Design recommendations  
To simplify building of test fixtures and avoid problems in the test process, the following recommendation is made for PCB board design:


Guiding holes:

  • Minimum two non-plated guiding holes per board, placed as far as possible from each other
  • Recommended size of minimum 3 mm
  • Recommended clear space around the holes should be 6 mm
  • Placement should be such that the board can be turned only one way in the test fixture
  • For panel boards there should be two guiding holes per board, plus two guiding holes for the total panel


Test points:

We recommend to use the following (in priority sequence):

  1. Test pads (test pads should be tin or gold plated)
  2. Component legs for hole mounted components
  3. Tin filled vias

To avoid double sided test fixtures, the test points should be placed on the same side of the board.


Distances and dimensions for board layout:

  • Minimum 5 mm from board edge to components (only for direct vacuum fixtures)
  • Minimum test pad diameter size should be 1 mm or larger
  • Minimum centre distance between test points for 100 mils probe should be 2,3 mm
  • Minimum centre distance between test points for 75 mils probe should be 1,9 mm
  • Minimum centre distance between test points for 50 mils probe should be 1,27 mm