Technical Library | 1999-05-06 11:42:16.0
The most reliable and well-designed electronic device can malfunction or fail if it overheats. Considering thermal issues early in the design process results in a thermally conscious system layout and minimizes costs through the use of passive cooling and off-the-shelf components. When thermal issues are left until completion of the design, the only remaining solution may be a costly custom heat sink that requires all the space available. Incorporating a heat sink or a fan into a product after it is fully developed can be expensive, and still may not provide sufficient cooling of the device.
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 | 2021-07-28 18:35:13.0
The performance of electronic components is compromised by factors such as bubbles in the potting medium. Increasing numbers of applications – particularly in the automotive and electronics industries – therefore require completely bubble-free dispensing methods. This is where potting in a vacuum comes into focus. The widespread school of thought about this technology is that it is too complicated, too expensive and too slow. But a closer look shows that this view is incorrect. This is a mastered technology. As for costs, the calculation basis is key, since usually the potting and vacuum method is only considered after the required potting quality cannot be achieved reliably any other way. Under total cost of ownership assessments, higher system costs no longer play a key role, since component failure would result in much higher subsequent costs. And now there are proven solutions for high production volumes and/or shorter cycle times. This whitepaper explains when potting in a vacuum is ideal for your projects and what to be aware of.
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