Technical Library | 2023-01-17 17:50:59.0
Heller's new Condenser Tube Flux Recovery System is designed to provide more efficient flux collection than earlier Heller flux collection systems; while providing minimal down time for inspection and cleaning. The entire system easily fits within the rear of the top shell of an 1800-EXL oven. The system utilizes a different set of top shell caps specially designed to provide the best serviceability of both the flux collection system and maintenance of the heater zone blower motors.
Technical Library | 2020-03-09 10:50:17.0
A customer called the Helpline seeking advice for cleaning no-clean fluxes prior to applying a conformal coating. The customer's assemblies were manufactured with a no-clean rosin based solder paste (ROL0) and were cleaned with an isopropyl alcohol (IPA) wash. After cleaning, a white residue was sometimes found in areas with high paste concentrations and was interfering with the adhesion of the conformal coating (Figure 1). For conformal coatings to adhere properly, the printed circuit board (PCB) surface must be clean of fluxes and other residues. In addition, ionic contamination left by flux residues can lead to corrosion and dendrite growth, two common causes of electronic opens and shorts. Other residues can lead to unwanted impedance and physical interference with moving parts.
Technical Library | 2019-05-23 10:42:00.0
Why identify flux residues? The primary purpose of flux is to reduce species of metal oxides from solderable surfaces, and to act as a mechanism for lifting and removing debris. If the assembly is not properly cleaned after manufacturing, flux may continue to reduce metals and may eventually corrode the assembly. When the assembly is powered, the metal ions may precipitate along electromagnetic field lines and form dendritic shorts. In addition, the presence of residue can alter the insulation properties of a board, affect the adhesion of the conformal coating, or interfere with the moving parts of the assembly. In radio frequency (RF) applications, flux may change the RF properties on the surface of the printed circuit board (PCB) such as the dielectric strength, surface resistance, and Q-resonance.
Technical Library | 2014-03-27 14:50:01.0
Because of the phase out of CFC's and HCFC's, standard solder pastes and fluxes evolved from RA and RMA fluxes, to No-Clean, to low residue No-Clean, to very low residue No-Clean. Many companies came out with their cleaning solutions, aqueous and semi-aqueous, with each product release being more innovative than the previous one. Unfortunately for most of the suppliers of cleaners, two other trends appeared; lead-free soldering and the progressive miniaturization of electronic devices.
Technical Library | 2022-02-16 15:34:32.0
Because of the phase-out of CFCs and HCFCs, standard solder pastes and fluxes evolved from RA and RMA fluxes to No-Clean, to low residue No-Clean, to very low residue No-Clean. Many companies came out with their cleaning solutions, aqueous and semi-aqueous, with each product release being more innovative than the previous one. Unfortunately for most of the suppliers of cleaners, two other trends appeared; lead-free soldering and the progressive miniaturization of electronic devices
Technical Library | 2007-07-19 15:15:11.0
ROSA is a surface restoration technique that removes hard to reduce species like metal oxides or sulfides. At the time of its development, the focus was on solderability and compliance to environmental regulations. Industry trends and regulatory changes as a result of the Montreal Protocol were the driver for much of the concern over environmental compliance. The result was an increase in the development of no-clean and water soluble fluxes and the removal of halogenated cleaning chemistries.
Technical Library | 2020-11-04 17:57:41.0
Residues present on circuit boards can cause leakage currents if not controlled and monitored. How "Clean is Clean" is neither easy nor cheap to determine. Most OEMs use analytical methods to assess the risk of harmful residues. The levels that can be associated with clean or dirty are typically determined based on the exposed environment where the part will be deployed. What is acceptably clean for one segment of the industry may be unacceptable for more demanding segments. As circuit assemblies increase in density, understanding cleanliness data becomes more challenging. The risk of premature failure or improper function is typically site specific. The problem is that most do not know how to measure or define cleanliness nor can they recognize process problems related to residues. A new site specific method has been designed to run performance qualifications on boards built with specific soldering materials, reflow settings and cleaning methods. High impedance measurements are performed on break off coupons designed with components geometries used to build the assembly. The test method provides a gauge of potential contamination sources coming from the assembly process that can contribute to electrochemical migration.
Technical Library | 2010-06-10 21:01:48.0
This paper researches the effectiveness of the R.O.S.E. cleanliness testing process for dissolving and measuring ionic contaminants from boards soldered with no-clean and lead-free flux technologies.
Technical Library | 2023-04-17 17:05:47.0
In an ideal world, manufacturing devices would work all of the time, however, every company receives customer returns for a variety of reasons. If these returned parts contributed to a fail, most companies will perform failure analysis (FA) on the returned parts to determine the root cause of the failure. Failure can occur for a multitude of reasons, for example: wear out, fatigue, design issues, manufacturing flaw or defect. This information is then used to improve the overall quality of the product and prevent reoccurrence. If no defect is found, it is possible that in fact the product has no defect. On the other hand, the defect could be elusive and the FA techniques insufficient to detect said deficiency. No-clean flux residues can cause intermittent or elusive, hard to find defects. In an attempt to understand the effects of no-clean flux residues from the secondary soldering and cleaning processes, a matrix of varying process and cleaning operation was investigated. Of special interest, traveling flux residues and entrapped residues were examined, as well as localized and batch cleaning processes. Various techniques were employed to test the remaining residues in order to assess their propensity to cause a latent failure. These techniques include Surface Insulation Resistance1 (SIR) testing at 40⁰C/90% RH, 5 VDC bias along with C32 testing and Ion Exchange Chromatography (IC). These techniques facilitate the assessment of the capillary effect the tight spacing these component structures have when flux residues are present. It is expected that dendritic shorting and measurable current leakage will occur, indicating a failing SIR test. However, since the residue resides under the discrete components, there will be no visual evidence of dendritic growth or metal migration.
Technical Library | 2017-08-17 12:28:30.0
At SMT assembly, flux outgassing/drying is difficult for devices with poor venting channel, and resulted in insufficiently dried/burnt-off flux residue for no-clean process. Examples including: Large low stand-off components such as QFN, LGA Components covered under electromagnetic shield which has either no or few venting holes Components assembled within cavity of board Any other devices with small open space around solder joints
