FREMONT, CA — Datest today said sales rose 15% year-over-year in 2013. The privately held PCB test, test engineering, and inspection company attributed the growth to nearly 60 new accounts won during the year.

The majority of Datest’s new accounts selected Datest for its 2D and 3D X-ray and 3D CT-scan failure analysis services, the firm said, to address board-level reliability problems.

“Board-level reliability is a ticking time bomb in our industry,” said Robert Boguski, president. “Every day our booming 3D quick-response failure analysis work produces overwhelming evidence that apparent good boards, having passed the requisite electrical and burn-in tests at assembly, are failing in the field, often because of solder joint defects in high density packages like BGAs and QFNs. Engineers approach Datest with suspicions regarding these defects on their boards, and more often than not, we confirm them. More importantly, we provide clarity and help set a direction for them to make vital process and yield improvements.”

Ed.: Boguski authors a regular column on testing for CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY.