PCB Plated Through Hole Optimisation: A Case Study in SPC

This paper addresses two fundamental issues with regard to the production of printed circuit boards (PCBs). First, the paper presents a statistically‐based, four‐phase strategy aimed at better organising and facilitating the characterisation of a manufacturing process. The fact that the case study addresses copper plating thickness of PCBs is secondary to the characterisation strategy. In this sense, the strategy is universal by nature. Second, the paper provides analytical insight into a new statistical methodology aimed at establishing coupon‐to‐board correlation. The general concepts surrounding these two issues are embodied within the given PCB case study. Essentially, the case analysis systematically progresses through all four phases of the parameter characterisation strategy, highlighting the key aspects of each phase. In addition, the aforementioned technique for assessing coupon‐to‐board correlation is given substantiative discussion. However, it should be pointed out that a thorough narration pertaining to many of the statistical and engineering details of the case analysis has been deliberately omitted for the sake of brevity and reading ease. As a result of such considerations, it is assumed that the reader has a working knowledge of descriptive and inferential statistics, as well as experiment design. The benefit of this approach is simple—focus is easily given to the analytical strategy and order of execution without the usual clouding imposed by mathematical explanations.