31 Jul 2025Manufacturing / Production Technology, Hardware & Services
Achieving zero defects in printed circuit board assemblies (PCBAs) demands rigorous validation on both the component level and system level. SPEA highlights two complementary methodologies – in‑circuit testing (ICT) and functional testing (FCT) – that together provide a holistic, layered approach to quality control and root‑cause diagnostics.
What is in‑circuit testing?
ICT is a white‑box test method that inspects the electrical integrity of individual components and their connections early in the manufacturing process. It identifies soldering defects, component value errors, open and short circuits, and misplacements before the board is powered up – significantly reducing the risk of damaging equipment or the PCBA itself.
Some critical advantages include:
• Component‑level diagnostics: Exact identification of faulty or missing components, incorrect values, and orientation errors.
• Production insights: ICT generates data that, when fed back through MES or quality systems, supports trend analysis and process improvement.
• High throughput: Especially when using bed‑of‑nails testers that support multi-site, parallel testing for efficiency.
Both bed‑of‑nails and flying probe testers can be used for ICT. Bed‑of‑nails testers use fixed spring‑loaded probes contacting test pads in parallel and are best suited for large production volumes thanks to speed and repeatability. Flying probe testers use mobile probes to sequentially contact single points making them flexible and ideal for low volume, rapidly changing designs.
What is functional testing?
While ICT digs into how the board was built, functional testing (FCT) confirms if it works as intended. Under realistic power and signal conditions (regulated voltages, I/O behaviour, frequency responses), FCT delivers a pass/fail verdict by testing the board’s integrated functionality. This testing is essential to catch design flaws, firmware issues, and system‑level interactions that ICT simply cannot detect.
SPEA integrates both ICT and FCT into bed‑of‑nails testers for seamless, high-throughput validation. The company’s machines like the T300 tester employ a multi-core architecture and support up to 32 simultaneous ICT cores and 256 cores for flashing and functional testing, enabling throughput up to 10x faster than conventional systems.
They extend conventional ICT with advanced measurements for weak components, analogue/digital fault boundaries, flashing, and dynamic tests. Dual-site operation is supported with robot loading/unloading, and controller integration for high autonomy and minimal operator reliance.
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