IPC-A-600: Acceptability of Printed Boards, is an industrial grade quality standard for acceptance of PCBs. IPC-A-600, also called IPC-600, which sets the level of acceptance criteria for each class of product.
This document describes the preferred, acceptable, and non-conforming conditions that are either externally or internally observable on printed circuit boards. It represents the visual interpretation of minimum requirement set forth in various printed board specifications, i.e.; IPC-6010 series, ANSI/J-STD-003, etc. Customers and PCB manufacturers can also agree on acceptance criteria that will replace the requirements of the appropriate IPC standard.
Classification
IPC-A-600 recognizes that the acceptance extent of imperfection for specific characteristics of printed boards many be determined by the intended end use. For this reason, three general classes have been established based on functional reliability and performance requirements.
- Class 1: General Electronic Products: Includes consumer products, some computer and computer peripherals suitable for applications where cosmetic imperfections are not important, and the major requirement is function of the completed printed board.
- Class 2: Dedicated Service Electronic Products: Includes communications equipment, sophisticated business machines, and instruments where high performance and extended life is required, and for which uninterrupted service is desired, but is not critical. Certain cosmetic imperfections are allowed.
- Class 3: High Reliability Electronics Products: Includes equipment and products where continued performance or performance on demand is critical. Equipment downtime cannot be tolerance, and the equipment must function when required, such as life support systems or flight controls systems. Printed boards in this class are suitable for applications where high levels of assurance are required and service is essential.
Acceptability criteria in this document have been separated so that printed board product may be evaluated to any one of the three classes. The use of one class for a specific characteristic does not mean that all other characteristic must meet the same class. Selection should be based on minimum need. The customer ahs the ultimate responsible for identifying the class to which the product is evaluated. Thus, accept and/or reject decisions must be based on applicable documentation such as contracts, procurement documentation, specifications, standards and reference documents.
Requirement exceptions commonly used for industry segments such as Space and Military Avionics are described within Performance Specification Sheets in IPC-602 and are designated as Class 3/A, Class 3/B, etc. The scope of IPC-A-600 does not include illustrations for these requirement exceptions and the user is encouraged to substitute text in IPC-A-600 with the requirements for these Performance Specification Sheets where applicable based on the corresponding subsection in IPC-6012.