Summary of Commonly Used Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Standards

January 5, 2026

PC-ESD-2020

Joint Standard for Electrostatic Discharge Control Program Development. Includes the necessary design, establishment, implementation, and maintenance of an electrostatic discharge control program. Provides guidance for handling and protection during electrostatic discharge sensitive periods based on historical experience from military and commercial organizations.

IPC-SA-61A

Post-Solder Semi-Aqueous Cleaning Handbook. Covers all aspects of semi-aqueous cleaning, including chemical and production residues, equipment, processes, process control, and environmental and safety considerations.

IPC-AC-62A

Post-Solder Aqueous Cleaning Handbook. Describes manufacturing residues, types and properties of aqueous cleaning agents, aqueous cleaning processes, equipment and techniques, quality control, environmental control, personnel safety, and the determination and cost of cleanliness.

IPC-DRM-40E

Through-Hole Solder Joint Evaluation Desktop Reference Manual. Provides detailed descriptions of components, hole walls, and solder pad coverage according to standard requirements, along with computer-generated 3D graphics. Covers solder fill, contact angle, wetting, vertical fill, pad coverage, and numerous solder joint defect conditions.

IPC-TA-722

Soldering Technology Assessment Handbook. Includes 45 articles on various aspects of soldering technology, covering general soldering, soldering materials, hand soldering, batch soldering, wave soldering, reflow soldering, vapor phase soldering, and infrared soldering.

IPC-7525

Stencil Design Guide. Provides guidelines for the design and manufacture of stencils for solder paste and surface mount adhesive application. Also discusses stencil design for surface mount technology applications, including mixed technology with through-hole or flip-chip components, covering overprinting, double printing, and step stencil designs.

IPC/EIAJ-STD-004

Flux Specification Requirements—Includes Appendix I. Covers technical specifications and classifications for rosin, resins, etc., and classifies organic and inorganic fluxes based on halide content and activity level. Also includes flux usage, flux-containing materials, and low-residue fluxes for no-clean processes.

IPC/EIAJ-STD-005

Solder Paste Specification Requirements—Includes Appendix I. Lists the characteristics and technical requirements for solder paste, including test methods, standards for metal content, viscosity, slump, solder balls, tackiness, and solder paste wetting performance.

IPC/EIAJ-STD-006A

Specification Requirements for Electronic Grade Solder Alloys, Fluxed and Non-Fluxed Solid Solders. Provides terminology, specification requirements, and test methods for electronic grade solder alloys, bar, strip, and powder forms of fluxed and non-fluxed solders, electronic solder applications, and special electronic grade solders.

IPC-Ca-821

General Requirements for Thermally Conductive Adhesives. Includes requirements and test methods for thermally conductive dielectrics used to bond components to appropriate locations.

IPC-3406

Guide for Conductive Surface Coatings Adhesives. Provides guidance for selecting conductive adhesives as an alternative to soldering in electronic manufacturing.

IPC-AJ-820

Assembly and Soldering Handbook. Describes inspection techniques for assembly and soldering, including terminology and definitions; types of printed circuit boards, components, and leads; solder joint materials; component installation; design specification references and outlines; soldering techniques and packaging; cleaning and coating; quality assurance and testing.

IPC-7530

Temperature Profiling Guide for Batch Soldering Processes (Reflow and Wave Soldering). Provides guidance for establishing optimal profiles using various testing methods, techniques, and approaches in temperature profiling.

IPC-TR-460A

Printed Circuit Board Wave Soldering Troubleshooting Checklist. Recommends corrective measures for potential failures caused by wave soldering.

IPC/EIA/JEDEC J-STD-003A

Solderability Test for Printed Circuit Boards.

J-STD-013

Application of Ball Grid Array (BGA) and Other High-Density Technologies. Establishes specification requirements and interactions necessary for printed circuit board packaging processes, providing information for interconnecting high-performance and high-pin-count integrated circuit packages, including design principles, material selection, board manufacturing and assembly techniques, testing methods, and reliability expectations based on end-use environments.

IPC-7095

Design and Assembly Process Supplement for BGA Devices. Provides practical information for those using or considering transitioning to BGA packaging; offers guidance for BGA inspection and repair, and reliable information in the field of BGA technology.

