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IPC standards, the results of industry consensus and collaboration, are respected throughout the whole world.

Using IPC standards allows manufacturers, customers and suppliers to speak the same language.

Their wide acceptance, and your company's incorporation of the standards into your manufacturing processes, can help grow your business, adding new customers while satisfying your current customer base.

Sections:
Acceptance   Cleaning   Components   General
Materials   Process Support   Rework and Repair   Solderability  

ASSEMBLY
Acceptance
	IPC-A-610E (Preview 87Kb) Acceptability of Electronic Assemblies the most widely used acceptability document. It is the essential guide for all inspectors, operators and trainers. IPC-A-610 illustrates industry-accepted workmanship criteria for electronics assemblies.
Topics include: Component Orientation and Soldering Criteria for through-hole SMT and Discrete Wiring Assemblies Mechanical Assembly Cleaning, marking, coating and laminate requirements Lead-free
IPC-A-610 now has a companion. IPC-HDBK-610 (Preview 134Kb) offers explanatory and tutorial information to help with the implementation of the requirements of IPC-A-610 versions B to C. IPC J-STD-001D (Preview 46Kb), Requirements for Soldered Electrical and Electronic Assemblies, is the essential companion for IPC-A-610D. It contains comprehensive, critical details about processes, materials and testing methods for soldered assemblies. IPC-A-620 (Preview 292Kb), Requirements and Acceptance for Cable and Wire Harness Assemblies is the most comprehensive acceptability standard for cable and wire harness assembly industry. Other documents in this range include the desk reference manuals, IPC-DRM-PTH-D, (Preview 881Kb) Through-Hole Solder Joint Evaluation Training & Reference Guide and IPC-DRM-SMT-D, (Preview 693Kb) Surface Mount Joint Evaluation Training & Reference Guide are the ideal companions for even the most experienced engineer.

Advanced

Advanced assembly standards are aimed at more specific areas of manufacturing process. With in depth standards for areas such as flip chip, chip scale and BGA technology IPC-SM-784 (Preview 49Kb), Guidelines for Chip-on-Board Technology Implementation, is the most popular standard from this section. It discusses chip types, board selection, design issues and thermal transfer methods for COB applications. J-STD-032 (Preview 25Kb), Performance Standard for BGA's, working along side IPC-7095 ensure you have the most up to date information on BGA's.

Cleaning

Still a major issue during the manufacturing process and still an area where there is much confusion. The standards in this section offer a wide variation of processes and solutions that cover many areas of cleaning in production. IPC-M-108, Assembly Cleaning Guides and Handbooks is the complete guide to cleaning and is an amalgamation of 6 IPC standards to include all areas of cleaning from post solder solvent (IPC-SC-60) and post-solder aqueous (IPC-AC-65A) to the cleaning of PCB & assemblies (IPC-CH-65 Preview 60Kb) and surface insulation (IPC-9201 Preview 56Kb). All guides included in IPC-M-108 are available separately.

Components
	The identification and handling of components is vital to ensure correct assembly and reliability.
IPC-DRM-18 (Preview 1.3Mb) Component Identification Training & Reference Guide is a comprehensive guide to the most commonly used through-hole, SMT components and interconnections used in electronic assembly today. Other popular standards from this area include J-STD-033 (Preview 44Kb) Standard for handling, packing, shipping and Use of Moisture Reflow Sensitive SMD's and J-STD-020 (Preview 23Kb), Moisture/Sensitivity Classification for Plastic Integrated Circuit SMD's are two standards which focus directly on the safe use of SMD's. For a complete guide to handling try IPC-M-109, Components Handling Series which includes all the latest editions of IPC standards & guidelines related to packaging, handling, storing and testing.

General

This section includes the standards that are not otherwise categorised. These range from statistic process control and ISO 9000 requirements to SMT connectors and electrochemical migration. IPC-7525 (Preview 52Kb), Stencil Design Guidelines provides information for the design and fabrication of stencils for solder paste and surface mount adhesive. IPC have created two documents that are an amalgamation of the most requested documents that relate to a particular area. These are IPC-M-103 Standards for Surface Mount Assemblies and IPC-M-104 Standards for Printed Board Assembly.

