A Review on PCB testing techniques and its Evolution

Abstract: This paper presents a brief review of different Printed Circuit Board (PCB) testing techniques. It is necessary to detect and diagnosis the faults in PCB as this fault may lead to system failure. Testing is important to ensure proper functionality and quality of PCB. With the development of PCB manufacturing techniques, its testing methods also evolved. The brief history of different testing techniques and its evolution to match with the current technology is studied. With the help of these techniques testing efficiency is increased by reducing test time, cost and increasing test coverage. This paper describes how new testing strategy; Automated Test Equipment (ATE) contribute to low overall manufacturing test costs, quick time to market by improving the fault coverage, reliability and testing time.

Keywords: Printed Circuit Board (PCB), Testing techniques, Automated Test Equipment (ATE)