Updates to IPC assembly standards

8 October 2014 News

IPC has released the ‘F’ revisions of two of the industry’s most widely used standards, IPC J-STD-001: Requirements for Soldered Electrical and Electronic Assemblies, and IPC-A-610: Acceptability of Electronic Assemblies.

The documents have been updated to include technical advances in solder on plastic surface mount technology (SMT) components, new criteria for P-style and solder-charged Butt/I SMT terminations, a change to void criteria for BGAs, and enhancements to the language within the documents to provide ease of use and clarity. New photos facilitate further understanding.

The revision process involved dedicated volunteers from electronics companies in the Americas, Europe and Asia. Following the mantra, ‘in data we trust,’ IPC committee members focused major changes in areas such as the shrinking sizes of plastic packages that affect solder touching component bodies.

Dispelling past concerns that solder could not touch plastic components for fear of future failure, Teresa Rowe, IPC director of assembly technology, said “We [committee] didn’t find significant occurrences of failures when solder touched the plastic bodies.” Rowe explains that there was much discussion on this topic and expects that as research in this area continues, the committee will consider it in future revisions.

The chapter on conformal coatings also underwent significant changes. “We revised the way we look at conformal coatings, providing new information on coating thickness,” Rowe said. “We also looked at bubbles, voids and transparency, expanding our criteria for acceptance.” The standards also cover Class 2 plated through-hole vertical solder fill requirements and Class 2 flux activity criteria.

Often used as companion documents, IPC J-STD-001F and IPC-A-610F each have a unique purpose. Whereas the former is a material and process requirements document and is critical for use during manufacturing, the latter is a post-assembly acceptance standard.

For more information visit www.ipc.org

Further reading:

SACEEC celebrates standout industrial innovation on the KITE 2025 show floor
News
Exhibitor innovation took the spotlight at the KITE 2025 as the South African Capital Equipment Export Council announced the winners of its prestigious New Product & Innovation Awards.

Read more...

---

SA team for International Olympiad in Informatics
News
The Institute of Information Technology Professionals South Africa has named the team that will represent South Africa at this year’s International Olympiad in Informatics.

Read more...

---

Anritsu and Bluetest to support OTA measurement
News
Anritsu Company and Sweden-based Bluetest AB have jointly developed an Over-The-Air measurement solution to evaluate the performance of 5G IoT devices compliant with the RedCap specification.

Read more...

---

The current sentiment of the global electronics manufacturing supply chain
News
In its latest report, the Global Electronics Association provides an analysis of the current sentiment and conditions in the global electronics manufacturing supply chain as of June 2025.

Read more...

---

Global semiconductor sales increase in May
News
The Semiconductor Industry Association recently announced global semiconductor sales were $59,0 billion during the month of May 2025, an increase of 19,8%.

Read more...

---

New president for Avnet EMEA
News
Avnet has announced that Avnet Silica’s president, Gilles Beltran, will step into the role of president of Avnet EMEA.

Read more...

---

DARPA sets new record for wireless power beaming
News
In tests performed in New Mexico, the Persistent Optical Wireless Energy Relay program team recorded over 800 W of power delivered for about 30 seconds with a laser beam crossing 8,6 kilometres.

Read more...

---

Nordic Semiconductor acquires Memfault
RF Design News
With this acquisition, Nordic has launched its first complete chip-to-cloud platform for lifecycle management of connected products.

Read more...

---

Trina storage demonstrates high efficiency and long-term reliability
News
Independent testing confirms 95,2% DC efficiency and 98% capacity retention after one year of operation.

Read more...

---

From the editor's desk: AI – a double-edged sword
Technews Publishing News
As with any powerful tool, AI presents challenges, some of which, if not carefully managed, threaten to undo the potential that it can offer.

Read more...

---