Materials

Raw materials can seriously affect the quality and reliability of PCB's. IPC have produced a range of documents that enable companies to evaluate what is suitable for their requirements. J-STD-004A (Preview 29Kb) Requirements for Soldering Fluxes is our most requested document and is a flux characterisation, quality control and procurement document. This is supported by IPC-TP-1090 The Layman's Guide to Qualifying New Fluxes for MIL-STD-2000A or MT-0002. J-STD-006A (Preview 101Kb) Requirements for Electronic Grade Solder Alloys and Fluxed and Non-Fluxed Solid Solders for Electronic Soldering Applications has just been re-released with a new amendment, the most prominent change in Revision A is a new solder alloy nomenclature system. Others areas included are dialectic and conductive adhesives, soldering pastes and qualification & performance guides including IPC-SM-840C (Preview 64Kb) which focuses on Permanent Solder Mask. Now the complete guides to conformal coating. IPC-CC-830B (Preview 43Kb), Qualification and Performance of Electrical Insulating Compound for Printed Board Assemblies and IPC-HDBK-830 (Preview 28Kb), Guidelines for Design, Selection and Application of Conformal Coatings provide all the information required to assist designers and users of conformal coatings in making informed decisions.

Process Support

The documents in this section are there to provide technical support to enable the highest quality to be reached. J-STD-001 (Preview 134Kb)(see Acceptance at the top of this page) is the most common item. IPC-HDBK-001 (Preview 123Kb) Handbook and Guide to the Requirements of Soldered Electronic Assemblies to Supplement J-STD-001 offers explanatory and tutorial information to help with the implementation of requirements as indicated in J-STD-001C. Other documents that support J-STD-001C are IPC-TP-1114 The Layman's Guide to Qualifying a Process to J-STD-001C and IPC-TR-467 Supporting Data and Numerical Examples for J-STD-001C (Control of Fluxes). There are standards which focus on quality and reliability of SMT such as IPC-SM-785 (Preview 58Kb) Guidelines for Accelerated Reliability Testing of SMT Attachments, IPC-S-816 (Preview 56Kb) SMT Process Guideline and Checklist and IPC-SM-780 (Preview 223Kb) Component Packaging and Interconnecting with Emphasis on Surface Mount. IPC have finally put an end to the confusion when calculating defect opportunities for benchmarking with the release of IPC-7912A (Preview 88Kb), Calculation of DPMO & Manufacturing Indices for Printed Board Assemblies. Working in conjunction with IPC-9261 (Preview 43Kb), In-Process DPMO and Estimated Yields for PWA's. A guide to defect categorisation is provided that can serve as a base for summarising and reporting in-process defects when used with J-STD-001 and IPC-A-610. It can also be used to develop process step estimated yield.

Rework and Repair
	This is one of our most popular documents. IPC-7711/72A (Preview 808Kb) Rework and Repair Guide This is the ultimate guide and provides: Comprehensive Guides to rework, repair and modification Clear and detailed illustrations and tables Detailed analysis of proven techniques and methods Recommendations and troubleshooting
They both run in conjunction with IPC-A-610, J-STD-001, IPC-A-600 and IPC-HDBK-001.

Solderability
	This section mainly aims at testing and evaluation of the solderability of PCB's and their components.
J-STD-002 (Preview 68Kb) focuses on components leads, terminations and wires where as J-STD-003 (Preview 60Kb) gives a more general view on tests for printed boards. Others give views on solderability and the effect of different finishes and surfaces such as IPC-TR-461 Solderability Evaluation of Thick and Thin Fused Coatings and IPC-TR-462 Solderability Evaluation of Printed Boards with Protective Coatings over Long Term Storage.
Consistency with soldering on a mass scale can be major cause for concern. IPC-7530, The Definitive Guide for Temperature Profiling for Mass Soldering (Reflow & Wave) Processes, helps to reduce the chance of reliability failure by assuring metallurgical bonding of the solder alloy and the base metals to be soldered.