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10 The PCB Magazine • July 2016 examines how best to improve impedence test- ing by making coupons match the board. Our regular columnist Mike Carano of RBP Chemical Technology chose reliability as his subject this month—more specifically, the re- liability of the plated through-hole of a PCB. He describes the various types of thermally-in- duced failures and includes photos along with trouble-shooting information. Karl Dietz has supplied a great overview of digital imaging systems on the market today, in- cluding those recently introduced. He lists each manufacturer along with their equipment and what each can do. This is a great little reference piece for anyone consid- ering DI equipment in the near or far future. Last but not least, for a totally non-techni- cal change, we have Barry L. Cohen (BLC) of Launch Communications with an entertaining little missive on the importance of literature to one's sales and marketing program. So there you have it. Test and inspection has turned into a huge subject and gosh, we barely scratched the surface. Are there other T&I sub- jects that you would like to hear about? Let me know! We'll find someone to answer your ques- tions, I'm sure. In the meantime, we really do want to hear from YOU, dear reader, for our Au- gust issue. We want to hear your thoughts and opinions. Send me a note or try clicking here for a few leading phrases to get you started. PCB Patricia Goldman is a 30+ year veteran of the PCB industry, with experience in a variety of areas, including R&D of imaging tech- nologies, wet process engineering, and sales and marketing of PWB chemistry. Active with IPC since 1981, Goldman has chaired numerous committees and served as TAEC chairman, and is also the co-author of numerous technical papers. To contact Goldman, click here. was first introduced in the '80s. Identifying de- fects is just one part of the capabilities. To balance that, we next introduce our new- est columnist, Keith Sellers with NTS-Baltimore (formerly Trace Labs). In this first column Keith delves into fractographic analysis; in his exam- ple he visually analyzes substrate cracking and voiding using both microscope and SEM. There are many facets to inspection! We are pleased to include the next article, which won the Best Paper award at IPC APEX EXPO this year, on the IPC Round Robin of high- frequency test methods. The principal author is Glenn Oliver of Du- Pont; co-authors include Chudy Nwachukwu of Isola, John Andresakis of Park Electrochemical, John Coonrod of Rogers Corp., David Wyn- ants of Taconic and Don DeGroot of Connected Community Networks. There is much useful in- formation in this thorough treatise. Due to its length, we have chosen to publish the first half in this magazine with a link to the second half that includes the Results and Conclusions. Getting back to electrical testing, Todd Kol- modin of Gardien Services USA provides a use- ful overview of the various electrical tests and methods used to validate design and manufac- ture of PCBs. Test and inspection methods are only as good as the systems and equipment you are us- ing. Patrick Valentine of Uyemura USA gives us a clear step-by-step explanation of the Type 1 Gauge study to help you determine the accu- racy and precision of your measurements. He uses a real-life example of plating thickness to illustrate his point. Next we have another paper that was origi- nally presented at IPC APEX EXPO this spring. Author François Lechleiter of Cimulec Group presents an innovative thermal conductivity measurement method for use on the composite materials used in the PCB industry. And now let's hear what's happening in Bra- zil (other than the Summer Olympics). Our Bra- zilian correspondent, Renato Peres of Circuibras DELVING INTO TEST AND INSPECTION " Test and inspection methods are only as good as the systems and equipment you are using. "