Breaking Down Language Barriers: IPC-T-50J Now Available

“The terms and definitions within the standard are written to provide clarity of detail, so that a reader utilizing English as a second language can understand the subtleties of the meaning of each term,” says Mike Green, engineer, Lockheed Martin Space Systems, and co-chair of the IPC 2-30 Terms and Definitions Committee. Of the revision process itself, Green says the document undergoes regular review, “IPC-T-50 is the one IPC document that is scrutinized one definition at a time.” The committee meets through web-based conferencing every other week as well as face-to-face twice a year, with input from an international audience, including the International Electrotechnical Commission, Japan Electronics Packaging and Circuits Association and European Institute of Printed Circuits.

“If you’re looking to take the mystery out of haloing, head on pillow, mouse-bites, pad cratering, moisture/reflow sensitivity classification and other terms and acronyms that the electronics industry commonly uses, then IPC-T-50 is the document to reference,” says John Perry, IPC technical projects manager and staff liaison to the committee.



For sharp-eyed users of the older version of the document, IPC-T-50H, Perry confirms that neither the committee nor IPC has lost its sense of the use of the alphabet for document revision control, “An ‘I’ could have easily been confused with ‘L’ or the number ‘1,’ even more so when people call out the document within internal procurement documentation and make an error.” He also warns, that when the time comes, not to look for the revision “O” which could be confused with the numeral zero.