Cobar’s Gerjan Diepstraten to Present at SMTAI 2010

The Balver Zinn Group announces that Gerjan Diepstraten will present a paper titled "Clean 'No-Clean' or Use a Water Wash Solder Paste?" at the upcoming SMTA International, scheduled to take place October 24 - 28, 2010 at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort in Orlando, FL. The presentation will be held during Session SMT2, titled “Cleaning for Today’s Challenging Designs,” which will take place Tuesday, October 26, 2010 from 2-4 p.m. in room Asia 2.

“No-clean” solder pastes are meant to be left on the board. The residues are safe and the rosin/resin system protects against electro-migration. Nevertheless, there are users that do not like the board cosmetics of no-clean pastes and prefer to use a water wash solder paste. Since the resins are not water soluble, it is difficult to clean them with water and a cleaning agent is required.

One of the benefits of water wash solder pastes is that the residues are easy to clean and do not require cleaning agents. Aqueous cleaning is the most attractive method because it is low in costs and the water can be recycled.

This study compares no-clean and water wash solder pastes, and provides a complete overview of the SMD process. Designs of experiments are run to confirm theoretical statements with measured data. The impact of alloys, reflow, cleaning conditions and materials used are discussed.

Cobar Solder Products is the U.S. division of the Balver Zinn/Cobar Group. The Cobar Group is accredited to the prestigious ISO/TS 16949 Quality Management System.