A customer might reach to many different PCB manufacturers, and for every new supplier, they might ask the same questions, how can I make sure my products manufactured by you is in good quality?
That is very good question but usually you will not get a ture answer from your new supplier, no one will say their products are bad, and do not make orders with them.
Here we share a defect list in PCB, with this list you will be a professional PCB auditor.
| Defect Type | Defect |
| Bevelling Defects | Poor bevel |
| Bevel edge over size | |
| Bevel edge under size | |
| Board Property Defects | Tg value not meet the requirement |
| Board soft | |
| Lamination blisters | |
| Board warp/ bow and twist | |
| Delamination | |
| 1Peel strength under requirement | |
| Missing black oxide | |
| Inner pink ring | |
| Resin recession | |
| Board Surface Defects | Board surface extrusion/rough |
| Scratch | |
| Glue residue | |
| Foreign material | |
| Dirty | |
| Board discolor | |
| Damaged board | |
| Broken board | |
| Functional Test Failures | Ionic contamination out of spec |
| Hipot test failure | |
| Lower impedance | |
| Higher impedance | |
| Resistance not meet the requirement | |
| Component Ink Defects | Missing date code |
| Unclear date code | |
| Wrong UL Logo | |
| Wrong UL Logo location | |
| C/M in hole | |
| C/M on PAD or SMT PAD | |
| Mark Illegible | |
| Missing C/M | |
| C/M peel off | |
| Double C/M | |
| Missing print C/M | |
| Illegible legend | |
| Askew C/M | |
| Component mark discolor | |
| Wrong C/M location | |
| Uncomplete UL mark | |
| Wrong trademark | |
| Exposed conductor | |
| Carbon Ink Defects | Copper exposure on carbon ink |
| Carbon ink on board | |
| Carbon ink peel off | |
| Carbon ink short | |
| Carbon ink saw-tooth shaped | |
| Poor carbon ink | |
| Carbon ink bleeding | |
| Carton ink misalignment | |
| Plug Hole Defects | Wrong plugging |
| Missing plug hole | |
| Poor plug hole | |
| Plugging hole shift | |
| Poor plugging in blind hole | |
| S/M plugged high than SMT pad | |
| Peelable Ink Defects | Peelable mask in hole |
| Peelable Mask is peeled off difficultly | |
| Peel mask retained in hole | |
| Peel mask melt | |
| Printing peelable mask mistakenly | |
| Copper Plating Defects | Copper residue/under etching |
| Copper/Au/Solder in hole (NPTH) | |
| Poor tin plating | |
| Thin copper thickness in hole | |
| Excessive plating copper | |
| Poor plating | |
| The plating thickness not uniform | |
| Burnt board/rough plating | |
| Plating copper peel off | |
| Hole black | |
| Copper thread in hole | |
| No copper in hole | |
| Bleeding copper plating | |
| Drilling Hole Defects | Blind breakout |
| Skewed hole | |
| Deformed hole | |
| Burrs in hole | |
| Drilling skip | |
| Drilling wrong boards | |
| Drilling wrong hole | |
| Hole diameter over size | |
| Drilling extra hole | |
| Drilling in reverse | |
| Poor drilling | |
| Drilling no through hole | |
| Drilling hole misalignment | |
| Hole diameter under size | |
| Hole damaged | |
| Hole blocked | |
| Back drilling depth not meet the requirement | |
| Wicking | |
| Rough hole wall | |
| Hole breakout | |
| Electrical Test Defects | Unclear E-T |
| Dent by E-test | |
| Missing E-T stamp | |
| Gold Finger Defects | Rough G/F |
| G/F damaged | |
| Ni spot on board surface | |
| Nodule on G/F | |
| Pin hole on G/F | |
| Dent in gold finger | |
| Scratching on G/F | |
| G/F contamination | |
| Overhang | |
| Foreign material overflowed from via hole around G/F | |
| Exposed Ni on G/F | |
| Gold Plating Defects | Gold burnt in plating |
| Poor gold plating | |
| Poor Ni plating | |
| Gold plating skip | |
| Ni plating skip | |
| Ni thickness under spec. | |
| Gold on trace | |
| Ni or gold skipping | |
| Gold on the edge | |
| Poor gold immersion | |
| Gold whiten | |
| Gold thickness under spec. | |
| Poor gold color | |
| Gold bleeding | |
| Expose copper/Ni on gold finger | |
| Poor gold stripping | |
| White hole edge | |
| No gold in hole | |
| Solder on gold finger | |
| Gold or Ni peel off | |
| Watercolor printing | |
| Gold retained on pad | |
| Blackpad | |
| Solder on peelable mask | |
| HASL Defects | older on S/M |
| Non-wetting | |
| Solder powder | |
| Solder on trace | |
| Solder whiten | |
| Dirty hole | |
