Importance of PCBA Functional Testing

Advantages of PCBA Functional Testing

In every other state-of-the-art PCBA manufacturing unit, there is a proper PCBA functional testing facility. This facility ultimately helps in realizing and making it possible to have a quality PCBA circuit board. The presence of such units is critical in assuring the quality production of circuit board assemblies. Hence, those who like to import such circuit boards must run the quality test to ensure the functionality and behavior of the assembly.

Testing is the only method that allows the importers to make sure the product he is ordering or paying for is worth being imported. Hence, with the collaboration of the manufacturer, functional testing becomes imperative for the importers. Therefore, the process appears to be a grand strategy to make sure the product bears full test coverage in the manufacturer’s vicinity. Read more about PCBA testing methods here

What Is PCBA Functional Testing?

To understand the importance of PCBA functional testing, it becomes imperative to first understand what is Functional Testing for PCBA. During the phase of manufacturing the PCBA circuit unit eventually has to go through steps of inspections for quality assurance. These steps are the various methods by which a circuit has to pass. These are called multiple inspections. It thereby includes visual inspections, semi-automated bench testing, flying probe test, and In-Circuit tests (ICT) as well. The purpose of these testing phases is to analyze whether it is time for the PCBA circuit board to leave the factory and to be shipped to the actual customer before its production. To ensure quality, reliability, and durability, the PCBA functional testing becomes integral. Also, the purpose includes finding the defects that can affect the reliability, missing components, faulty joints or connections, etc.

However, amongst all the available variety of testing, the PCBA functional testing appears to be the most comprehensive of them all. It eventually verifies the proper signal behavior which seems to be missing in other methods. By comprehensive, it means that using this method, it will be a situation of announcing Go or No-Go signal or decision for the Fabricated PCB circuit. The issues related to signal problems in PCBA functional testing are:

Integrity Of the Power Signals

Power integrity amongst the PCBA signal is the most common as it happens due to various factors including an excess of ripples in PDN during operations, excess of jitters as well as low noise frequency.

Distortion of Signals

There are various nets where distortion of signals happens. It eventually includes various nets and skews in buses that cause signal distortion along with other behaviors as well.

Inaccurate Voltage/Current:

The reason behind the inaccurate amount of current or voltage is due to the addition or installation of incorrect components. It nonetheless also happens if one of the components is missing from the circuit board. Lastly, if IR drops in a circuit board, the amount of current or voltage also drops.

Despite the number of methods and procedures to have successful functional testing, there nevertheless must be a fixture for the PCBA board. It thereby only allows having comprehensive PCBA functional testing. Having a proper fixture thus allows the manufacturer to examine all the required areas. However, the presence of such a fixture appears to carry a hefty price tag. The amount of price also increases more if a manufacturer uses an embed software. It is because the software requires a written program to run. Nonetheless, with the use of embedded software, the surety to have high quality and the high yielded product is a guaranteed phenomenon.

Benefits Of Using PCBA Functional Testing

There are two major benefits of using the PCBA functional testing in Printed circuit boards. It includes Quality Assurance and Improvement of Process and Reduction of Production Costs. Let us discuss each benefit in detail:

Assurance Of High-Quality Product

If we look at the In-Circuit Testing as ICT, we come to know the point that it carries an evaluation of individual components and the characteristics of each electronic component. However, this is not the case when it comes to PCBA functional testing. Instead, the process alternatively involves the connection of a finished PCBA circuit with the system to run the entire cycle of processes to ensure functionality in full swing. For testing, the quality assurance engineer monitors the device using the Device Under Test method. By using the method, the engineer learns its performance and gathers all the necessary data to evaluate the whole design.

The functionality test makes sure the design is properly performing all the necessary functions as is expected from it. It, conversely to the ICT test, allows testing the design only through the connector interface level. By using these connections, one can eventually execute the test. The functionality test thereby confirms the connection and interaction between various components in a manner that is expected to work for the end-user as well. The reason for performing the functionality test is to analyze the errors. Then to correct and isolate those errors and defects quickly. After that, it is the priority to resolve those defects and make them run perfectly.

Improving The Process and Reducing the Production Cost

One of the imperative things to keep in mind is that not all the PCBA functional testing for PCBA circuit boards is identical. It is because the implementation of these tests varies widely with the change of products. For every other product in DUT, the parameters for testing the signals in PCB circuits is different. However, the necessity and importance of the test remain a high priority. In addition, it is, therefore, a recommendation to avoid taking and covering huge space and resources for multiple systems.

Furthermore, the addition of a universal functionality testing system is a blessing. The system thereby allows reduces your space and cost. This moreover reduces the number of workers and operators to operate a variety of system thereby reducing the cost, salary as well as it maximizes the overall value and profit. Therefore, to get benefits by using the testers, it is important to provide the manufacturing partners with a list of exact functions and parameters. In this way, the company then proposes the right universal product and tester for your brand.

These are some of the suggestions regarding the PCBA functional testing. However, to read more about various types of testers and PCBA design, feel free to contact our customer support services here