Technical Articles From Heller Industries Inc.
Read technical articles about electronics manufacturing added by Heller Industries Inc.
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18 technical articles added by Heller Industries Inc.
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Introducing Closed-loop Nitrogen Control To Solder Reflow
Jan 17, 2023 | David Heller
To achieve higher levels of consistency in PCB output, process engineers are able to maintain tighter controls and reduce process-related defects by using closed-loop process controls. At every stage of assembly, from screen printing through placement to reflow, closed-loop systems help control the variable factors that can have adverse effects on the process....
How Challenging Conventional Wisdom Can Optimize Solder Reflow
Jan 17, 2023 | Marc Peo
As a manufacturing technology, SMT has acquired a "heritage" of widely accepted assumptions about its processes. However, yesterday'spractices are continually confronted by the shifting paradigms of today's production line....
The User Benefits of a Supplier Partnership
Jan 17, 2023 | Bjorn Dahle, Marc Peo
EQUIPMENT SUPPLIERS HAVE BECOME A RESOURCE FOR PROCESS CONTROL EXPERTISE, EVEN IN THE REFLOW OPERATION....
Vacuum Fluxless Reflow Technology for Fine Pitch First Level Interconnect Bumping Applications
Jan 17, 2023 | Yue Deng, Xike Zhao, Liang He, David Wright, Hossein Madanipour, Bret Halbe, Jung Kyu, Fred Tarazi, Gang Duan, Dror Trifon, Rahul Manepalli, David Heller
Heterogeneous integration has become an important performance enabler as high-performance computing (HPC) demands continue to rise. The focus to enable heterogeneous integration scaling is to push interconnect density limit with increased bandwidth and improved power efficiency. Many different advanced packaging architectures have been deployed to increase I/O wire / area density for higher data bandwidth requirements, and to enable more effective die disaggregation. Embedded Multi-die Interconnect Bridge (EMIB) technology is an advanced, cost-effective approach to in-package high density interconnect of heterogeneous chips, providing high density I/O, and controlled electrical interconnect paths between multiple dice in a package. In emerging architectures, it is required to scale down the EMIB die bump pitch in order to further increase the die-to-die (D2D) communication bandwidth. Aa a result, bump pitch scaling poses significant challenges in the plated solder bump reflow process, e.g., bump height / coplanarity control, solder wicking control, and bump void control. It's crucial to ensure a high-quality solder bump reflow process to meet the final product reliability requirements. In this paper, a combined formic acid based fluxless and vacuum assisted reflow process is developed for fine pitch plated solder bumping application. A high-volume production (HVM) ready tool has been developed for this process....
Flux Management
Jan 17, 2023 | Heller Industries
This paper describes the new flux management systems that Heller Industries introduced in 1999....
Function and Operational Theory of Condenser Tube Flux Collection System
Jan 17, 2023 | Heller Industries
Heller's new Condenser Tube Flux Recovery System is designed to provide more efficient flux collection than earlier Heller flux collection systems; while providing minimal down time for inspection and cleaning. The entire system easily fits within the rear of the top shell of an 1800-EXL oven. The system utilizes a different set of top shell caps specially designed to provide the best serviceability of both the flux collection system and maintenance of the heater zone blower motors....
Repeatability of the Temperature Profile under Load Variation
Jan 17, 2023 | Prepared by: John Poling
Repeatability of the Temperature Profile under Load Variation...
Are You Ready for Lead Free
Jan 17, 2023 | Marc Peo & Don DeAngelo
Various international market trends drive electronics manufacturers and their mate- rials and equipment suppliers to develop new assembly techniques to reduce the industry's environmental impact. Two pri- mary forces in this drive are the movements to lead-free assembly and ISO 14000 cer- tification. In response to these factors, reflow technology advances are enabling manufacturers to meet or anticipate the new environmental mandates....
The Greening of the Reflow Process
Jan 17, 2023 | Atsushi Kikuchi
After years of concentration on resolving productivity- related concerns such as increasing speed, consistency and throughput while reducing costs, many of the world's leading electronics manufacturers have added a new mandate to their agendas. They are seeking to minimize the environmental impacts of their assembly processes and final products without sacrificing the high levels of productivity and quality that have been achieved through decades of effort....
A Practical Investigation into the Use of No Lead Solders for SMT Reflow
Jan 17, 2023 | Heller Industries and Soldering Technology David Heller and Jim Raby
A Practical Investigation into the Use of No Lead Solders for SMT Reflow...
Effect of Reflow Profile on SnPb and SnAgCu Solder Joint Shear Force
Jan 17, 2023 | Jianbiao Pan , Brian J. Toleno , Tzu-Chien Chou , Wesley J. Dee
Reflow profile has significant impact on solder joint performance because it influences wetting and microstructure of the solder joint. The degree of wetting, the microstructure (in particular the intermetallic layer), and the inherent strength of the solder all factor into the reliability of the solder joint. This paper presents experimental results on the effect of reflow profile on both 63%Sn 37%Pb (SnPb) and 96.5%Sn 3.0%Ag 0.5%Cu (SAC 305) solder joint shear force. Specifically, the effect of the reflow peak temperature and time above solder liquidus temperature are studied. Nine reflow profiles for SAC 305 and nine reflow profiles for SnPb have been developed with three levels of peak temperature (230 o C, 240 o C, and 250 o C for SAC 305; and 195 o C, 205 o C, and 215 o C for SnPb) and three levels of time above solder liquidus temperature (30 sec., 60 sec., and 90 sec.). The shear force data of four different sizes of chip resistors (1206, 0805, 0603, and 0402) are compared across the different profiles. The shear force of the resistors is measured at time 0 (right after assembly). The fracture surfaces have been studied using a scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS)...
