UL has recently officially opened a printed wiring board (PWB) performance testing lab in Taipei. Incorporating the widely tested UL746 and UL796 safety certification, the lab will benefit local PWB businesses across downstream and upstream sectors by providing a full suite of product performance testing and authentication services.
Electronics affect all aspects of our life today. From toys, automobiles, mobiles, the Internet and cloud servers to wearables and portable medical accessories, PWBs have become essential components and play an important role in the manufacturing of these products. In order to support local industry development, UL has chosen Taiwan, the world's strategic base for PWB manufacturing, to launch its latest PWB performance testing service lab. It will mainly provide two reliability tests (CAF and IST), and SET2DIL / Delta-L for testing signal integrity.
CAF (Conductive Anodic Filament) testing is designed to test PCB insulation reliability after long-term use, and has long been a key PCB and material performance assessment item for users of end products requiring superior reliability (e.g., servers, automotive electronics and medical electronics). UL offers testing with eccentric loading of up to 1000 VDC and therefore meets the testing requirements of most manufacturers.
IST (Interconnect Stress Test) offers a time-effective solution to testing the long-term reliability of circuit board conductivity performance. It shortens the time consumption required for traditional temperature loop tests, allowing a 12-fold decrease in time consumption for the same number of tests conducted. Through special testing and customized board design, IST enables clients to quickly test the conductivity performance of PCB products, which facilitates their accreditation and process improvement operations.
SET2DIL / Delta-L is a high-frequency signal performance testing method pioneered by Intel. Designed for circuit boards with demanding signal integrity requirements, SET2DIL / Delta-L is a key testing item suitable mainly for PWB process and material assessment.
As pointed out by Andy Tsai, engineer director of UL Consumer Technology Division (Greater China), "High quality, high density and high-speed application are required for PWB design today, and a UL lab can perform tests covering the material, chemical and electrical properties of PWB products; we also provide pre-test consulting and design instruction sessions, as well as post-test failure analysis to locate the root causes of issues discovered. UL labs help clients optimize their products and make them stand out in a highly competitive marketplace."
"The launch of UL's PWB performance testing lab marks an important step toward further enhancing the overall competitiveness of the local circuit board manufacturing industry in Taiwan. By fully integrating and leveraging various resources, it will enable local PWB companies to complete internationally recognized accreditation tests in Taiwan. We will continue to monitor the latest market trends and extend the coverage of our testing services to include other PWB performance tests," added Mr. Tsai.
The grand opening reception was well attended by industry leaders, including representatives of Taiwan Printed Circuit Association and leading electronics and circuit board manufacturers across Greater China. In addition, UL sponsored the "Asian Trend Forum," at the 16th TPCA Show, and a UL expert gave a speech titled "Creating Industry Based Performance Criteria for PWB Substrates," during "Impact 2015".
www.ul.com
