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What I'm seeing is an occasional pattern of tear drop shaped... - Nov 06, 2002 by Steve Thomas

pls send pix ... - Nov 06, 2002 by davef

Dr. Ning Cheng Lee from Indium Corp. of America has written ... - Nov 07, 2002 by Sr. Tech

This is more of a two-dimensional phenomenon than the linear... - Nov 07, 2002 by Steve Thomas

This is embarassing. I've used ipa (actually "70/30 rubb... - Nov 07, 2002 by Steve Thomas

Steve Thomas

#22294

What is this? | 6 November, 2002

What I'm seeing is an occasional pattern of tear drop shaped features in a sea of nice shiny solder. The little islands don't really have any relief.....it's more of a surface finish feature than a 3-dimensional feature. The wetting angles are good, and there's nothing wrong with the profile (according to the paste specs.) It's not prevalent (a few components per board, and not every time we run them), and it's not obvious (I can only see it at 10X and above), so I haven't worried about it too much. Still, I'd like to know what it is and address it.

My hunch is that it's flux related, and that I'm occasionally not getting enough of it with reduced, homeplated apertures (it doesn't seem to show up on boards using 1:1 aps. in the stencil, although I just recently started looking at that). Before I go off crankin' up a DOE like a headless chicken, what do you all think?

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davef

#22305

What is this? | 6 November, 2002

pls send pix

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Sr. Tech

#22311

What is this? | 7 November, 2002

Dr. Ning Cheng Lee from Indium Corp. of America has written papers on this phenomenon.Perhaps they would be willing to assist you.

I am pretty sure I know exactly what you are talking about. We see this as well.Does it kinda resemble a disturbed solder joint? Years ago we had Indium do an analysis on this. Its not flux related. It has something to do with component/pad metalization.

Again, this sounds like what we have seen in the past but to be sure I would recommend contacting Indium.They have an excellent applications team.

Regards

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Steve Thomas

#22319

What is this? | 7 November, 2002

This is more of a two-dimensional phenomenon than the linear features (wrinkles) that I would associate with disturbed solder.

What I should do is contact my own solder supplier on this, I guess, but it hasn't been particularly high on my priority list. It's a comparitively small fire, but a nagging one.

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Steve Thomas

#22321

What is this? | 7 November, 2002

This is embarassing.

I've used ipa (actually "70/30 rubbing" alcohol) to clean these for a better view (this is a no-clean), and found the above described anomaly to be intact. So, I assumed it was something in the solder itself. Well, today I used some 100% ethyl acohol and ended up with nice glossy fillets, no anomaly present where there had been one before. The feature is clearly not only flux related, but is part of the residue and not visibly affecting the joint at all.

I discovered this on a board that had been misprinted and wiped, probably with 70/30 IPA, apparently not washed (BAD operator....go to your rug!), and reprocessed and subsquently scrapped for numerous loose solder fines. Coincidence? I wouldn't bet on it, and I'll sure be looking for it again.

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