scope:

Purpose

The purpose of this standard is to provide requirements and recommendations that ensure that high-reliability printed circuit boards (PCBs) are designed, procured, produced and used in GSFC project mission hardware.

Applicability

The requirements herein apply across the full lifecycle of PCB design, manufacturing and application. The performance and assurance requirements herein are addressed to organizations who establish PCB requirements, design PCBs, perform PCB design review, procure systems with integrated PCBs, procure PCBs, test or evaluate PCB production lots, assess or certify PCB testing facilities, assure PCBs, and manage risk associated with PCBs that do not meet the requirements herein. Section 6.3 is specific to flowdown of requirements to the PCB vendor.

Flight, Flight Spare and Custom Mission Critical Support Hardware

This Standard defines a standard engineering and quality assurance baseline for all mission risk classes that is applicable to GSFC flight, flight spare and custom mission critical ground support hardware for which spares or lead-time for replacement would be resource-prohibitive and must survive environmental tests. For ground support hardware that must survive environmental testing, it is acceptable to have one or more spares available in lieu of imposing a PCB specification and PCB structural integrity coupon testing if that is more economical than prescribing PCB requirements with PCB structural integrity coupon testing, or if replacement hardware can be readily produced.

Compliance with this Standard can be established for Inherited PCB Designs, Spares, or Build-to-Print Designs, by conducting an inheritance risk assessment in accordance with GPR 8730.5.

Engineering Model Hardware

These requirements shall be applied to engineering model hardware in cases where (1) the engineering model is being used to validate manufacturing processes, (2) the engineering model is going through full environmental testing prior to build of the flight model, or (3) there is a possibility that the engineering model may become a flight spare.

Engineering Development Units

Projects shall limit, or not impose, the requirements stipulated herein to engineering development units so as to enable such units to be produced at a low cost and without expectations for extensive failure analysis. Development units, which are eventually used as flight hardware, are subject to risk assessment. The Project CSO should consult the GSFC Microelectronics Packaging and Printed Circuit Board (MPCB) Commodity Risk Assessment Engineer (CRAE)