Non-Probe Testing of Printed Circuits

Conventionally used contact probes for testing printed circuit boards will have physical limitations that can pose serious issues with increasing circuit density. Also as the test scheme requires that the fabrication of a product be finished before testing, malfunctioning process parameters cannot be tuned in real time. This study proposes a novel solution to these issues employing a modified coupled-strip transmission line structure that has a potential to be used in a production-level instrument for testing printed circuits after stacking each layer. The experiment shows that common circuit defects such as opens, shorts, and via opens can be detected in a non-contact manner that can solve all the issues imposed by current contact-probe method.