This part of IEC 60749 provides a test method that is intended to evaluate and compare drop performance of surface mount electronic components for handheld electronic product applications in an accelerated test environment, where excessive flexure of a circuit board causes product failure. The purpose is to standardize the test board and test methodology to provide a reproducible assessment of the drop test performance of surface-mounted components while producing the same failure modes normally observed during product level test.

This document aims at prescribing a standardized test method and reporting procedure. This is not a component qualification test and is not meant to replace any system level drop test that is sometimes used to qualify a specific handheld electronic product. The standard is not meant to cover the drop test required to simulate shipping and handling-related shock of electronic components or PCB assemblies. These requirements are already addressed in test methods such as IEC 60749-10. The method is applicable to both area array and perimeter-leaded surface mounted packages.

This test method uses an accelerometer to measure the mechanical shock duration and magnitude applied which is proportional to the stress on a given component mounted on a standard board. The test method described in IEC 60749-40 uses strain gauge to measure the strain and strain rate of a board in the vicinity of a component. The customer specification states which test method is to be used.