Jim,
The board in the picture is obviously of very poor quality.  However, I believe the most profound advise that I can give about off shoring boards is to make a strong distinction between snapshot quality and Quality Assurance.  Quality Assurance at the class 2-3 level is a VERY scarce commodity out of Asia.  Snapshot quality, and acceptable boards might be easily had by switching to a new supplier.
The question becomes how much of a Total Quality system do you need to balance your nervousness?

Chris



-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of J W
Sent: Wednesday, September 09, 2009 10:41 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [TN] PTH problem

 Hi TechNet group,

I'm really getting nervous about a China bare board supplier and their quality and need your opinions.  Please take a look at the picture by clicking on the link below showing two plated through holes (via's).  The problem reported originally was a bad ground connection between ground via's and ground planes.  As you can see, the pictures are very telling, and you can clearly see the ground plane not connected (several planes not connected actually).  What I'm also nervous about is the comment listed below the pictures "The plated copper on PTH surface will be etched thin after OSP process".  Is that statement correct?  I'm not a bare board expert by any means, but I believe a PTH should have a little more copper than what is shown?  I know that OSP is not something new, so are other board suppliers dealing with the same issue of possible thin PTH walls because of OSP?

I also submitted pictures early last week regarding the same supplier having problems with the their solder mask process, so to me, I'm thinking this board shop is not up to standards and we should inform out board assembler house to look for another supplier...immediately?

Thanks for your help!

Jim

http://stevezeva.homestead.com/PTH_Connection_issue.jpg

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