Capacitive open-circuit and short-circuit tests of component connections to circuit boards

摘要

A method for testing for short circuits between UUT pins that are nominally connected to nodes on a circuit board which the UUT is mounted and open circuits between pins and nodes nominally connected thereto. The method is used in a system that responds to the capacitances between a plate positioned above the UUT and respective nodes to which the pins are connected. A group of pins are selected such that no two pins of the group are nominally connected together. The pins are connected together in the tester and if the capacitance between the plate and the pin group is less than a first threshold an open circuit is indicated. The presence of a short circuit is indicated by a capacitance greater than a second threshold that is greater than the first threshold.