Re-balling BGA-packaged devices such as FPGAs, highly complex ASICs, and µPs is becoming increasingly more popular. That’s because OEMs much prefer to watch the bottom line by taking the less costly route of BGA re-balling than the considerably more expensive replacement of these highly advanced and expensive devices.

Partnering has become a strong business initiative in recent times. In particular, when it comes to assuring higher reliability for their products, OEMs are increasingly partnering with their contract manufacturers (CMs) and EMS providers to effectively create test strategies to ensure top-level reliability.

For whatever reason, some OEMs prefer to split their product projects among vendors. Such is the case when an OEM favors a particular PCB design house that does only board design and then that OEM goes to another vendor for assembly.

With OEMs increasingly moving to smaller, more portable products, PCBs are continuing to shrink and the real estate is begging for components to be increasingly smaller, like the micro CSP packaged device seen in this picture.

In this day and age, hi rel PCBs demand extra steps be taken at design, fabrication, and assembly to ensure each and every end product is safe and secure under harsh and rugged environments, as well as highly operational under mission critical conditions. However, the contract manufacturer (CM) or EMS Provider must at all times consult the OEM to explain the significance of increasing PCB specifications and get permission to proceed with adding those extra steps by revising original OEM specs.

In the best of all worlds, you want complete assurances that your PCB project will achieve the highest testing coverage possible – in the neighborhood of 85 to 95 percent. To make this happen and to give you the highest confidence it will happen, both PCB layout and test engineering must be under the same roof and under the same engineering management.

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Like they say, you ain't heard nothing yet. That's very appropriate for LEDs and the increasing numbers of new uses and applications for these tiny, yet powerful and low-cost lighting sources.

You can say PCB layout and test are inseparable; they go together under the same roof to assure product reliability. Sometimes, OEMs take a big gamble by opting to take their PCB projects to one design layout house and then have those boards tested by another shop.

Advanced packaging is changing the name of the game as far as PCB design and layout and introducing new and challenging issues to the EMS Provider and Contract Manufacturer (CM).