How to test circuit boards
Step-by-step guides covering the full arc of circuit board testing — from planning your strategy and designing for testability through choosing fixtures, writing specs, and setting up production tools. Start at the beginning or jump to whatever your team needs next.
Most hardware teams figure out testing the hard way — boards fail in production, manual probing stops scaling, and the engineer who “handles testing” gets pulled onto three other projects. These guides cover what we’ve learned from building over a thousand fixtures and helping teams set up circuit board testing from scratch.
What those teams eventually learn is that testing decisions compound. The board layout you finalize this month determines what test coverage is possible six months from now. The fixture you skip buying in Q1 becomes the production bottleneck in Q3. These guides work through those decisions — how to design boards for testability, what testing approach fits your situation, when to build versus buy fixtures, and how to scale testing as volumes grow.
Guides by topic
Planning and strategy
Where to start when building test infrastructure from scratch.
How to Test Circuit Boards
The major PCBA testing methods -- AOI, ICT, flying probe, functional test, boundary scan -- when each applies, and how testing evolves to production.
Read moreTest Coverage Strategies for Production PCBAs
Develop a practical test coverage strategy for your PCB assemblies. Learn how to balance coverage, cost, and production throughput.
Read moreTesting from Prototype to Production
How testing requirements evolve across the product lifecycle. Plan your fixture progression and test strategy as you scale from prototype to production.
Read moreDesigning an Electronic Test System for PCBAs
How to design a PCBA test system: mechanical fixtures, electrical instrumentation, and software architecture that determine reliability and throughput.
Read moreDesign for test
Layout decisions that determine what testing is possible later.
SMD Test Points and Design-for-Test Guidelines for PCBAs
Practical DFT guidelines for PCB designers. Test point sizing, spacing, placement rules, and coverage targets that determine fixture testability and cost.
Read moreAltium Test Point Report Export Guide
Generate a test point report from Altium Designer for bed-of-nails fixture design. Step-by-step export procedure with formatting guidance for fixture vendors.
Read moreTest specifications
Documenting what to test, how to test it, and what passes.
How to Write a Test Specification for Your PCBA
A test specification defines what gets tested, how, and what counts as a pass. Learn how to write one your CM, fixture vendor, and test operators can execute.
Read morePCB vs. PCBA Testing: Understanding the Difference
Learn the distinction between bare PCB testing and assembled PCBA testing, when each applies, and how they fit into your quality strategy.
Read morePanelized vs. Individual Device Testing
Guide to choosing between panelized (parallel) and individual device testing. Volume thresholds, ROI analysis, and transition planning.
Read moreFixtures and equipment
The build-versus-buy decision, what to look for in a fixture vendor, and how to choose instrumentation that fits your test plan and budget.
Test Fixture: Build vs. Buy Decision Guide
Most teams underestimate DIY custom test fixture costs by 2-3x. See the real cost comparison and a decision framework for building vs. buying fixtures.
Read moreHow to Choose a Fixture House
A practical framework for evaluating fixture houses beyond price. What to prioritize, questions to ask, and red flags that signal future problems.
Read moreCheap Electronic Test Equipment That Actually Works
How to select reliable, low-cost electronic test equipment for functional test fixtures without overspending on features you don't need.
Read more3D Printed Test Fixture Limitations
What 3D printed fixtures can and cannot do. Material limitations, precision constraints, and durability issues to understand before choosing 3D printing.
Read moreTools and integration
Software and data tools for production test systems.
Control a Rigol DP832 Power Supply with Python and PyVISA
Python instrument control with PyVISA: set up a Rigol DP832, send SCPI commands, and run a practical voltage sweep script.
Read moreManufacturing Test Analytics
Turn test data into quality insights. Build an analytics pipeline from pytest-f3ts and TofuPilot to spot yield problems, failure patterns, and trends.
Read moreChoosing between testing methods?
ICT, functional testing, flying probe, and boundary scan each catch different defects at different costs. Our comparison breaks down what each method tests, what it misses, and when volumes justify the investment.