Technical Library | 2022-10-11 20:29:31.0
Electronic assemblies deployed in harsh environments may be subjected to multiple thermal environments during the use-life of the equipment. Often the equipment may not have any macro-indicators of damage such as cracks or delamination. Quantiication of thermal environments during use-life is often not feasible because of the data-capture and storage requirements, and the overhead on core-system functionality. There is need for tools and techniques to quantify damage in deployed systems in absence of macro-indicators of damage without knowledge of prior stress history. The presented PHM framework is targeted towards high reliability applications such as avionic and space systems. In this paper, Sn3.0Ag0.5Cu alloy packages have been subjected to multiple thermal cycling environments including -55 to 125C and 0 to 100C. Assemblies investigated include area-array packages soldered on FR4 printed circuit cards. The methodology involves the use of condition monitoring devices, for gathering data on damage pre-cursors at periodic intervals. Damage-state interrogation technique has been developed based on the Levenberg-Marquardt Algorithm in conjunction with the microstructural damage evolution proxies. The presented technique is applicable to electronic assemblies which have been deployed on one thermal environment, then withdrawn from service and targeted for redeployment in a different thermal environment. Test cases have been presented to demonstrate the viability of the technique for assessment of prior damage, operational readiness and residual life for assemblies exposed to multiple thermo-mechanical environments. Prognosticated prior damage and the residual life show good correlation with experimental data, demonstrating the validity of the presented technique for multiple thermo-mechanical environments.
Technical Library | 2020-07-08 20:05:59.0
There is a compelling need for functional testing of high-speed input/output signals on circuit boards ranging from 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) to several hundred Gbps. While manufacturing tests such as Automatic Optical Inspection (AOI) and In-Circuit Test (ICT) are useful in identifying catastrophic defects, most high-speed signals require more scrutiny for failure modes that arise due to high-speed conditions, such as jitter. Functional ATE is seldom fast enough to measure high-speed signals and interpret results automatically. Additionally, to measure these adverse effects it is necessary to have the tester connections very close to the unit under test (UUT) as lead wires connecting the instruments can distort the signal. The solution we describe here involves the use of a field programmable gate array (FPGA) to implement the test instrument called a synthetic instrument (SI). SIs can be designed using VHDL or Verilog descriptions and "synthesized" into an FPGA. A variety of general-purpose instruments, such as signal generators, voltmeters, waveform analyzers can thus be synthesized, but the FPGA approach need not be limited to instruments with traditional instrument equivalents. Rather, more complex and peculiar test functions that pertain to high-speed I/O applications, such as bit error rate tests, SerDes tests, even USB 3.0 (running at 5 Gbps) protocol tests can be programmed and synthesized within an FPGA. By using specific-purpose test mechanisms for high-speed I/O the test engineer can reduce test development time. The synthetic instruments as well as the tests themselves can find applications in several UUTs. In some cases, the same test can be reused without any alteration. For example, a USB 3.0 bus is ubiquitous, and a test aimed at fault detection and diagnoses can be used as part of the test of any UUT that uses this bus. Additionally, parts of the test set may be reused for testing another high-speed I/O. It is reasonable to utilize some of the test routines used in a USB 3.0 test, in the development of a USB 3.1 (running at 10 Gbps), even if the latter has substantial differences in protocol. Many of the SI developed for one protocol can be reused as is, while other SIs may need to undergo modifications before reuse. The modifications will likely take less time and effort than starting from scratch. This paper illustrates an example of high-speed I/O testing, generalizes failure modes that are likely to occur in high-speed I/O, and offers a strategy for testing them with SIs within FPGAs. This strategy offers several advantages besides reusability, including tester proximity to the UUT, test modularization, standardization approaching an ATE-agnostic test development process, overcoming physical limitations of general-purpose test instruments, and utilization of specific-purpose test instruments. Additionally, test instrument obsolescence can be overcome by upgrading to ever-faster and larger FPGAs without losing any previously developed design effort. With SIs and tests scalable and upward compatible, the test engineer need not start test development for high-speed I/O from scratch, which will substantially reduce time and effort.
Technical Library | 2019-07-02 23:02:05.0
The introduction of lead-free solders resulted in a selection of different chemistries for solder pastes. The higher melting points of lead-free alloys required thermal heat resistant rosin systems and activators that are active at elevated temperatures. As a result, more frequent maintenance of the filtration systems is required and machine downtime is increased.Last year a different method of cleaning reflow ovens was introduced. Instead of cooling down the process gasses to condensate the residues, a catalyst was used to maintain the clean oven. Catalytic thermal oxidation of residues in the nitrogen atmosphere resulted in cleaner heating zones. The residues were transformed into carbon dioxide. This remaining small amount of char was collected in the catalyst. In air ovens the catalyst was not seen as a beneficial option because the air extracted out of the oven was immediately exhausted into the environment. When a catalyst is used in an air environment there is not only the carbon dioxide residues, but also water. When a catalyst is used in an air reflow oven the question is where the water is going to. Will it condensate in the process part of the oven or is the gas temperature high enough to keep it out of the process area? A major benefit of using a catalyst to clean the air before it is exhausted into the environment is that the air pollution is reduced dramatically. This will make environmental engineers happy and result in less pollution of our nature. Apart from this, the exhaust tubes remain clean which reduces the maintenance of air ovens.This paper will give more detailed information of catalyst systems during development and performance in production lines.
