How to Test and Check ic condition in phone panel

In this tutorial, am going to show you how to read or check any ic status in phone panel or board. Before we start, let's understand what an ic is and how it works.

What is an ic?

Ic as the name stands, it called Integrated Circuit. Integrated circuit because no matter how big it small an ic is, is made up of two or more basic electronic components. 

The basic components used in making an ic are three.

1. Resistor 

2. Capacitor

3. Diode.

If any of the above components whether 2 or 3 are used to produce one component as a whole is called an ic.

There are many types of ic but here we will be looking at parallel and spider. This is a local name. 

We have digital and analogue ic etc.

Parallel ic has two side by  side number of pins facing each other while spider ic is in square shape with pin legs across the 4 sides.

Other ic definitions can be found here. Wikipedia. 

In phone panel/board there are two major types of ic, we have the leg-type and ball-type. The leg-type contains outside pins and connectors while the ball-type has an array of pins connected in lines at one face of the pins.

There are other pics found in phones.

Back to our discussion. 

To read or check an ic condition in a phone, we need to:-

1. Use continuity of digital Multimeter to test if the ic is short-circuited. That is in normal condition an ic can only read continuous signal with more than one pin if the pins being grounded. Otherwise it will not.

2. Trace a broken or rust ic leg track. When an ic is mounted in a board, it is connected to other components, something can disconnect one of the legs(pins). This situation can be examined physically or using Multimeter. 

3. Test the ic input/output voltage. Ic are powered by power supply voltage and current. We need to power phone with battery or external power supply.

Use meter to read the voltage coming out (output voltage) and going in (input voltage) of the ic. Most phones use 0V-5V, so the voltage in any ic must be within this range.

4. If you have an Oscillator in your workshop, if is an added advantage. This is because Oscillator does not only test  Voltage in an ic but also current, frequency and digital signal. You need to use the probes just like digital Multimeter to test the parameters. 

You can contribute your own methods of ic testing. 

Happy Reading.