Technical Library | 2023-09-13 12:46:41.0
Online PCBA cleaning machines are a great way to improve the quality and reliability of your printed circuit boards (PCBs). These machines use a variety of methods to remove contaminants and debris from PCBs, including water, solvents, and ultrasonic waves.
Technical Library | 2016-12-29 15:37:51.0
The reliabilities of the flux residue of electronic assemblies and semiconductor packages are attracting more and more attention with the adoption of no-clean fluxes by majority of the industry. In recent years, the concern of "partially activated" flux residue and their influence on reliability have been significantly raised due to the miniaturization along with high density design trend, selective soldering process adoption, and the expanded use of pallets in wave soldering process. When flux residue becomes trapped under low stand-off devices, pallets or unsoldered areas (e.g. selective process), it may contain unevaporated solvent, "live" activators and metal complex intermediates with different chemical composition and concentration levels depending on the thermal profiles. These partially-activated residues can directly impact the corrosion, surface insulation and electrochemical migration of the final assembly. In this study, a few application tests were developed internally to understand this issue. Two traditional liquid flux and two newly developed fluxes were selected to build up the basic models. The preliminary results also provide a scientific approach to design highly reliable products with the goal to minimize the reliability risk for the complex PCB designs and assembly processes. This paper was originally published by SMTA in the Proceedings of SMTA International
Technical Library | 2023-11-14 19:24:08.0
In PCB circuit assemblies the trend is moving to more SMD components with finer pitch connections. The majority of the assemblies still have a small amount of through hole (THT) components. Some of them can't withstand high reflow temperatures, while others are there because of their mechanical robustness. In automotive applications these THT components are also present. Many products for cars, including steering units, radio and navigation, and air compressors also use THT technology to connect board-to-board, PCB's to metal shields or housings out of plastic or even aluminium. This is not a simple 2D plain soldering technology, as it requires handling, efficient thermal heating and handling of heavy (up to 10 kg) parts. Soldering technology becomes more 3D where connections have to be made on different levels. For this technology robots using solder wire fail because of the spattering of the flux in the wires and the long cycle time. In wave soldering using pallets the wave height is limited and pin in paste reflow is only a 2D application with space limitations.
Technical Library | 2021-09-29 13:35:21.0
In PCB circuit assemblies the trend is moving to more SMD components with finer pitch connections. The majority of the assemblies still have a small amount of through hole (THT) components. Some of them can't withstand high reflow temperatures, while others are there because of their mechanical robustness. In automotive applications these THT components are also present. Many products for cars, including steering units, radio and navigation, and air compressors also use THT technology to connect board-to-board, PCB's to metal shields or housings out of plastic or even aluminium. This is not a simple 2D plain soldering technology, as it requires handling, efficient thermal heating and handling of heavy (up to 10 kg) parts. Soldering technology becomes more 3D where connections have to be made on different levels. For this technology robots using solder wire fail because of the spattering of the flux in the wires and the long cycle time. In wave soldering using pallets the wave height is limited and pin in paste reflow is only a 2D application with space limitations. Selective soldering using dedicated plates with nozzles on the solder area is the preferred way to make these connections. All joints can be soldered in one dip resulting in short cycle times. Additional soldering on a small select nozzle can make the system even more flexible. The soldering can only be successful when there is enough thermal heat in the assembly before the solder touches the board. A forced convection preheat is a must for many applications to bring enough heat into the metal and board materials. The challenge in a dip soldering process is to get a sufficient hole fill without bridging and minimize the number of solder balls. A new cover was designed to improve the nitrogen environment. Reducing oxygen levels benefits the wetting, but increases the risk for solder balling. Previous investigations showed that solder balling can be minimized by selecting proper materials for solder resist and flux.
Technical Library | 2007-10-18 13:42:45.0
To successfully achieve lead-free electronics assembly, each participant in the manufacturing process, from purchasing to engineering to maintenance to Quality/Inspection, must have a solid understanding of the changes required of them. This pertains to considerations regarding design, components, PWBs, solder alloys, fluxe s, printing, reflow, wave soldering, rework, cleaning, equipment wear & tear and inspection.
Technical Library | 2017-12-11 22:31:06.0
Typical printed circuit board assemblies (PCBAs) processed by reflow, wave, or selective wave soldering were analysed for typical levels of process related residues, resulting from a specific or combination of soldering process. Typical solder flux residue distribution pattern, composition, and concentration are profiled and reported. Presence of localized flux residues were visualized using a commercial Residue RAT gel test and chemical structure was identified by FT-IR, while the concentration was measured using ion chromatography, and the electrical properties of the extracts were determined by measuring the leak current using a twin platinum electrode setup. Localized extraction of residue was carried out using a commercial C3 extraction system. Results clearly show that the amount and distribution of flux residues are a function of the soldering process, and the level can be reduced by an appropriate cleaning. Selective soldering process generates significantly higher levels of residues compared to the wave and reflow process. For conformal coated PCBAs, the contamination levels generated from the tested wave and selective soldering process are found to be enough to generate blisters under exposure to high humidity levels.
Technical Library | 2017-03-22 20:58:08.0
Water soluble lead-free solder paste is widely used in today’s SMT processes, but the industry is slowly moving away from water soluble solder pastes in favor of no-clean solder pastes. This shift in usage of solder paste is driven by an effort to eliminate the water wash process. Some components cannot tolerate water wash and elimination of water washing streamlines the SMT process. Despite this shift, certain applications lend themselves to the use of water soluble solder paste.This paper details the research and development of a new water soluble lead-free solder paste which improves on the performance characteristics of existing technologies.
Technical Library | 2017-07-13 16:16:27.0
Controlled humidity and temperature controlled surface insulation resistance (SIR) measurements of flux covered test vehicles, subject to a direct current (D.C.) bias voltage are recognized by a number of global standards organizations as the preferred method to determine if no clean solder paste and wave soldering flux residues are suitable for reliable electronic assemblies. The IPC, Japanese Industry Standard (JIS), Deutsches Institut fur Normung (DIN) and International Electrical Commission (IEC) all have industry reviewed standards using similar variations of this measurement. (...) This study will compare the results from testing two solder pastes using the IPC-J-STD-004B, IPC TM-650 2.6.3.7 surface insulation resistance test, and IPC TM-650 2.3.25 in an attempt to investigate the correlation of ROSE methods as predictors of electronic assembly electrical reliability.
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