The importance of testing complex electronics
Nihal Sinnadurai · 2005
The increasing functionality of modern electronics systems is being achieved through more complex integrated circuits, dense surface mount assemblies and increasingly through the use of multiple complex ICs interconnected to form multi-chip modules, all of which have progressively increased the cost of testing and its share of production cost, so that test costs are dominant today. Initiatives taken in Europe by leading corporations and recently adopted as IEEE standards for logic circuit testability, are now enabling electronic access for in-circuit testing and diagnostics at IC and board and MCM level, thereby improving quality and throughput in the manufacture of electronics. various proprietary solutions are also being introduced very effectively for analogue circuits, and for specialised computing and telecommunications systems, some using expert systems to aid diagnostics and improving the quality and throughput of testing. The solutions are most cost-effectively introduced at the design stage when maximum impact can be achieved on subsequent life-cycle costs.