IPC delivers first automotive standard for rigid printed boards

This addendum addresses the reliability of rigid printed boards which must survive the vibration and thermal cycling environments of electronic interconnects within the automotive industry. Some of the highlights included with IPC-6012DA are the identification of automotive performance classes, recommendations for sustainability and reliability testing identification, and solder makes thickness coverage over conductors, planes, and adjacent surface mount devices. The addendum also provides requirements for hole size, hole pattern accuracy, and pattern feature accuracy requirements.  

“This is an important step towards a standardized level in a complicated field of suppliers and demands,” said Jan Pedersen, chairman of the IPC-6012DA Automotive Addendum to IPC-6012D committee and senior technical advisor at Elmatica. “IPC-6012DA, addresses the specific requirements and parameters for building and supplying printed circuit boards for the automotive industry, which are not covered in the base standard IPC-6012D.”

The busy committee won’t be resting on their laurels. Later this year, a task group will be established to prepare the standard for the medical sector, an industry not yet harmonized in terms of PCBs. Users and suppliers in the medical sector will be invited to participate.

"The idea behind the automotive addendum was to find a consensus in the jungle of corporate specifications, a common document describing basic PCB requirements for the automotive industry,” added Pedersen. "Now that IPC-6012DA is finalized, we are very proud knowing this standard will bring the automotive requirements for both users and suppliers up to a standardized level.”