M
Michael J. Noone
Hi - I've often noticed small round solder dots on traces on PCBs. They
aren't a part of a component's footprint, and they don't appear to be
vias as they don't have holes going through them. For example, in this
picture of an XBox's motherboard:
http://www.teamxecuter.com/x3/tutorials/pinheader/v10v15/x3_bottom.jpg
they're very visible (for example the circled "D0" points). Can
somebody tell me what these are for? My guess has always been that
they're a sort of test pad - but why would test pads be needed on a
mass produced PCB? I mean my understanding is that these days when a
board like this goes bad it is replaced, not repaired. My only guess is
that they're for testing and/or programming in the factory. Can anybody
shed some light on this for me? Thanks,
-M Noone
aren't a part of a component's footprint, and they don't appear to be
vias as they don't have holes going through them. For example, in this
picture of an XBox's motherboard:
http://www.teamxecuter.com/x3/tutorials/pinheader/v10v15/x3_bottom.jpg
they're very visible (for example the circled "D0" points). Can
somebody tell me what these are for? My guess has always been that
they're a sort of test pad - but why would test pads be needed on a
mass produced PCB? I mean my understanding is that these days when a
board like this goes bad it is replaced, not repaired. My only guess is
that they're for testing and/or programming in the factory. Can anybody
shed some light on this for me? Thanks,
-M Noone