The production and use of electronic printed circuit boards (PCB's), is now very complicated, as the volume of produced boards is very high and the use to which the boards are put presents problems not realized 10 years ago.PCB Tracking
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The production and use of electronic printed circuit boards (PCB's), is now very complicated, as the volume of produced boards is very high and the use to which the boards are put presents problems not realized 10 years ago.
The main problems areas which electronic tagging can be applied to the solution are :
1. The logistics and tracking of PCB production.
2. The identification of PCBs in a service environment.
3. The security of PCBs to identify fraudulent or stolen copies. I
LOGISTICS :-
The PCB production process requires identification of a PCB from the moment it has started in the process to the point it is ready for shipment. Each stage of the board production needs to be monitored to show exactly where the product is and it's present state of test.
The IDTAG, if mounted on the PCB as the first component, allows the board to be located at any stage of the production process as well as in the test process, allowing logging of test and process data against a specific item/product.
Most production processes require that components are soldered to a PCBs this requires high instantaneous temperatures of up to 400 degrees centigrade as well as the board cleaning processes requiring acids, solvents and alkalis to clean fluxes and other noxious deposits.
Conventional adhesive labels suffer under these circumstances to the point where they fall off or become illegible. The IDTAG, because of its glass packaging, can withstand all these processes.
SERVICE :-
The PCB in it's operational environment, fails periodically and needs to be replaced and/or repaired. Information pertaining to the history of this PCB needs to be related to the PCB via a data base and the unique code number in the tag allows this relationship to be implemented.
PCBs in an electronic environment get covered with dust, grease and other forms of surface coatings such that if a bar code is used as the identifier it is now almost totally illegible. The IDTAG can operate through these different types of coatings as well as being able to be read in situ.
SECURITY :-
Many electronic PCBs now form part of pieces of equipment which have high value and as such are fraudulently copied or stolen.
In the case of fraudulent copying, a PCB is difficult to identify' as any electronic component can be bought from a number of sources and PCBs reproduced to a level which is difficult to detect. The IDTAG PCB tag offers a unique number system which is impossible (in commercially financial terms) to reproduce, thus allowing boards to be uniquely identified and audited.
In the case of stolen units with pubes inside, the PCB and assembly can be identified positively to a specific manufacturer and process via the IDTAG, allowing police to prosecute and identify the stolen items and obtain convictions.
The IDTAG is a solution for many PCB problems and needs individual discussion to identify and define it's specific application.
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