Can someone please explain how to do a pin independence review for a test jig?

Thread Starter

williamntv

Joined Nov 27, 2019
2
Hi, I'm a junior hardware engineer and I'm currently tasked with reviewing the design of a test jig for pin independence test. I don't think I had a firm understanding of what was required of me. Perhaps I don't understand the task itself. I did try to look into different ICs used in the circuit and worked my way through each one and made an assumption that if I was to remove a pin, it would not affect the DUT... Is that the correct approach? Please share your thoughts and teaching. Thank you.
 

Reloadron

Joined Jan 15, 2015
7,501
I don't think I had a firm understanding of what was required of me.
This is where you want to get back with who gave the assignment and make sure you understand what they want.

There are circuit board test fixtures and jigs where a circuit board is placed on a bed of nails (pins) strategically placed and some MATE (Modular Automated Test Equipment) running on a software routine collects pass/fail data from the UUT (Unit Under Test). Test like this are often part of a final quality assurance acceptance before hardware ships. Been years, more like decades since I was involved with any form of board test. Again, you need to find out exactly what the assignment expects. A firm understanding is important and what I mention is purely a guess based on your writing.

Ron
 

MisterBill2

Joined Jan 23, 2018
18,179
If there is already a test that is intended, you can start by getting a detailed description of the test.
"Pin Independence is quite important, so getting pass/fail specifications will be important. Knowing exactly what the test is supposed to find is the first step towards determining if the test jig will be able to do the test adequately.
 
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Thread Starter

williamntv

Joined Nov 27, 2019
2
This is where you want to get back with who gave the assignment and make sure you understand what they want.

There are circuit board test fixtures and jigs where a circuit board is placed on a bed of nails (pins) strategically placed and some MATE (Modular Automated Test Equipment) running on a software routine collects pass/fail data from the UUT (Unit Under Test). Test like this are often part of a final quality assurance acceptance before hardware ships. Been years, more like decades since I was involved with any form of board test. Again, you need to find out exactly what the assignment expects. A firm understanding is important and what I mention is purely a guess based on your writing.

Ron
Thank you for your reply. I will ask my senior engineer to ... re-explain to me what he wanted from me with this assignment. The difficulty I think I'm facing is not knowing what to think about when reviewing the test jig circuit connectivity that will use some sort of a harness to connect to the DUT. And this is for Acceptance Test Procedure... Again.. terminology and lack of in-depth understanding of what to look for really slowed me down.
 

Reloadron

Joined Jan 15, 2015
7,501
OK, be it a board test or any other test I would start with a clean blank sheet of white paper. Then look at what the board does and how it does it. OK, connecting for example with a harness you define all the parameters you want to test and then once you have all your parameters laid out you determine how you want to test. Just for example voltages? Current draw? Signals In/Out and the list goes on. In addition to a blank sheet of paper I liked using a pencil with a large eraser. :)

This is how I approached every project I was tasked with for an entire career. Know where you want to go and then map out how you want to or plan to get there. Know what the UUT does and how it does it.

Ron
 
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