Phil, interesting the questions you ask.  

As someone who works on PCB fabrication, I have often wondered if any customers looked at the coupons and sections we send them. 

Personally, I have been reluctant to send Compunetics' sections as I have told colleagues that these sections are the documents showing that, to all indications, the boards were built in conformance with requirements.  For that reason, if a customer requests a section of a single coupon, I tell our folks that we will prepare an extra one for the customer and keep our usual complement.  During the past few months a customer has been requiring all of our formerly internal sections, the sectioning and analysis by an external lab, plus any remaining coupons. (We have been sending everything - G, E, M, etc -  in the face of these imprecise requirements.)  Then we note in the microsection archive, and on the production records, that all coupons and sections went to the customer in accordance with the purchase order requirements.

The semiconductor detectors in the common lab microscopes cannot get an image of much more than one hole, and maybe not even that in a thick board, at the standard 100X magnification. The CCDs used in the big astronomical telescopes like those at Mauna Kea, the Canary Islands, or the European Southern Observatory high in the Chilean Andes, could capture more area, maybe. But the last I heard, which was 11 years ago, the price for one of those chips by itself was upwards of $70 000.

If I had the sections themselves, I would not bother with any photos.

I notice Vladimir at Sentec just posted something.  Let's see what he thinks....Louis Hart

-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Phil Bavaro
Sent: Tuesday, April 01, 2014 6:40 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [TN] PWB Microsection Report - Photos

I have been trying to get my PWB Fabricators to include photographs of the cross sections that come in with our PWBs but have encountered resistance from some of them.  Some even say they cannot do this as they don't have the camera equipment. They always include a mount with a cert and spare coupons but no picture of what is already polished in the mount.

In my opinion, looking over a spreadsheet of check marked boxes for compliance to 6012 is important, but a picture of the mount(s) reveals more information.  And in my experience, when I go to a third party lab, I always get photos.


Am I asking for something that is not normally provided from a PWB Fabricator?

What do the rest of you do when it comes to inspection of microsection mounts?

Thanks in advance,

Phil
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