Testing to eliminate reliability defects from electronic packages

Electronic packaging is a critical part of all electronic devices and can be a source of the reliability problems experienced by systems using those devices. In many cases, the packaging defects are intermittent in nature and difficult to detect. This paper describes a tester that has been used for 20 years on commercial products and has proven to be extremely effective in detecting these defects prior to component assembly. The LATEST/spl trade/ (trademark of IBM) tester has been applied to defects in printed circuits, multilayer ceramic and flexible circuits. As packaging density increases, the use of this tester becomes critical because of the difficulty of producing "defect-free" product and the impact of defects on the reliability of the end-use product. This paper covers the theory of the LATEST tester and the effectiveness of the test for printed circuits and flex products. It also covers application methods and deployment. Comparisons to standard test systems demonstrate the significant reliability improvement achieved with LATEST testing which makes its use imperative for mission critical applications.