Electronics Manufacturing Technical Articles

Making Ovens Smarter

Sep 19, 2016 | Bjorn Dahle

This white paper seeks to set out the value of a ‘smarter’ approach to the reflow process and how a more intelligent oven can offer real added value and performance to the entire line. It also lays out some of the criteria that is important when selecting smart equipment for a smart process, that conforms to, and is ready for, IoM or Industry 4.0...

Publisher: KIC Thermal

Long Term Thermal Reliability of Printed Circuit Board Materials

Sep 15, 2016 | Eva McDermott, Ph.D., Bob McGrath, and Christine Harrington

This paper describes the purpose, methodology, and results to date of thermal endurance testing performed at the company. The intent of this thermal aging testing is to establish long term reliability data for printed wiring board (PWB) materials for use in applications that require 20+ years (100,000+ hours) of operational life under different thermal conditions. Underwriters Laboratory (UL) testing only addresses unclad laminate (resin and glass) and not a fabricated PWB that undergoes many processing steps, includes copper and plated through holes, and has a complex mechanical structure. UL testing is based on a 5000 hour expected operation life of the electronic product. Therefore, there is a need to determine the dielectric breakdown / degradation of the composite printed circuit board material and mechanical structure over time and temperature for mission critical applications....

Publisher: Amphenol Printed Circuit Board Technology

Making the Move from Machine Monitoring to SMART Manufacturing and the Implications on Profiling Systems

Sep 12, 2016 | Mark Stansfield

It is hard to open an Industry newsletter or visit an equipment manufacturer’s website without coming across a mention of the Internet of Things (IoT), Industry 4.0, SMART Manufacturing or ‘big data’. The accessibility to obtain data will only increase and this information and its real-time processing will become one of the most important resources for companies in the future. Production machinery will no longer simply processes the product, but the product will communicate with the machinery to tell it exactly what to do. Industry 4.0 has the vision to connects embedded system technologies and SMART production processes to drastically transform industry and production giving way to the SMART factory development. Future development in oven technology will allow machines to be controlled more intelligently and remotely resulting in the lowest cost model for manufacturing flow....

Publisher: Solderstar

How Clean is Clean Enough – At What Level Does Each of The Individual Contaminates Cause Leakage and Corrosion Failures in SIR?

Sep 08, 2016 | Terry Munson, Paco Solis, Nick Munson, Steve Ring, Evan Briscoe.

In this investigation a test matrix was completed utilizing 900 electrodes (small circuit board with parallel copper traces on FR-4 with LPI soldermask at 6, 10 and 50 mil spacing): 12 ionic contaminants were applied in five concentrations to three different spaced electrodes with five replicas each (three different bare copper trace spacing / five replications of each with five levels of ionic concentration). The investigation was to assess the electrical response under controlled heat and humidity conditions of the known applied contamination to electrodes, using the IPC SIR (surface insulation resistance) J-STD 001 limits and determine at what level of contamination and spacing the ionic / organic residue has a failing effect on SIR....

Publisher: Foresite Inc.

PCB-Conformal-Coatings-Guide-I

Sep 06, 2016 | Sierra Assembly

Printed circuit boards are the base of electronic products in a variety of consumer and industrial applications. New PCBs always perform well. However, their performance will deteriorate with time due to exposure to different environmental conditions like condensation, moisture, contamination of the iconic material on the surface, dust and dirt, mildew, alpha particles, etc. To avoid these problems, PCBs are protected with conformal coatings. Let’s see how this is done, and how they protect PCB components....

Publisher: Sierra Assembly Technology LLC

Reliability Study of Low Silver Alloy Solder Pastes

Sep 01, 2016 | Jennifer Nguyen, David Geiger and Murad Kurwa

Sn3.0Ag0.5Cu (SAC305) is currently the most popular near eutectic lead-free alloy used in the manufacturing processes. Over the last several years, the price of silver has dramatically increased driving a desire for lower silver alloy alternatives. As a result, there is a significant increase in the number of alternative low/no silver lead-free solder alloys available in the industry recently. Our previous study showed that many alternative low silver solder paste materials had good printing and wetting performance as compared to SAC305 solder pastes. However, there is lack of information on the reliability of alternative alloy solder joints assembled using alternative low silver alloy solder pastes.

In this paper, we will present the reliability study of lead-free solder joints reflowed using various lead-free alloy solder pastes after thermal cycling test (3000 cycles, 0°C to 100°C). Six different lead-free pastes were investigated. SAC305 solder joints were used as the control. Low and no silver solder pastes and a low temperature SnBiAg solder pastes were also included....

Publisher: Flex (Flextronics International)

Sustainable Product Design and Supplier Material Disclosure

Aug 25, 2016 | Tedie West, Kerri Doyle

Sustainable product design and the task of bringing new, earth friendly products to market is a top priority for corporate leaders in the manufacturing industry. By not reaching their compliance and sustainability goals, manufacturers risk loss of market share, fines for non-compliance against regulatory directives and possible damage to their brand. Managing material disclosure information from the supply chain is one of their biggest challenges....

Publisher: Siemens PLM Software

Mechanical stress test for component solder joints and bonding wires

Aug 24, 2016 | MINIMOTOR Benelux

From consumer electronics to systems control, automotive technology to aviation and aerospace – today, electronics are absolutely essential in many sectors. They increasingly replace mechanical components, eliminating wear and tear and thereby extending the service life. What is easily forgotten in this regard is that electronics are also subject to the laws of mechanics. Mechanical test equipment is crucial to test components for the secure hold of welded, soldered or adhesive bonds. A new, mechanically intricate test probe with universal clamping jaws, that can even grasp the individual bonding wires, is in line with the trend toward ever smaller components. Serving as an actuator for these is a micro drive that can be precisely controlled using a miniaturised motion controller to relieve the control unit in the test device....

Publisher: XYZTEC bv

Bond Test Measurement Accuracy

Aug 23, 2016 | Bob Sykes

While many things can affect the force measurement accuracy of a bond test, its ultimate limitation is that of the force sensor. With advances in technology, accuracy can be dramatically improved with no cost penalty and no need to select force measurement ranges. How is this accomplished? ...

Publisher: XYZTEC bv

Selective Reflow Rework Process

Aug 18, 2016 | Omar García, Enrique Avelar, C. Sanchez, M. Carrillo, O. Mendoza, J. Medina, Zhen (Jane) Feng,Ph.D., Murad Kurwa

The Selective Reflow Rework Process is an approach to improving the high volume rework process, increasing process capabilities and process repeatability by using a standard reflow oven of 12 zones, pick and place machinery, semi-automated printing gear and Solder Paste Inspection (SPI) implementations. This approach was able to reduce the amount of rework equipment by more than half. Our human resource requirements (indirect and direct labor) were cut by more than 50% and our rolled throughput yield increased from 68.9% to 84.14%. The Selective Reflow Rework Process is less reliant upon operators and has become a repeatable, stable rework process....

Publisher: Flex (Flextronics International)