IPC-2231A

IPC-1401
®

DFX Guidelines
Supply Chain Social
Responsibility Management
System Guidance

Developed by the Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability in

the Supply Chain in China Subcommittee (4-35cn) of the Environment,
Health & Safety Steering Committee (4-30) of IPC

Developed by the 1-14 DFX Subcommittee of the 1-10 Printed Board

Design Committee of IPC
This IPC international standard was developed by the IPC Corporate
Social Responsibility and Sustainability in the Supply Chain in China
Task Group (4-35cn) in its native language and was translated to English
for peer review and publication. The Mandarin version (IPC-1401 CN)
represents the primary language.

Supersedes: Users of this publication are encouraged to participate in the

IPC-2231, April 2019 development of future revisions.

Contact:

Tel 847 615.7100

Fax 847 615.7105
August 2021 IPC-2231A

Table of Contents
1 SCOPE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 5.5.4 Outputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.1 Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 5.6 Product Validation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.2 Goals of This Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 5.6.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
5.6.2 Inputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.3 Limitations of This Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
5.6.3 Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2 APPLICABLE DOCUMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
5.6.4 Outputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.1  IPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
5.7 Manufacturing Validation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.2 S AE International . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
5.7.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.3 IEEE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
5.7.2 Inputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.4 JEDEC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
5.7.3 Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.5 Government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
5.7.4 Outputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.6 Industry Standards and Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
5.8 Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3 TERMS AND DEFINITIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
5.8.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4 OVERVIEW OF DESIGN FOR EXCELLENCE
6 FABRICATION PROCESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
(DFX) PRACTICES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
6.1 Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.1 Design for Manufacturing (DFM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
6.1.1 Solder Mask . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.2 Printed Board Design for Fabrication (DFF) . . . . . 4
6.1.2 Cores / Pre-pregs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
4.3 Design for Assembly (DFA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
6.1.3 Legend . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
4.4 Design for Test/Testability (DFT) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
6.1.4 Metal Foils . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
4.5 Design for Cost (DFC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
6.1.5 Surface Finishes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
4.6 Design for Reliability (DFR) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
6.2 Fabrication Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
4.7 Design for Environment (DFE) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
6.2.1 Front-End Engineering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
4.8 Design for Reuse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
6.2.2 Registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
5 DESIGN PROCESS for PRINTED BOARD
ASSEMBLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 6.2.3 Plating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
5.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 6.2.4 Lamination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
5.2 Concept Design and Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 6.2.5 Mechanical Drilling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
5.2.1  Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 6.2.6 Laser Drilling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
5.2.2 Inputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 6.2.7 Back Drilling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
5.2.3 Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 6.2.8 Legend Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
5.2.4 Outputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 6.2.9 Via Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
5.3 Detailed Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 6.2.10 Copper Thieving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
5.3.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 6.3 Panel Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
5.3.2 Inputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 7 ASSEMBLY PROCESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
5.3.3 Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 7.1 Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
5.3.4 Outputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 7.2 Solder Mask . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
5.4 Design Release . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 7.3 Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
5.4.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 7.4 Panel/Array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
5.4.2 Inputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 7.5 Clearance Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
5.4.3 Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 7.6 Component Placement/Mounting . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
5.4.4 Outputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 7.7 Pad Outgassing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
5.5 First Build Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 7.8 Fiducials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
5.5.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 7.9 Tooling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
5.5.2 Inputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 7.10 Pb-Free Solder Assembly Temperatures . . . . . . . 15
5.5.3 Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 7.10.1 Copper Flooding and Thermal Relief . . . . . . . . . 15

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IPC-2231A August 2021

7.10.2 Heat Sensitive Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 8.8.3 Printed Board Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

