IPC (electronics)
IPC is a global trade association whose aim is to standardize the assembly and production requirements of electronic equipment and assemblies. IPC is headquartered in Bannockburn, Illinois, United States with additional offices in Washington, D.C. Atlanta, Ga., and Miami, Fla. in the United States, and overseas offices in China, Japan, Thailand, India, Germany, and Belgium.
IPC is accredited by the American National Standards Institute as a standards developing organization and is known globally for its standards. It publishes the most widely used acceptability standards in the electronics industry.
History
It was founded in 1957 as the Institute of Printed Circuits. Its name was later changed to the Institute for Interconnecting and Packaging Electronic Circuits to highlight the expansion from bare boards to packaging and electronic assemblies. In 1999, the organization formally changed its name to IPC with the accompanying tagline, Association Connecting Electronics Industries.Standards
IPC standards are used by the electronics manufacturing industry. IPC-A-610, Acceptability of Electronic Assemblies, is used worldwide by original equipment manufacturers and EMS companies. There are more than 3600 trainers worldwide who are certified to train and test on the standard. Standards are created by committees of industry volunteers. Task groups have been formed in China, the United States, and Denmark.Standards published by IPC include:
;General documents
- IPC-T-50 Terms and Definitions
- IPC-2615 Printed Board Dimensions and Tolerances
- IPC-D-325 Documentation Requirements for Printed Boards
- IPC-A-31 Flexible Raw Material Test Pattern
- IPC-ET-652 Guidelines and Requirements for Electrical Testing of Unpopulated Printed Boards
- IPC-2612 Sectional Requirements for Electronic Diagramming Documentation
- IPC-2141A Design Guide for High-Speed Controlled Impedance Circuit Boards
- IPC-2221 Generic Standard on Printed Board Design
- IPC-2223 Sectional Design Standard for Flexible Printed Boards
- IPC-2251 Design Guide for the Packaging of High Speed Electronic Circuit
- IPC-7351B Generic Requirements for Surface Mount Design and Land Pattern Standards
- IPC-FC-234 Pressure Sensitive Adhesives Assembly Guidelines for Single-Sided and Double-Sided Flexible Printed Circuits
- IPC-4562 Metal Foil for Printed Wiring Applications
- IPC-4101 Laminate Prepreg Materials Standard for Printed Boards
- IPC-4202 Flexible Base Dielectrics for Use in Flexible Printed Circuitry
- IPC-4203 Adhesive Coated Dielectric Films for Use as Cover Sheets for Flexible Printed Circuitry and Flexible Adhesive Bonding Films
- IPC-4204 Flexible Metal-Clad Dielectrics for Use in Fabrication of Flexible Printed Circuitry
- IPC-A-600 Acceptability of Printed Boards
- IPC-A-610 Acceptability of Electronic Assemblies
- IPC/WHMA-A-620 Requirements and Acceptance for Cable and Wire Harness Assemblies
- IPC-6011 Generic Performance Specification for Printed Boards
- IPC-6012 Qualification and Performance Specification for Rigid Printed Boards
- IPC-6013 Specification for Printed Wiring, Flexible and Rigid-Flex
- IPC-6018 Qualification and Performance Specification for High Frequency Printed Boards
- IPC- 6202 IPC/JPCA Performance Guide Manual for Single- and Double-Sided Flexible Printed Wiring Boards
- PAS-62123 Performance Guide Manual for Single & Double Sided Flexible Printed Wiring Boards
- IPC-TF-870 Qualification and Performance of Polymer Thick Film Printed Boards
- IPC-FA-251 Assembly Guidelines for Single and Double Sided Flexible Printed Circuits
- IPC-3406 Guidelines for Electrically Conductive Surface Mount Adhesives
- IPC-3408 General Requirements for Anisotropically Conductive Adhesives Films
Market research
IPC members are eligible to participate in IPC’s statistical programs, which provide free monthly or quarterly reports for specific industry and product markets. Statistical programs cover the electronics manufacturing services, printed circuit board, laminate, process consumables, solder and assembly equipment segments.Annual reports are distributed for the EMS and PCB segments, covering market size and sales growth, with breakdowns by product type and product mix as well as revenue trends from value-added services, trends in materials, financial metrics, and forecasts for total production in the Americas and the world.
Monthly market reports for the EMS and PCB segments provide recent data on market size, sales and order growth, book-to-bill ratios and near-term forecasts.
Classes
The IPC have established three classes of workmanship standards for assemblies, IPC Class 1, IPC Class 2, and IPC Class 3.Usually both Class 1 and Class 2 focus on consumer clients and Class 3 is for industrial use.