Testing of Ohmega-Ply® resistors is an integral part of the PC board manufacturing process.




NOTES ON OHMEGA BURIED RESISTOR ELECTRICAL TESTING

GENERAL TESTING

Electrical testing is required to verify correct resistor values and identify out of tolerance resistors. Electrical tests should be performed for innerlayers and for the final printed circuit (bare) board. 100% testing of resistors on the finished board are within the specified tolerance.

Innerlayer electrical testing assures that all resistors are in spec before lamination. AOI by itself is not sufficient.

Innerlayer resistors prior to lamination and surface resistors prior to soldermask must be carefully handled to avoid physical damage to the resistive elements.

CAD/CAM systems must be modified to enable electrical testing of innerlayers and finished boards having integral resistors. There are three primary test issues:

INPUT DATA REQUIREMENTS

Net list testing is required for almost all applications as comparative tests can not identify nominal resistors values nor handle overlapping tolerances or incorrect parallel/series resistor networks. Self learn techniques are only recommended for innerlayers or finished boards having surface resistors (no interconnecting networks of buried resistors).

Net lists downloaded to the test machine must include resistor locations and values. One of the two following methods are generally utilized;

  1. The CUSTOMER or the DESIGN SERVICE provides;
    1. A CAD generated net list, plus
    2. a Secondary Resistor File showing the resistor locations and values.

  2. The CUSTOMER or the DESIGN SERVICE provides Gerber data only. The CAD/CAM department performs multiple Gerber extractions. The difficulty of this procedure ranges from "relatively easy for innerlayers" to "very difficult for final testing of complex multilayer designs."
CAD/CAM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

Custom software may be required. If standard IPC356D net lists are used, the CAD/CAM system must merge the net list with the resistor file prior to download of the modified net list to the test machine.

First time users should contact their TEST SERVICE or TEST EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURER to determine the applicability of their test equipment and the availability of the required software.

TEST EQUIPMENT REQUIREMENTS

There are three types of test equipment available to test Ohmega-Ply® resistors - shown in order of prevalence;
  1. Universal bare board testers ("bed-of-nails"),
  2. Fixtureless (flying probe systems), and
  3. Custom test fixtures and measurement systems.
Standard fixtures, test probes and machine set ups are utilized for bare board testing. If required, test probes and operating conditions may be modified to enable innerlayer testing through double treat or black oxide coatings.

The measurement accuracy for resistors depends on the instrument accuracy, contact resistance, probes and lead resistance.

THE MEASURING CURRENT MUST NOT EXCEED THE CURRENT RATING OF THE RESISTORS TO PREVENT RESISTOR DAMAGE:
For resistors < 1 kohms, measuring current < 1 mA,
for resistors > 1 kohms, measuring current < 10 uA.
RECOMMENDED EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURERS (partial listing)

Company

Telephone

Web Site

Type

TTI, Carson City, NV

(775) 885-8015

http://www.ttiusa.com/

universal,

ECT, Pomona, CA

(909) 625-9332

http://www.ectinfo.com/

universal,

Probot, South Windsor, CT

(860) 921-7000

http://www.probot.com/

flying probe,

Integra-test

(631) 231-4411


flying probe.


RECOMMENDED TEST SERVICES (partial listing)

APPENDIX B--ELECTRICAL TEST SERVICE BUREAUS

COMPANY NAME

TESTER(S)

CONTACT PERSON

E-MAIL ADDRESS

PHONE NUBER

JANUS TECHNOLOGIES, SAN JOSE, CA

Flying Probe

Customer Service

sales@janustek.com

(408) 453-1447

ATG ELECTRONIC


Jim Robinson


(714) 549-9767

ALPHA CIRCUIT TEST

ECT

Don Leduc


(818) 885-8387

CIRCUITEST SERVICES

Flying or Universal

Kevin Wheel

kevinwheel@ectinfo.com

(603) 882-2621

EVERETT CHARLES, POMONA

ECT

Morris Webster


(909) 447-2630

INTEGRI-TEST

Flying Probe

Joe Conti

joeconti@aol.com

(631) 231-4411

T.QC.-TEST LABS, INC.


Bill Mallett


(408) 435-9290

TTI (Test Technology International)   Don Lamers test@ttiusa.com (775) 885- 8015