„How exactly does this work?”
Abstract In the course of the miniaturization and compaction of components and assemblies of components, the application of metallographic target preparation methods has seen a noticeable boost in recent years – not just in electronics industry but also in other industries and in the field of quality assurance in general. In this context, methods are as manifold and diverse as there are possible targets. Besides the classical method, that is progressive hand grinding accompanied by constant visual checks, more and more semi-automatic and automatic systems or aids are used, aiming at rendering the preparation process more user-independent, more effective, and more reproducible. The replication “target preparation” of the DGM working group aims at illustrating common target preparation methods in the field of materialography and at comparing these methods in terms of preparation effort and accuracy by means of typical samples. Besides reaching the target levels, the focus was also on preparation quality. As samples of electronic components/assemblies usually provide all possibilities of combinations of materials and as such impose higher requirements in terms on the preparation as for homogenous materials, they were chosen as test material. Evaluating the test results revealed the entire range of applied methods with comparable resulting accuracy, but partially differing qualitative results and different levels of effort. Procedures during these preparations resemble each other and as a result of the test, recommendations could be made for target preparation in general.