7.10.3 Assembly Effects on Printed Board 8.9 DFT Guidelines and Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Assembly Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 8.9.1 Design for Testability Metrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
7.10.4 Moisture Sensitivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 8.10 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
7.11 Surface Mount Paste Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 8.10.1 IEEE Standards for DFT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
7.12 Machine Soldering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 8.10.2 Industry Standards and Guidelines . . . . . . . . . 23
7.12.1 Single Point Automated Soldering Systems . . . . . 16 8.10.3 Military Standards and Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
7.12.2 Reflow Soldering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 8.10.4 Commercially Available DFT Guidelines . . . . . . 23
7.12.3 Convection Reflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
9 COST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
7.12.4 Vapor Phase Reflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
9.1 Bill of Material (BOM) Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
7.12.5 Pin in Paste/Paste in Hole/Intrusive
9.2 Printed Board and Assembly Costs . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Soldering/Solder Preforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
9.3 Sustaining Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
7.12.6 Wave Soldering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
9.4 Test Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
7.12.7 Selective Soldering/Point-to-Point Soldering . . . . 17
9.5 Rework and Repair Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
7.12.8 Point-to-Point Soldering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
10 DESIGN FOR RELIABILITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
7.12.9 Selective Dip Soldering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
10.1 Reliability Physics /Physics of Failure . . . . . . . . . 25
7.13 Laser Soldering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
10.2 Solder Joint Reliability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
7.14 Manual/Rework Soldering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
10.3 Tin Whisker Risk Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
7.14.1 Soldering Iron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
10.4 CTE of Common Materials (CTE) . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
7.14.2 Vacuum Tipped Soldering Iron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
10.5 Comparative Reliability Matrix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
7.14.3 Hand Hot Air/Gas Soldering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
7.14.4 BGA/Area Array Rework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 11 DESIGN FOR THE ENVIRONMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

7.14.5 Mini-Pot (Solder Fountain) Wave Rework . . . . . 18 11.1 Sustainability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

7.15 Cleaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 11.2 Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
7.16 Underfill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 11.3 Regulatory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
7.17 Conformal Coating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 11.3.1 End-of-Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
7.18 Design Guidelines for 11.3.2 Life Cycle Assessments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
System Enclosures/Box Builds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 12 DESIGN FOR REUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
8 TESTABILITY (DFT) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 12.1 Designing for Reuse within an Organization . . . 30
8.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 12.2 Designing for Reuse by Third Parties . . . . . . . . . 30
8.2 Concept Design and Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 13 CHECK LISTS COMPARISONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
8.2.1 Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 14 ACRONYMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
8.2.2 Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Figures
8.3 Detailed Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Figure 3-1 Plated-Through-Hole (PTH) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
8.3.1 Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
8.3.2 Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Figure 5-1 Process Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
8.4 Design Release . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Table 10-1 Cyclic Services Environment over
8.4.1 Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Design Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
8.5 First Build Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Figure 10-1 Through-Hole Solder Joint . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
8.5.1 Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Figure 10-2 Surface Mount Discrete Solder Joint . . . . . 28
8.5.2 Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Figure 10-3 Surface Mount J-Lead Joints . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
8.6 Validation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Figure 10-4 Surface Mount BGA Solder Joints . . . . . . . 28
8.6.1 Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
8.7 Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Table
8.7.1 Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Table 10-1 Cyclic Services Environment over
8.7.2 Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Design Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
8.8 DFT Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
8.8.1 Parts Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
8.8.2 Test Strategy Formulatio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

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August 2021 IPC-2231A

Design for Excellence (DFX) Guidelines

1 SCOPE
This document provides guidelines for establishing a best practice methodology for use in developing a formal DFX (Design for
Manufacturing, Fabrication, Assembly, Testability, Cost, Reliability, Environment, Reuse) process for layout of printed board
assemblies that utilize surface mount and through hole devices.

1.1 Purpose The document provides a DFX process framework to establish a discipline of design review necessary to perform
a detailed analysis of manufacturability attributes commonly found in electronics hardware for fabrication and around which to
model a printed board assembly.

1.2 Goals of This Document The goals of this document are to:
• Use a multi-discipline engineering assessment tactic on elements influencing DFX.
• Allow the user to establish standardized DFX checklist(s) for major design elements such as bare printed board fabrication,
printed board assembly manufacturing, electrical testability, and elements influencing product reliability, reuse, and impact
on environment.

1.3 Limitations of This Document Electronics hardware defined under this DFX review process is limited to features of
influence on DFX for bare printed board and printed board assembly.