Reflow Techniques for Void Reduction
Jan 17, 2023 | David Heller
BTC Void Reduction For Yield and Performance Enhancement...
THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF THE BGA VOID
Jan 17, 2023 | David Hillman, Dave Adams, Tim Pearson, Brad Williams, Brittany Petrick, and Ross Wilcoxon Rockwell Collins. David Bernard, Ph.D., John Travis, Evstatin Krastev, Ph.D., and Vineeth Bastin Nordson DAGE
The impact of voiding on the solder joint integrity of ball grid arrays (BGAs)/chip scale packages (CSPs) can be a topic of lengthy and energetic discussion. Detailed industry investigations have shown that voids have little effect on solder joint integrity unless they fall into specific location/geometry configurations. These investigations have focused on thermal cycle testing at 0°C-100°C, which is typically used to evaluate commercial electronic products. This paper documents an investigation to determine the impact of voids in BGA and CSP components using thermal cycle testing (-55°C to +125°C) in accordance with the IPC- 9701 specification for tin/lead solder alloys. This temperature range is more typical of military and other high performance product use environments. A proposed BGA void requirement revision for the IPC-JSTD-001 specification will be extracted from the results analysis....
THE EFFECT OF VACUUM REFLOW PROCESSING ON SOLDER JOINT VOIDING AND THERMAL FATIGUE RELIABILITY
Jan 17, 2023 | Richard Coyle, Dave Hillman, Michael Barnes, David Heller, Charmaine Johnson, Richard Popowich, Richard Parker, Keith Howell, Joerg Trodler, Adam Murling
A test program was developed to evaluate the effectiveness of vacuum reflow processing on solder joint voiding and subsequent thermal cycling performance. Area array package test vehicles were assembled using conventional reflow processing and a solder paste that generated substantial void content in the solder joints. Half of the population of test vehicles then were re-processed (reflowed) using vacuum reflow. Transmission x-ray inspection showed a significant reduction in solder voiding after vacuum processing. The solder attachment reliability of the conventional and vacuum reflowed test vehicles was characterized and compared using two different accelerated thermal cycling profiles. The thermal cycling results are discussed in terms of the general impact of voiding on solder thermal fatigue reliability, results from the open literature, and the evolving industry standards for solder voiding. Recommendations are made for further work based on other void reduction methods and additional reliability studies....
Optimizing Reflowed Solder TIM (sTIMs) Processes for Emerging Heterogeneous Integrated Packages
Jan 17, 2023 | 2022 IEEE 72nd Electronic Components and Technology Conference (ECTC)
Reflowed indium metal has for decades been the standard for solder thermal interface materials (solder TIMs or sTIMs) in most high-performance computing (HPC) TIM1 applications. The IEEE Heterogeneous Integration Thermal roadmap states that new thermal interface materials solutions must provide a path to the successful application of increased total-package die areas up to 100cm2. While GPU architectures are relatively isothermal during usage, CPU hotspots in complex heterogeneously-integrated modules will need to be able to handle heat flux hotspots up to 1000W/cm2 within the next two years. Indium and its alloys are used as reflowed solder thermal interface materials in both CPU and GPU "die to lid/heat spreader" (TIM1) applications. Their high bulk thermal conductivity and proven long-term reliability suit them well for extreme thermomechanical stresses. Voiding is the most important failure mode and has been studied by x-ray. The effects of surface pretreatment, pressure during reflow, solder flux type/fluxless processing, and preform design parameters, such as alloy type, are also examined. The paper includes data on both vacuum and pressure (autoclave) reflow of sTIMs, which is becoming necessary to meet upcoming requirements for ultralow voiding in some instances....
Key Advances in Void Reduction in the Reflow Process Using Multi-Stage Controlled Vacuum
Jan 28, 2020 | Heller Industries
This paper explores new advances in the reflow soldering process including vacuum technology and warpage mitigation systems. The first topic for discussion will be the implementation of a vacuum process directly in a conventional inline soldering system. The second topic presented is the mitigation of warpage on substrates or wafers....
Void Reduction in Bottom Terminated Components Using Vacuum Assisted Reflow
Jul 10, 2019 | M. Barnes, D.W. Lee, D. Heller - Heller Industries, M.Holtzer, T. Cucu - Alpha Assembly Solutions, J. Fudala, J. Renda - MacDermid Enthone Electronic Solutions
Pockets of gas, or voids, trapped in the solder interface between discrete power management devices and circuit assemblies are, unfortunately, excellent insulators, or barriers to thermal conductivity. This resistance to heat flow reduces the electrical efficiency of these devices, reducing battery life and expected functional life time of electronic assemblies. There is also a corresponding increase in current density (as the area for current conduction is reduced) that generates additional heat, further leading to performance degradation....
