Let's Talk Testing

August 28, 2017

Let’s Talk Testing: Professor Plum in the Library with the Candlestick…Right?

Who knew that a phrase from a decades-old popular board game could have some relevance in today’s ever-changing world? In the game of Clue, simply put, evidence is collected and then used to solve a mystery. In my world, testing is performed to gather data/results (evidence) and then this information is used to determine the root cause of some issue that is under investigation (solving the mystery).

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May 29, 2017

Random Thoughts on Employment, from Both Sides of the Table…

Many years ago, as I began my senior year of college, the reality of getting a job slapped me in the face! After three years of college studies, it dawned on me that without a job after graduation, all my hard work would have been for naught. Luckily, my university had a solid interview/job program that helped me and many of my fellow undergrads find gainful employment upon graduation the following spring.

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April 26, 2017

Let's Talk Testing: You’re in for a (Thermal) Shock!

Printed circuit board history stretches back to the early 1900s, with real promise shown in the industry after World War II. Through the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, PCB construction really started to progress when fiberboard and wood were replaced with resins and laminates, and rivets replaced early plated through-holes.

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February 28, 2017

Let's Talk Testing: How Strong is Your Foundation?

In my December 2016 column, we discussed the idea of supplier surveillance and that one should put into place some type of doublecheck to ensure that you are getting exactly what you’ve asked for, designed, ordered, etc. To take that idea a step further and to circle it back to the main industry we are discussing here, let’s look at some of the testing that one might do under a supplier surveillance program as it relates to a standard printed circuit board—the foundation of most electronics in today’s world.

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January 10, 2017

Got Whiskers?

The tin whisker phenomenon is an issue that has plagued the electronics industry for many years now; however, with even more sectors of the industry now looking to shift or go lead-free—eliminating or limiting lead—in their processes and products, focus on this potentially devastating issue appears to be on the rise once again.

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December 15, 2016

Let's Talk Testing: Are You Getting What You’ve Asked for?

A lot of things are taken for granted nowadays. Even in our everyday lives, we order things, but are we always getting exactly what we’ve ordered? What we’ve paid for? Maybe… hopefully…but maybe not. In the testing world, we call this double-checking “supplier surveillance,” and it can influence and affect anyone and everyone in the printed circuit board and printed circuit assembly supply chain.

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November 15, 2016

Vias for Dummies

In simple terms, a circuit board is but a composition of things designed to be connected and not. The number of layers and number of connections make no real difference as the geometry shapes the landscape.

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October 15, 2016

Don’t Reinvent the Wheel—Find an Expert!

Back in the day when I was an engineer fresh out of college, I quickly learned that experience is the solution to many problems. Now that being said, experience comes in many forms…it could be knowledge learned from a textbook, it could be an observatory comment jotted down in a notebook, it could be a conversation with a co-worker or colleague, or it could be an Internet search that finds a scholarly technical article, etc.

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September 15, 2016

Does your Product have a Military Application?

Just like any other industry segment within the circuit board world, the military sector has its own share of documents…and likely many more than most! These documents have been developed over the years to guide, shape, and test anything and everything that might go into a jet fighter, a radar system, a warship, a weapons system, etc.

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August 15, 2016

Welcome Your Product to the Real World!

The days, weeks, and (sometimes) years that go into a product’s development usually are incomprehensible to the lay person. Like laws and sausages, no one wants to really understand what has gone on behind the scenes to make your “thing” a reality. They just care that your widget makes their life easier and/or more enjoyable!

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July 13, 2016

Let's Talk Testing: Seeing is Believing in Fractographic Analysis

One of the more common types of failure analysis is the investigation of something that has broken. For this column, we will be discussing a broken material, or, more commonly, a fractured or cracked material.

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