk spoiling your task. It is essential and you need to ensure that the firm that you select from amongst the various available options is adept in being able to provide this grade of products and services according to your requirements.

The authenticity and certifications of the company need to be determined beforehand. This is essential so that you don’t end up losing time and money at the hands of fraudsters which are multiplying throughout the industry each day.

In the end it is essential to keep a close check on the quality of services being provided by your electronic product development company so that you can fetch the desired results.

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