Testing solder joints of BGA packages upon PCB assemblies is a challenging task unless X-Ray equipment is available. In numerous cases X-Ray (AXI) is too costly while functional test (FCT) and IEEE 1149.1 Boundary Scan (JTAG) cannot catch open defects in power or ground nets. During Nordic Test Forum (NTF'2019) conference in Tallinn this week, Testonica has presented a ground breaking technology capable to detect defects in Power Delivery Network (PDN) of FPGA-based products using no AXI.
Marginal Defects, such as excessive voids in solder joints, dewetting, head-in-pillow and alike do not necessarily cause malfunctions, but may result in system performance issues, increased error rates, intermittent faults and other sporadic stability issues observed in certain operation modes, at certain workloads or manifesting in a seemingly stochastic manner. As a result, Marginal Defects may lead to No Fault/Trouble Found (NFF/NTF) scenarios.