Jun05
Tumble Test: How to Prevent PCB and BGA Failures in Electronics Manufacturing

Tumble Test: How to Prevent PCB and BGA Failures in Electronics Manufacturing

From what I remember, one of the earliest and most frequent requests for tumble testing came from Motorola. Since some of Motorola’s mobile phones and products were designed for military use, their reliability and quality standards were exceptionally strict. However, this also meant higher design and production costs. I can’t help but wonder if this was one of the reasons Motorola eventually lost its competitive edge.

Workingbear strongly believes in maintaining high-quality standards, but over-engineering beyond practical use (over quality) can be a waste of resources. Take smartphones as an example—most people replace their phones every two years. Designing a phone to last five years is already impressive. Insisting on a 10- or 20-year lifespan might only make sense if it doesn’t significantly increase costs. Otherwise, companies need to seriously consider whether the extra investment is worth it.

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May29
Uncovering the Culprit: How CAF Turned Out to Be the Hidden Cause Behind PCB Micro-Shorts — From Suspicion and Analysis to Solutions

These two lab cross-sections show conductive material growing along glass fiber gaps.

Workingbear’s company was having a tough time with a strange issue: intermittent micro-short circuits inside the layers of the PCB. Since the shorts didn’t show up near any components, it was really hard to figure out what was wrong.

Recently, we made a breakthrough. We finally got a faulty PCB that consistently showed the issue. After working with the PCB manufacturer to analyze it, we found the likely cause: CAF (Conductive Anodic Filament)—a type of metallic filament caused by electrochemical migration (ECM), which is known to cause failures in PCBs.

At last, we had a clear direction to investigage. Before that, our customer was getting very frustrated because we couldn’t find the root cause.

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May22
What is CAF (Conductive Anodic Filament) in PCBs? and How to Prevent It

CAF Configuration Variants

One of our company’s products once experienced an issue called an “internal micro-short” in the printed circuit board (PCB). After investigation, we discovered the root cause was something called CAF (Conductive Anodic Filament). But let’s be honest—if you translate that literally, hardly anyone would understand what it means! Simply put, CAF is a kind of hidden short circuit that forms inside a PCB layer or even under the solder mask (the green coating on the surface of circuit board).

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May15
The Role of Process Engineers and Product Engineers in a Company

The Role of Process Engineers and Product Engineers in a Company

Many people, especially newcomers to the workforce, may feel confused when they first hear the term Process Engineer. What exactly does a process engineer do?

First, let’s understand what process means. Simply put, a process refers to the manufacturing procedure—the steps and methods used to produce a product.

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May08
The Deep Dive: BGA Pads: SMD vs. NSMD (Strength, Voids & Design Considerations)

The deep dive BGA pads SMD vs NSMD

Hey folks, welcome back to the blog! Today, we’re diving deep into something absolutely critical for the reliability of almost every electronic gadget out there: BGA solder joints. You know, those tiny connections that hold complex chips onto our printed circuit boards (PCBs). Keeping them strong and free from defects like those pesky little bubbles inside the solder – we call them voids – often comes down to a surprisingly fundamental aspect: the design of the pads on the PCB.

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