Technical Library | 2007-02-01 10:08:40.0
The increased replacement of high lead count SMT devices with BGAs and other high ball count area array packages has brought increased challenges to PCB rework and repair. Often solder mask areas surrounding BGA pad areas are damaged when components are removed.
Technical Library | 2008-04-08 17:42:27.0
Concern about the failure of lead-free BGA packages when portable devices such as cell phones are accidentally dropped and a general concern about the resistance of these packages under shock loading has prompted an interest in the impact strength of the soldered BGA connection. This paper reports the results of the measurement of the impact strength of lead-free 0.5±0.01mm diameter BGA spheres on 0.42mm solder mask defined pads on copper/OSP and ENIG substrates using recently developed equipment that can load individual BGA spheres at high strain rates in shear and tension.
Technical Library | 1999-05-07 08:45:39.0
Fine pitch SMT devices, although certainly not new, present more of an assembly processing challenge than 50 mil pitch devices. In fact it seems that the finer the pitch the more difficult or narrower the process window becomes. Besides the pitch of the leads being less on fine pitch devices narrower pad width on the board is typical. With fine pitch designs the board fabrication process is also stressed in that the strip of mask between the pads is designed narrower, the alignment of the mask to copper becomes more critical
Technical Library | 2019-05-29 01:47:22.0
1.Vias near SMD pads: Solder can flow into the via after melted. As a result cold joint will appear in the end. Check the picture below. 2.Vias on SMD pads: Solder can flow into the via more easier after melted. Check the picture below. 3.Via opening without soldermask covered. When workers solder TH parts by hand, soldering iron can touch vias sometime, then tiny amounts molten solder will stay on vias. This can lead to electrical short easily. We recommend you make all vias tenting (covered by solder mask) if it is possible.
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Technical Library | 2019-08-14 22:20:55.0
Cleanliness is a product of design, including component density, standoff height and the cleaning equipment’s ability to deliver the cleaning agent to the source of residue. The presence of manufacturing process soil, such as flux residue, incompletely activated flux, incompletely cured solder masks, debris from handling and processing fixtures, and incomplete removal of cleaning fluids can hinder the functional lifetime of the product. Contaminates trapped under a component are more problematic to failure. Advanced test methods are needed to obtain "objective evidence" for removing flux residues under leadless components.Cleaning process performance is a function of cleaning capacity and defined cleanliness. Cleaning performance can be influenced by the PCB design, cleaning material, cleaning machine, reflow conditions and a wide range of process parameters.This research project is designed to study visual flux residues trapped under the bottom termination of leadless components. This paper will research a non-destructive visual method that can be used to study the cleanability of solder pastes, cleaning material effectiveness for the soil, cleaning machine effectiveness and process parameters needed to render a clean part.
Technical Library | 2019-09-24 15:41:53.0
This paper focuses on three different coating material groups which were formulated to operate under high thermal stress and are applied at printed circuit board manufacturing level. While used for principally different applications, these coatings have in common that they can be key to a successful thermal management concept especially in e-mobility and lighting applications. The coatings consist of: Specialty (green transparent) liquid photoimageable solder masks (LPiSM) compatible with long-term thermal storage/stress in excess of 150°C. Combined with the appropriate high-temperature base material, and along with a suitable copper pre-treatment, these solder resists are capable of fulfilling higher thermal demands. In this context, long-term storage tests as well as temperature cycling tests were conducted. Moreover, the effect of various Cu pre-treatment methods on the adhesion of the solder masks was examined following 150, 175 and 200°C ageing processes. For this purpose, test panels were conditioned for 2000 hours at the respective temperatures and were submitted to a cross-cut test every 500 h. Within this test set-up, it was found that a multi-level chemical pre-treatment gives significantly better adhesion results, in particular at 175°C and 200°C, compared with a pre-treatment by brush or pumice brush. Also, breakdown voltage as well as tracking resistance were investigated. For an application in LED technology, the light reflectivity and white colour stability of the printed circuit board are of major importance, especially when high-power LEDs are used which can generate larger amounts of heat. For this reason, a very high coverage power and an intense white colour with high reflectivity values are essential for white solder masks. These "ultra-white" and largely non-yellowing LPiSM need to be able to withstand specific thermal loads, especially in combination with high-power LED lighting applications. The topic of thermal performance of coatings for electronics will also be discussed in view of printed heatsink paste (HSP) and thermal interface paste (TIP) coatings which are used for a growing number of applications. They are processed at the printed circuit board manufacturing level for thermal-coupling and heat-spreading purposes in various thermal management-sensitive fields, especially in the automotive and LED lighting industries. Besides giving an overview of the principle functionality, it will be discussed what makes these ceramic-filled epoxy- or silicone-based materials special compared to using "thermal greases" and "thermal pads" for heat dissipation purposes.
Technical Library | 2020-08-27 01:22:45.0
Initially adopted internal specifications for acceptance of printed circuit boards (PCBs) used for wire bonding was that there were no nodules or scratches allowed on the wirebond pads when inspected under 20X magnification. The nodules and scratches were not defined by measurable dimensions and were considered to be unacceptable if there was any sign of a visual blemish on wire-bondable features. Analysis of the yield at a PCB manufacturer monitored monthly for over two years indicated that the target yield could not be achieved, and the main reasons for yield loss were due to nodules and scratches on the wirebonding pads. The PCB manufacturer attempted to eliminate nodules and scratches. First, a light-scrubbing step was added after electroless copper plating to remove any co-deposited fine particles that acted as a seed for nodules at the time of copper plating. Then, the electrolytic copper plating tank was emptied, fully cleaned, and filtered to eliminate the possibility of co-deposited particles in the electroplating process. Both actions greatly reduced the density of the nodules but did not fully eliminate them. Even though there was only one nodule on any wire-bonding pad, the board was still considered a reject. To reduce scratches on wirebonding pads, the PCB manufacturer utilized foam trays after routing the boards so that they did not make direct contact with other boards. This action significantly reduced the scratches on wire-bonding pads, even though some isolated scratches still appeared from time to time, which caused the boards to be rejected. Even with these significant improvements, the target yield remained unachievable. Another approach was then taken to consider if wire bonding could be successfully performed over nodules and scratches and if there was a dimensional threshold where wire bonding could be successful. A gold ball bonding process called either stand-off-stitch bonding (SSB) or ball-stitch-on-ball bonding (BSOB) was used to determine the effects of nodules and scratches on wire bonds. The dimension of nodules, including height, and the size of scratches, including width, were measured before wire bonding. Wire bonding was then performed directly on various sizes of nodules and scratches on the bonding pad, and the evaluation of wire bonds was conducted using wire pull tests before and after reliability testing. Based on the results of the wire-bonding evaluation, the internal specification for nodules and scratches for wirebondable PCBs was modified to allow nodules and scratches with a certain height and a width limitation compared to initially adopted internal specifications of no nodules and no scratches. Such an approach resulted in improved yield at the PCB manufacturer.
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