Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1161956
12 SMT007 MAGAZINE I SEPTEMBER 2019 body to follow. But with a spec- ification, for example, the cus- tomer says, "It has to meet the IPC-610 standard that has 25% void. But I want a 5% void, not 25%." Then, the supplier will say, "If you're not following the standard, I will have to charge you more. I can do a 5% void, but it will be more expensive." IPC has Class 1, 2, and 3. Some people can say, "That's fine with me." Others might say, "I want something different." That's the difference between a specification and a stan- dard. The specification is only set by the per- son who writes the check. Pedersen: Having a clear language to com- municate is important. That's also why I'm into IPC-2581 and dealing with how we can communicate the specification between the designer and the manufacturer. The goal is to be 100% clear on what the designer wants. Prasad: The other thing worth noting is that the standards are global, but the specifications can be for a specific company and different. Happy Holden: For 30 years, I was never allowed to use or even look at any IPC stan- dards because the Hewlett-Packard specifica- tions were better than anything IPC had. They were more correct, supplied by data, and the standards are a place where you start. And for people who have no data, that's better than nothing. Prasad: It starts with the committee, and then it goes to China, India, and everywhere else. We want the membership of all of these com- panies so that they have to get their input. You have to compromise not to get too many nega- tive votes. For example, in my standards, I tried not to get even one negative vote if I could, but there are times that you can't compromise. Pedersen: When you say that IPC's standard is not good enough, Happy, it's still like that. It is not easy to keep up to date. They're coming after the tech- nology continuously. I have some good examples, especially when I'm working with medi- cal. You cannot follow the cur- rent design standard because this is much denser. Then, we introduce a new design level, but it's only for medical right now, and it should be for all standards. Prasad: Even for medical, some companies could go looser or tighter than that. And remember that the standards are a slower process; think of it as dictatorship versus democracy. Democracy is messy and slow, but it works because other people buy in; that's part of the idea behind the standards process. We keep changing it. We release it, and then next month, we start this process of updating, which takes a year or two. It depends on how many dedicated volunteers we get; nobody is getting paid. Johnson: There are some people in our indus- try who are critical of standards because they are behind the time. A few people also suggest that standards should be pointing toward the future. Is that even possible? Pedersen: I think it's possible to become better than we are today, and for me, transparency is vital. As an example, with 6012, where are they going? What kind of level are they heading to? There is a big discussion going on about micro- via reliability, for instance. Prasad: You're right. I'm not here to defend IPC, but transparency is the main thing. It must be open to anybody and everybody. Everybody is welcome to make a contribution, but for vot- ing, you have to be a member. In the five or six committees that I have chaired, it has been a very open, transparent process. Pedersen: It's more the feeling that people around the globe feel that IPC is somebody in Ray Prasad