IPC-M-I08

Cleaning Guide Handbook. Includes the latest versions of IPC cleaning guides to assist manufacturing engineers in deciding product cleaning processes and troubleshooting.

IPC-CH-65-A

Cleaning Guide for Printed Circuit Board Assemblies. Serves as a reference for current and emerging cleaning methods in the electronics industry, including descriptions and discussions of various cleaning methods, and explains the relationships between materials, processes, and contaminants in manufacturing and assembly operations.

IPC-SC-60A

Post-Solder Solvent Cleaning Handbook. Covers the use of solvent cleaning techniques in automated and manual soldering, discussing solvent properties, residues, process control, and environmental aspects.

IPC-9201

Surface Insulation Resistance Handbook. Includes terminology, theory, testing processes, and methods for surface insulation resistance (SIR), as well as temperature and humidity (TH) testing, failure modes, and troubleshooting.

IPC-DRM-53

Introduction to Electronic Assembly Desktop Reference Manual. Uses illustrations and photographs to explain through-hole and surface mount assembly technologies.

IPC-M-103

Surface Mount Assembly Handbook Standards. This section includes all 21 IPC documents related to surface mount assembly.

IPC-M-I04

Printed Circuit Board Assembly Handbook Standards. Contains the 10 most widely used documents related to printed circuit board assembly.

IPC-CC-830B

Performance and Qualification of Electronic Insulating Compounds in Printed Circuit Board Assemblies. An industry standard for the quality and qualification of conformal coatings.

IPC-S-816

Surface Mount Technology Process Guide and Checklist. This troubleshooting guide lists all types of process issues encountered in surface mount assembly and their solutions, including bridging, solder skipping, misaligned component placement, etc.

IPC-CM-770D

Printed Circuit Board Component Mounting Guide. Provides effective guidance for component preparation in printed circuit board assembly, reviews relevant standards, influences, and publications, including assembly techniques (manual and automated, surface mount technology, and flip-chip assembly) and considerations for subsequent soldering, cleaning, and coating processes.

IPC-7129

Calculation of Defects Per Million Opportunities (DPMO) and Printed Circuit Board Assembly Manufacturing Metrics. Establishes agreed-upon benchmark metrics for calculating defects and quality across industrial sectors; provides a satisfactory method for calculating DPMO benchmark metrics.

IPC-9261

Printed Circuit Board Assembly Yield Estimation and In-Process Defects Per Million Opportunities. Defines a reliable method for calculating in-process DPMO in printed circuit board assembly, serving as a metric for evaluation at various stages of the assembly process.

IPC-D-279

Design Guide for Reliable Surface Mount Technology Printed Circuit Board Assemblies. A guide for the reliable manufacturing process of printed circuit boards using surface mount and mixed technologies, including design considerations.

IPC-2546

Combined Requirements for Transfer Points in Printed Circuit Board Assembly. Describes material handling systems, such as conveyors and buffers, manual placement, automated screen printing, adhesive dispensing, automated surface mount placement, automated through-hole placement, forced convection, infrared reflow ovens, and wave soldering.

IPC-PE-740A

Troubleshooting in Printed Circuit Board Manufacturing and Assembly. Includes case records and corrective actions for issues encountered during the design, manufacturing, assembly, and testing of printed circuit board products.

IPC-6010

Series of Handbooks on Printed Circuit Board Quality Standards and Performance Specifications. Includes quality and performance specification standards established by the IPC for all printed circuit boards.

IPC-6018A

Inspection and Testing of Microwave Finished Printed Circuit Boards. Covers performance and qualification requirements for high-frequency (microwave) printed circuit boards.

IPC-D-317A

Design Guidelines for Electronic Packaging Using High-Speed Technology. Provides guidance for the design of high-speed circuits, including mechanical and electrical considerations and performance testing.

Summary:

This article compiles a comprehensive list of commonly used standards and guidelines for Printed Circuit Board (PCB) design, manufacturing, assembly, testing, and reliability. It covers a wide range of critical areas including electrostatic discharge control, soldering processes, cleaning methods, solder paste/flux specifications, component mounting, surface mount technology, assembly design, quality assurance, and troubleshooting.