Technical Library | 2019-11-20 22:44:25.0
Salt spray test chamber is used to test teh salt corrosion resistance ability of hardware, metal and other auto parts,the chamber can quickly detect the corrosion resistance degree of products in the temperature, humidity and salt spraying environment, which can effectively improve production efficiency. So what is the reason why such a salt spray test chamber does not spray? As per our past maintenance experience,there are below reasons,customers can have a look,hope it is helpful: 1, the spray tower is blocked; 2, water pipes clogged, water flow can not go in; 3, the air compressor stops running,pls open the air compressor button; 4, main switch of the air compressor outlet is not turned on,pls turn on. 5, the solenoid valve fails, the pressure meter is broken or the pressure is too low, pls check with Climatest and repair it. 6, when the nozzle is clogged, the nozzle should be carefully removed and cleaned,because it is fragile. 7, if the spray pressure is normal, the position of the nozzle glass is also correct, but what is the reason for not spraying? In this case, it is necessary to carefully observe whether there is dirt at the contact surface of the nozzle. If so, clean up the dirt and the spray can be carried out normally. That‘s all we‘re going to talk about today. If you have any questions, follow us on facebook, Please feel free to ask us questions.
Technical Library | 2021-07-27 14:54:26.0
Fast forward to current time. Today, our society embraces cleanliness. We expect, demand, and evaluate cleanliness in almost every aspect of our lives. We wash our cars and pets. We maintain high cleanliness standards in our hotels and public spaces. We require cleanliness in our restaurants and hospitals. We sanitize our hands throughout the day to prevent illness. We live in a clean-centric culture. While we drive clean cars, stay in clean hotels and eat clean food, there is one part of our life where we actually abandoned cleanliness. Many of the circuit assemblies that affect almost every aspect of our daily lives are no longer required to be clean. Even though our life experience confirms the link between cleanliness and reliability, happiness, health, and safety, circuit assemblies no longer maintain that "cleanliness is next to Godliness" status. This was not always the case. There was a time when virtually all circuit assemblies were cleaned. The removal of flux and other process-related contamination was commonplace. Cleaning was as normal as soldering. As we bring history into current time, one may relate the fall of Rome and its adoption of personal hygiene and the subsequent decline in human health to the large-scale abandonment of cleanliness expectations of circuit assemblies and the subsequent reliability issues it has created. How did this happen? Has history repeated itself?
Technical Library | 2022-06-27 16:50:26.0
Electronics industry is one of the fastest evolving, innovative, and most competitive industries. In order to meet the high consumption demands on electronics components, quality standards of the products must be well-maintained. Automatic optical inspection (AOI) is one of the non-destructive techniques used in quality inspection of various products. This technique is considered robust and can replace human inspectors who are subjected to dull and fatigue in performing inspection tasks. A fully automated optical inspection system consists of hardware and software setups. Hardware setup include image sensor and illumination settings and is responsible to acquire the digital image, while the software part implements an inspection algorithm to extract the features of the acquired images and classify them into defected and non-defected based on the user requirements. A sorting mechanism can be used to separate the defective products from the good ones. This article provides a comprehensive review of the various AOI systems used in electronics, micro-electronics, and opto-electronics industries. In this review the defects of the commonly inspected electronic components, such as semiconductor wafers, flat panel displays, printed circuit boards and light emitting diodes, are first explained. Hardware setups used in acquiring images are then discussed in terms of the camera and lighting source selection and configuration. The inspection algorithms used for detecting the defects in the electronic components are discussed in terms of the preprocessing, feature extraction and classification tools used for this purpose. Recent articles that used deep learning algorithms are also reviewed. The article concludes by highlighting the current trends and possible future research directions.