2 APPLICABLE DOCUMENTS

2.1 IPC1
J-STD-001 Requirements for Soldered Electrical and Electronic Assemblies
IPC-T-50 Terms and Definitions for Interconnecting and Packaging Electronic Circuits
IPC-CH-65 Guidelines for Cleaning of Printed Boards and Assemblies
IPC-D-279 Design Guidelines for Reliable Surface Mount Technology Printed Board Assemblies
IPC-D-325 Documentation Requirements for Printed Boards, Assemblies and Support Drawings
IPC-A-610 Acceptability of Electronic Assemblies
IPC-A-630 Acceptability Standard for Manufacture, Inspection, and Testing of Electronic Enclosures
IPC-SM-785 Guidelines for Accelerated Reliability Test of Surface Mount Solder Attachments
IPC-CC-830 Qualification and Performance of Electrical Insulating Compound for Printed Wiring Assemblies
IPC-2221 Generic Standard on Printed Board Design
IPC-2222 Sectional Design Standard for Rigid Organic Printed Boards
IPC-2223 Sectional Design Standard for Flexible Printed Boards
IPC-2224 Sectional Standard for Design of PWBs for PC Cards
IPC-2225 Sectional Design Standard for Organic Multichip Modules (MCM-L) and MCM-L Assemblies
IPC-2226 Sectional Design Standard for High Density Interconnect (HDI) Printed Boards
IPC-2581 Generic Requirements for Printed Board Assembly Products Manufacturing Description Data and
Transfer Methodology
IPC-2615 Printed Board Dimensions and Tolerances
IPC-4761 Design Guide for Protection of Printed Board Via Structures
IPC-6012 Qualification and Performance Specification for Rigid Printed Boards
IPC-7351 Generic Requirements for Surface Mount Design and Land Pattern Standard
IPC-7525 Guidelines for Stencil Design

1 www.ipc.org

1
IPC-2231A August 2021

IPC-7711/7721 Rework, Modification and Repair of Electronic Assemblies

IPC-7801 Reflow Oven Process Control Standard
IPC-9701 Performance Test Methods and Qualification Requirements for Surface Mount Solder Attachments

2.2 SAE International2

GEIA-STD-0005-1 Performance Standard for Aerospace and High Performance Electronic Systems Containing Lead-free Solder
GEIA-STD-0005-2 Standard for Mitigating the Effects of Tin Whiskers in Aerospace and High Performance Electronic Systems

2.3 IEEE3
IEEE Std 1500(TM)/IEC 62528 Standard Testability Method for Embedded Core-based Integrated Circuits
IEEE 1149.1 IEEE Standard for Test Access Port and Boundary-Scan Architecture
IEEE 1149.4 IEEE Standard for a Mixed-Signal Test Bus
IEEE 1149.5 IEEE Standard for Module Test and Maintenance Bus (MTM-Bus) Protocol
IEEE 1149.6 IEEE Standard for Boundary-Scan Testing of Advanced Digital Networks
IEEE 1149.7 IEEE Standard for Reduced-Pin and Enhanced-Functionality Test Access Port and Boundary-Scan Architecture
IEEE 1149.8.1 IEEE Standard for Boundary-Scan-Based Stimulus of Interconnections to Passive and/or Active Components
IEEE 1232 IEEE Standard for Artificial Intelligence Exchange and Service Tie to All Test Environments (AI-ESTATE)
IEEE 1450– IEEE Standard Test Interface Language (STIL) for Digital Test Vector Data
IEEE 1500 IEEE Standard Testability Method for Embedded Core-based Integrated Circuits
IEEE 1522 IEEE Standard for Testability and Diagnosability Characteristics and Metrics
IEEE 1532 IEEE Standard for In-System Configuration of Programmable Devices
IEEE 1581 IEEE Standard for Static Component Interconnection Test Protocol and Architecture
IEEE 1687 IEEE Standard for Access and Control of Instrumentation Embedded within a Semiconductor Device
IEEE 62525 (IEEE Std 1450) International Standard Test Interface Language (STIL) for Digital Test Vector Data

2.4 JEDEC4
JESD-B106-D Test Method B106C Resistance to Soldering Temperature For Through-Hole Mounted Devices
JESD22-A111 Evaluation Procedure for Determining Capability to Bottom Side Board Attach by Full Body Solder Immersion
of Small Surface Mount Solid State Devices
2.5 Government
MIL-A-28870 General Specification for Assemblies, Electrical Backplane, Printed Wiring
MIL-P-50884 General Specification for Printed Wiring, Flexible and Rigid Flex
MIL-DTL-31000 Technical Data Packages
MIL-HDBK-454 General Guidelines for Electronic Equipment
MIL-STD-2119 Design Requirements for Printed-Wiring Electrical Backplane Assemblies
MIL-HDBK-2175 Department of Defense Handbook: Testability Handbook for Systems and Equipments (31-Jul-1995)
[Supersedes MIL-STD-2175A]
2.6 Industry Standards and Guidelines
SMTA/TMAG Testability Guidelines 101E

2 www.sae.org
3 www.ieee.org
4 www.jedec.org