Printed Circuit Board Assembly & PCB Design SMT Electronics Assembly Manufacturing Forum

Printed Circuit Board Assembly & PCB Design Forum

SMT electronics assembly manufacturing forum.


Chosing ENIG vs OSP

Views: 10704

#58885

Chosing ENIG vs OSP | 25 May, 2009

One of our customer wants to change the process from OSP boards to ENIG. His question was: what is the failure rate for ENIG in the last 3 years? well...what to say? I was suggesting a ImAg instead of ENIG. But..nope. Any ideea about this topic? For sure the ENIG process is continuosly improved. But no ideea about the failure rates.

reply »

#58936

Chosing ENIG vs OSP | 28 May, 2009

If your fabricator understands and controls their in-house ENIG, you should be OK. It seems that fabs don't undererstand ENIG processes well enough to duplicate hyper-corroded nickel, but those that have not seen the defect usually never see it.

reply »

#58940

Chosing ENIG vs OSP | 29 May, 2009

So true :) But I think we will have the final fight with the supplier when we will have troubles with the ENIG. We will assembly the product. From my experience, i never found a product with no black pad defects. It depends of the fabrication lots. Thank you Dave once again.

reply »

#58972

Chosing ENIG vs OSP | 2 June, 2009

Hi Nicoleta,

As a board shop, either are good choices but in my experience with my customers ENIG has alway been the favorite due to it is easier to work with in regards to not having to tweak your equipment. As long as the board shop that you are using has the line in-house and controls their chemistry their should be no issues with Enig.

I have Two OEM customers of Mine that still do their own assembly and use only OSP and have had great success with it but that's the only finish they work with.

Immersion Silver is probably easier for assembly but their are draw backs to this finish also, Tarnishing, dendrite groth & Shelf life. Boards need to have sulferless paper separation in packaging from board house so board do not Tarnish which will add to price.

Regards, Mike Boardhouse

reply »

#58973

Chosing ENIG vs OSP | 2 June, 2009

Nicoleta,

We're a CM and have produced many millions of solder joints with ENIG boards with no failure attributed to this surface finish. This represents several boards houses. Another poster is correct that any supplier you choose should have a captive process and be able to demonstrate adequate controls. "Boardhouse" can probably give you some good questions to ask. I'm also with him that ENIG is easier to deal with from a process and storage standpoint than ImAg.

Hoss

reply »

#58985

Chosing ENIG vs OSP | 3 June, 2009

Thank you all for these helpfull informations. I knew that I always can have the right support from you :) Tks again. Nico

reply »

#58987

Chosing ENIG vs OSP | 3 June, 2009

Another thing to consider - If you're processing lead free, the nickel layer between the copper and gold provides extra protection against copper dissolution. This is a nice piece of insurance especially when performing rework.

Cheers

reply »

#58998

Chosing ENIG vs OSP | 4 June, 2009

yes, i know this part, and you are right. Tk you once again, Nico

reply »

#59014

Chosing ENIG vs OSP | 6 June, 2009

Here is a link to a recent industry article that may be of service:

http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=49717

reply »

Equipment Auction - Eagle Comtronics: Low-Use Electronic Assembly & Machining Facility 2019 Europlacer iineo + Placement Machine  Test & Inspection: Agilent | Tektronix | Mantis Machine Shop: Haas VF3 | Haas SL-20 | Mult. Lathes

IPC Training & Certification - Blackfox