BANNOCKBURN, IL – New microvia requirements are at the heart of the latest IPC standard for bare board qualification and performance.

After five years in development, IPC-6012D, Qualification and Performance Specification for Rigid Printed Boards includes updated requirements for dielectric removal, HASL solder pots, printed board edges, and markings and solder mask coverage.

The most anticipated addition is for new microvia requirements for both capture and target lands. Annular ring, plating to land separation, target land penetration and voiding in plated and copper-filled structures are some examples where the revision addresses microvia structures.

“The IPC-6012D revision represents a significant body of work by the IPC D-33a Rigid Printed Board Performance Task Group,” said John Perry, director of printed board standards and technologies at IPC. “A revision effort spanning five years, there are hardly any pages in the new revision where some level of content change or addition did not take place.”

The D revision will be released in conjunction with IPC-6012DS, Space and Military Avionics Applications Addendum to IPC-6012D, Qualification and Performance Specification for Rigid Printed Boards, which addresses requirements for space and military avionics.

The revision caps off a multi-year effort to update the core specifications in the IPC-6010 performance series, including IPC-6013C for flexible printed boards and IPC-6018B for high-frequency (microwave) printed circuit boards, with updated acceptance criteria for HDI/microvia structures.

Moving forward, IPC said it will retire the IPC-6016 specification for HDI/microvia structures published in 1999.