Alpha Level PCB's

We are going to try out a PCB manufacturer that has an Alpha Level for ensuring a flat finish on the PCB's. I am interested to know if anyone has and experiences, either good or bad on how boards treated with this process are to assemble. Is there any reflow problems with the fine silver coating that the SMT pads have after this process? Thanks Grant Petty Digital Voodoo.

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| We are going to try out a PCB manufacturer that has an Alpha Level for ensuring a flat finish on the PCB's. | I am interested to know if anyone has and experiences, either good or bad on how boards treated with this process are to assemble. Is there any reflow problems with the fine silver coating that the SMT pads have after this process? | Thanks | Grant Petty | Digital Voodoo. I have one board that uses this. Though I only perform hand soldering on this, the results are excellent, I haven't had any problems with soldering. Scott

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| We are going to try out a PCB manufacturer that has an Alpha Level for ensuring a flat finish on the PCB's. | I am interested to know if anyone has and experiences, either good or bad on how boards treated with this process are to assemble. Is there any reflow problems with the fine silver coating that the SMT pads have after this process? | Thanks | Grant Petty | Digital Voodoo. Grant, You will probably need to set your reflow temperature slightly higher than for a Sn/Pb finished board. This is for cosmetics of the solder joint and for limiting a possibly nasty intermetallic layer. Regards, Justin Medernach Flextronics Int'l PIC East

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| We are going to try out a PCB manufacturer that has an Alpha Level for ensuring a flat finish on the PCB's. | I am interested to know if anyone has and experiences, either good or bad on how boards treated with this process are to assemble. Is there any reflow problems with the fine silver coating that the SMT pads have after this process? | Thanks | Grant Petty | Digital Voodoo. Silver is as good as gold in the amounts deposited. No fear of silver migration in these amounts. Reflow excellent.

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