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www.us-tech.com
March, 2014
30 Years of Bringing Bad News, One Board At A Time
By Robert Boguski, President, Datest F
ailure, contrary to what many may think, can be an option. Failure can even teach a great
deal, especially when it results from a malfunctioning process. Datest (
www.datest.com) has
been in the business of testing and inspecting printed-circuit-board as - sem blies (PCBAs) for 30 years, learn- ing from failures by means of in-cir- cuit-test (ICT) processes and helping customers to correct whatever might be causing those PCBA failures. For Datest customers, circuit-
board failures mean missed ship- ments and lost dollars. Board fail- ures that are not detected in a time- ly manner can ruin the reputation of a contract manufacturer (CM) or supplier of electronic manufacturing services (EMS). But Datest can help. The firm, based in Fremont, CA, has been an ISO9001- and AS9100-certi- fied provider of advanced, integrated PCBA testing, inspection, and engi- neering services to the CM/EMS and OEM communities since 1984. In those 30 years, Datest has augment- ed Agilent/Keysight, Teradyne, and GenRad ICT with SPEA flying probe testing, Goepel and Asset boundary scan testing, Agilent 5DX automatic x-ray inspection, and failure analysis using the Nordson DAGE XD7600 - NT500 Ruby X-Ray Inspec tion System with X-Plane Technology. Engineering is followed by testing, either at Datest’s facility or on-site at a customer’s designated contract manufacturer. Every customer has
If given 100 nonworking boards to evaluate, the firm will try to return as close to 100 good boards as possible.
different preferences, and Datest respects and works within each set. It is important to provide real
value as part of testing. When a cir- cuit board fails and is brought to Datest, it is evaluated and returned to a customer, not just with a simple description but with fully diagnosed faults to the component level. Datest may even rework a board, removing and re balling suspect BGAs as war- ranted. If given 100 nonworking
boards to evaluate, the firm will try to return as close to 100 good boards as possible. In addition, much can be
learned by listening to customers, who have budgets and expectations, and the two may not always coincide. A customer may also not be aware of full test capabilities for evaluating
failure, in order to discover a solution for that board. Datest serves a wide range of
industries, including automotive, biotechnology, consumer, data en - cryption and security, contract manu- facturing, environmental controls and technology, industrial, medical, mili- tary/aerospace, product design/devel-
such as increased digital test and fault coverage as well as significant time savings using automatic diag- nostics. The combination of advanced tools and extensive test experience translates into superior value-added services for customers.
Failure Analysis Support services are critical to
today’s electronics industry and Datest works to provide comprehen- sive support capabilities, updated as needed. Time is an important part of any solution, so when process engi- neers arrive at with a suspect circuit board, every effort is made to provide them with clarity, direction, and the beginning of a resolution to their process problem, through up-to-date testing services and expertise. Our personnel are well aware of
A Datest technician operates the firm’s Teradyne system for in-circuit testing.
PCBAs. Because of this, personnel will listen to a customer’s needs and then try to steer them towards the most cost-effective solution for evalu- ating their PCBAs. The term “Integrated Testing Solutions” is not just a slogan but a way of life at Datest, where the company has focused on relentlessly delivering value to its customers. For example, a customer feeling
strongly about implementing ICT on one circuit board may not realize that the board was not ideally suited for ICT. A better solution, for exam- ple, might be a combination of flying probe and automated x-ray inspec- tion, which can result in improved cost and throughput for the board rather than trying to implement an ICT approach. A customer may bring in a board with little background information, only that it failed. Datest personnel will ask for more specific information, even about the suspected root cause of the board
opment, solar/photovoltaic, and telecommunications. The company supports these industries through a comprehensive repertoire of systems and technologies, including ICT from such suppliers as GenRad, Teradyne, and Agilent Technologies, with their Agilent 5DX AXI inspection services, benchtop boundary scan, and func- tional testing, augmented with SPEA flying probe testing. The company has established
numerous close partnerships with key complementary service and equip- ment providers. For example, Datest is a Center of Expertise (COE) for Goepel Electronic (
www.goepel.com) as well as the West Coast equipment demonstration site for SPEA flying probe test systems (
www.spea.com). Datest is the first test services
company in the US to fully integrate a model 4060 double-side flying probe tester from SPEA with the lat- est Goepel boundary scan tools. This integration provides crucial benefits,
the growing importance of long-term reliability for manufactured elec- tronic products, and that some boards that pass initial electrical testing have no assurance of long- term reliability in the field. Our testers have become increasingly aware that any board inspection and analysis must look for these “hidden” failure mechanisms that may not be obvious during initial testing but that may contribute to degrading a board’s long-term reliability. Datest offers a variety of servic-
es, helping with the troubleshooting, repair, and retesting of failed boards; with BGA removal and replacement; with computer-aided-design (CAD) and Gerber computer file conversion services; mechanical design for testa- bility (DFT) analysis, electrical DFT analysis, test strategy consultation and implementation, test sanity checking, design for manufacturabili- ty (DFM) analysis, lot tracking and statistical reporting, and mixed OEM/EMS provider engagement. The company also provides third-party dis- pute resolution, for example, to adju- dicate a disagreement between an OEM and CM or EMS supplier.
Bonepile Rehabilitation Circuit boards that fail under
warranty or are considered unre- pairable by an OEM are typically
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