| Poor melting | |
| PAD peed off | |
| Copper peel off | |
| Solder peel off | |
| Excessive solder | |
| Solder surface roughness | |
| Solder thickness not meet the requirement | |
| Gray solder | |
| Tin blocking hole | |
| Conductor peel off | |
| Damaged tin finger | |
| Contamination in PTH hole | |
| Solder ball in via hole | |
| Dewetting | |
| Exposed Cu due to solder peeled off | |
| Solder short | |
| Solder powder | |
| Solder ball in via hole | |
| Immersion Silver Defects | Poor Silver immersion |
| Immersion Tin Defects | Poor Tin immersion |
| Inner Circuit Defects | Inner misregistration |
| Inner short | |
| Inner open | |
| Inner slight short | |
| Inner trace spacing undersize | |
| Inner trace undersize | |
| Inner same location short | |
| Inner same location open | |
| Inner image misalignment | |
| Circuitry nick | |
| Inner Stack Up/Board Thickness | Thin board thickness |
| Excess board thickness | |
| Copper clad thickness over spec. | |
| Copper clad thickness under spec. | |
| Extra prepreg | |
| Skipping prepreg | |
| Layer structure not meet MI requirement | |
| Thin dielectric layer thickness | |
| Excess dielectric layer thickness | |
| Inner layer Cu thickness under spec. | |
| Inner layer Cu thickness over spec. | |
| Skipping inner-layer | |
| Lay up in reverse | |
| Other Defects | Inner/out hole position incorrect |
| Outer Circuit Defects | Poor conductor |
| Short | |
| Open | |
| Trace undersize | |
| Missing PAD | |
| SMT PAD undersize | |
| Edge roughness (dull line) | |
| Missing full copper on breakaway | |
| Missing full copper on breakaway | |
| SMD pad small size | |
| Test pad misalignment | |
| Missing copper on the blind hole surface | |
| Dishdown | |
| Trace spacing undersize | |
| Poor fiducial mark | |
| Packing Defects | Wrong barcode location |
| Old boards (stocked boards) | |
| Wrong P/N reversion on package label | |
| Illegible mark on package label | |
| Unclean package | |
| Wrong quantity in package | |
| Wrong surface finishing | |
| Mistaken outgoing report | |
| Mixed boards | |
| Wrong customer P/N | |
| Missing outgoing report | |
| Missing customer Logo on the board | |
| Damaged packaging carton | |
| Damaged vacuum packaging | |
| Damaged vacuum packaging | |
| Wrong Label | |
| PE Tooling Issue/PE | NPTH hole was fabricated as PTH hole mistakenly |
| PTH hole was fabricated as NPTH hole mistakenly | |
| No annular ring on PTH hole | |
| Wrong X, Y axis direction of SMD pad | |
| Square hole is fabricated as circular hole mistaken | |
| The Tie-bar of G/F is not routed according to spec | |
| Missing G/F Tie-bar | |
| Profiling Defects | Out of upper tolerance |
| Out of lower tolerance | |
| Punching Defects | Miss punching boards |
| Poor punch | |
| Hole cracked by punching | |
| Board damaged by punching | |
| Damage G/F by punching | |
| Damage board by model | |
| Board cracked by punching | |
| Measling after punching | |
| Fibre powder | |
| Rework/Repair | Inner poor circuit reworking |
| Inner poor rework | |
| Poor circuit reworking | |
| Poor rework | |
| Routing Defects | Miss routing board |
| Poor routing edge | |
| Board damaged by routing | |
| Missing slot hole | |
| Missing routing G/F bevel edge | |
| Miss routing hole | |
| Miss punching hole | |
| Routing board scrapped by machine | |
| Wrong slot location | |
| Solder Mask Defects | S/M color differ |
| Expose cu in hole | |
| Exposed conductors | |
| S/M skip | |
| S/M uneven | |
| Solder mask misregistration | |
| Solder mask blistering | |
| Solder mask wrinkles | |
| Solder mask in hole | |
| S/M on gold finger | |
| S/M on PAD/SMT PAD | |
| Foreign material under S/M | |
| Poor S/M color | |
| Solder mask bleeding | |
| Fingerprint | |
| Solder mask peel of | |
| Trace exposing copper | |
| S/M thickness under spec. | |
| Solder mask over developing | |
| S/M thickness over spec. | |
| S/M is higher than SMD pad | |
| No S/M coating on via hole | |
| No S/M dam between via hole and pad | |
| Wrong S/M opening | |
| S/M on pad fixed | |
| S/M Crack | |
| Broken ink | |
| V- Cut Defects/V-cut | Poor V-cut |
| Too shallow V-cut | |
| Excess depth of V-cut | |
| V-cut shift | |
| Dimension not meet requirement | |
| Missing V-cut | |
| Double V-cut | |
| Uncomplete V-Cut score |
