IPC standard for Soldering Printed Circuit Boards

Numerous IPC standards are having to do with the soldering of printed circuit boards which are part of the IPC certification program.

The IPC-A-610 "Acceptability of Electronic Assemblies" has developed into the standard for which electronic assemblies including rigid, flex and rigid/flex assemblies are compared and quality determinations can be made. It is an ANSI-approved document that is broken down into multiple sections. The largest section contains acceptance criteria for surface mount components. Other large sections of the standard contain acceptance and rejection criteria for through-hole components, printed circuit boards, terminals, components, wires, cables as well as wire wraps, connectors, and other hardware. The standard also defines and refers industry users into various terms including what acceptable, target and defect conditions stand for. Other information includes the definition of various terms. The material is supported by a table of contents and an index. There many figures, drawings, photos and sketches to explain and support the various concepts. The IPC-A-610 "Acceptability of Electronic Assemblies" is one of the main standards for the assembly and soldering of printed circuit boards.

The gold standard for assembly training and certification is the IPC J-STD-001 " Requirements for Soldered Electrical and Electronic Assemblies" as it explains and supports international practices surrounding electronics assembly manufacturing. Like is "companion document", the IPC-A-610, the J-STD-001 is sectioned and mirrors the information found in the IPC-A-610 but explains HOW the assembly should be processed in order to meet the inspection criteria. The sections for this standard include an intro which includes the terms and definitions and reference documents to further expand upon the material covered in the IPC J-STD-001. Other sections of this IPC standard for the soldering of printed circuit boards include ones on wires/terminals, surface mount technology, through-hole technology as well as the inspection of the PCBs. When the training inclusive of hand soldering is completed, this IPC standard for the soldering of printed circuit boards informs on how to build the PCB assembly.

Both of these certifications rely, on the basis, the two main IPC standards the IPC-A-610 and J-STD-001. These standards are developed by subject matter experts as well as industry practitioners, teachers, contract assemblers and many others in an open committee format. The "cycle" for new revisions takes place every 2-5 years with the trend towards new standards being changed more rapidly as new devices and technology are developed at a rapid rate in the electronics industry. The committee begins with user-provided inputs and works through the suggestions via these suggestions. IPC is an electronics industry supply chain not for profit which organizes, prints, distributes and manages the certification program built to these standards. Once the membership votes on the proposed changes, the documents are published, the courses are written and the non-English language versions are translated and published.