BANNOCKBURN, IL -- The deadline for comments to an amendment focusing on automotive requirements to the industry standard for rigid printed circuit boards is June 4, the chairman of the authoring task group said today.

Task group chair Jan Pedersen is urging the industry to take a final look at the draft of IPC-6012DA with Amendment 1, Automotive Applications Addendum to IPC-6012D, Qualification and Performance Specification for Rigid Printed Boards, before it goes to ballot.

The idea behind the automotive addendum was to find a consensus in the jungle of corporate specifications, a common document describing basic PCB requirements for the automotive industry, says Pedersen, chair of D-33aa Task Group and senior technical advisor at Elmatica. "IPC-6012DA was published in April 2016, (and) the work with the amendment started in April 2017. A year later, we have made some important changes that will impact the automotive industry," he says.

Pedersen believes the amendment will bring the automotive requirements for both users and suppliers to a more standardized level. The addendum will be presented next week at the IPC Reliability Forum in Nuremberg, Germany.

"I am very excited to present the addendum. The changes of the revised version are of substantial character. Some of the features the addendum addresses are, among others, cleanliness, solder mask thickness, and wicking. However, that is next week, (and) there is still time for the industry or anyone interested to review and comment," said Pedersen.

The chairman noted the amendment is supported by some significant new task group members.

"We have now managed to have Tier 1 companies join the task group, but above all, they are using the standard. We are on our way from a myriad of automotive corporate standards to one document that describes a consensus on the most important terms and requirements. From the early start we had some challenges getting attention from the automotive industry, where you generally find huge global players with their own rules and requirements," Pedersen said.

To review and comment on the amendment, click here.

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