Technical Library | 2019-11-17 22:46:45.0
Overview of walk-in temperature and humidity chamber: It also belongs to environmental test equipment, it tests whether the product can resist high temperature, low temperature, humidity, or the physical and chemical changes produced under extreme conditions, the walk-in temperature and humidity chamber volume is large, the product is placed, or a large object can be placed, such as automobile, new energy, television and liquid crystal screen, etc. How to do the routine maintenance of the walk-in temperature and humidity chamber: 1. The wet gauze basically, if there is no special case, s/b usually changed once in 3 months 2. The water channel shall be regularly cleaned, including water cup, water tank, etc., so as to prevent the water from being blocked,affect the humidity test. 3. It is forbidden to test the flammable and explosive products inside working room. 4. Clean the chamber on a regular basis 2. How to operate walk-in temperature and humidity chamber: The operation method is same as standard temperature humidity test chamber,the controller is 7-inch LCD programmable color screen, you only need to setthe temperature point---test time--how many cycles need to be tested, This can be done automatically, and the machine will stop automatically when it is complete. If there is any problem during the operation, the corresponding problem point will be displayed on the machine control screen. Walk-in temperature and humidity chamber is a must equipment for reliability test of Automobile,Aerospace,Electronic parts,etc,the operation and maintenance are easy,it is teh tear down mahcine,Climatest engineers will be dispatched to do on-site support,for instance,we will finish commissioning,train customers how to operate,maintain,welcome to follow our company facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/Climatechambers
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 | 2020-09-23 21:37:25.0
The need to minimise thermal damage to components and laminates, to reduce warpage-induced defects to BGA packages, and to save energy, is driving the electronics industry towards lower process temperatures. For soldering processes the only way that temperatures can be substantially reduced is by using solders with lower melting points. Because of constraints of toxicity, cost and performance, the number of alloys that can be used for electronics assembly is limited and the best prospects appear to be those based around the eutectic in the Bi-Sn system, which has a melting point of about 139°C. Experience so far indicates that such Bi-Sn alloys do not have the mechanical properties and microstructural stability necessary to deliver the reliability required for the mounting of BGA packages. Options for improving mechanical properties with alloying additions that do not also push the process temperature back over 200°C are limited. An alternative approach that maintains a low process temperature is to form a hybrid joint with a conventional solder ball reflowed with a Bi-Sn alloy paste. During reflow there is mixing of the ball and paste alloys but it has been found that to achieve the best reliability a proportion of the ball alloy has to be retained in the joint, particular in the part of the joint that is subjected to maximum shear stress in service, which is usually the area near the component side. The challenge is then to find a reproducible method for controlling the fraction of the joint thickness that remains as the original solder ball alloy. Empirical evidence indicates that for a particular combination of ball and paste alloys and reflow temperature the extent to which the ball alloy is consumed by mixing with the paste alloy is dependent on the volume of paste deposited on the pad. If this promising method of achieving lower process temperatures is to be implemented in mass production without compromising reliability it would be necessary to have a method of ensuring the optimum proportion of ball alloy left in the joint after reflow can be consistently maintained. In this paper the author explains how the volume of low melting point alloy paste that delivers the optimum proportion of retained ball alloy for a particular reflow temperature can be determined by reference to the phase diagrams of the ball and paste alloys. The example presented is based on the equilibrium phase diagram of the binary Bi-Sn system but the method could be applied to any combination of ball and paste alloys for which at least a partial phase diagram is available or could be easily determined.
Technical Library | 2019-12-13 00:39:29.0
Salt spray corrosion chamber can test the ability of material and its protective layer to resist salt mist corrosion, or compare the process quality of similar protective layers, at the same time; this equipment is suitable for parts, electronic components, protective layer of metal material and other industrial products. Salt spray test is divided into neutral and acid test. What is the difference between neutral and acid in salt spray test? First, the temperature applied in the test method is different: Neutral test: a. Laboratory:35°C ±1°C, b. Saturated air drums:47°C ±1°C Acid test: a. Laboratory:50°C ±1°C, b. Saturated air drums:63°C ±1°C Second, the production material is different,neutral test chamber adoptes the traditional PVC plates, acid test chamber asopts PP sheet,which is more high temperature resistance and suits strong acid test. Third. Different test methods satisfied Neutral salt spray chamber according to GB/T 2423.17-2008, GB/T 2423.18-2000, salt spray test method and GB/T 10125-1997, GB/T 10587-2006, GB10593.2-1990, GB/T 1765-1979, GB/T 1771-2007, GB/T 12967.388, GB/T 1705.8-2008, etc. In addition to the test methods specified in the national standard, acid salt spray chamber also needs to expand the standard setting such as IEC,MIL,DIN,ASTM,IS,CNS. Last, Comparison of neutral test solutions China: NaCI distilled water solution NaCI mass concentration (50 ±5) g ≤ l pH value 6.5 ≤ 7.2 United States: distilled water solution NaCI mass concentration 5% ±1% pH value 6.5 ≤ 7.2 Germany: NaCI distilled water solution NaCI mass concentration (50 ±5) g ≤ l pH value 6.5 ≤ 7.2 Japan: NaCI distilled water solution NaCI mass concentration 5% ±1% pH pH value 6.5 ~ 7.2 France: NaCI distilled water solution NaCI mass concentration 5% pH 6.5 ≤ 7.2 https://climatechambers.com/articles&latestnews/difference-between-neutral-and-acid-salt-spray-corrosion-test.html
