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Indium Corporation conducts extensive research on the soldering fundamentals for Surface Mount Technology and other electronics applications.

Browse our library for abstracts of some of the most popular published articles that you may find useful in your efforts to improve your process results. All papers in our library are available for download.

Check the box next to each paper you want to download. You may download as many papers as you wish. After selecting papers and completing the contact information form on this page, the paper(s) will be e-mailed to you at the e-mail address you provide.

    Papers about graping

  • Best Practices Reflow Profiling for Lead-Free SMT Assembly (Chinese)

    by Ed Briggs, Dr. Ronald C. Lasky

    Chinese version of Best Practices Reflow Profiling for Lead-Free SMT Assembly.

    CHINESE LANGUAGE, graping, head-in-pillow, Voids, solder balling, solder beading, tombstoning, reflow profile, solder defects

    Posted on 22 Mar 2010

  • Best Practices Reflow Profiling for Lead-Free SMT Assembly (English)

    by Dr. Ronald C. Lasky, Ed Briggs

    The combination of higher lead-free process temperatures, smaller print deposits, and temperature restraints on electrical components has created difficult challenges in optimizing the reflow process. Not only are the electronic components and the PWB at risk, but the ability to achieve a robust solder joint becomes difficult, especially if the PCB is thermally massive. In addition, the constant miniaturization of electronic components, hence smaller solder paste deposits, may require the use of smaller particle-sized powders. Both the small solder paste deposits and small particle size result in a large surface area-to-volume ratio that challenges the solder paste's flux to effectively perform its fluxing action. The possible resulting surface oxidation can lead to voiding, graping, head-in-pillow, and other defects. Smaller components are also more susceptible to tombstoning and defects related to solder paste slump.

    This paper is a summary of best practices in optimizing the reflow process to meet these challenges of higher reflow temperatures, smaller print deposits, decreased powder particle size, and their affect on the reflow process. It also discusses trouble-shooting of the most common defects in lead-free reflow, such as tombstoning, solder beading/balling, residue discoloration, voiding, graping, and head in pillow.

    solder defects, reflow profile, tombstoning, solder beading, solder balling, Voids, head-in-pillow, graping

    Posted on 1 Jun 2009

  • Challenges of Implementing a Halogen-Free PCB Assembly Process (Chinese)

    by Timothy Jensen, Dr. Ronald C. Lasky

    Chinese version of Challenges of Implementing a Halogen-Free PCB Assembly Process.

    oxidation barrier, activator, pb-free, reflow, graping, head-in-pillow, halide-free, halogen-free, halogens, CHINESE LANGUAGE

    Posted on 22 Mar 2010

  • Challenges of Implementing a Halogen-Free PCB Assembly Process (English)

    by Dr. Ronald C. Lasky, Timothy Jensen

    New Technical Paper

    The Challenges of Implementing a Halogen-Free Electronics Assembly Process

    Get Flash Player to view THE CHALLENGES OF IMPLEMENTING A HALOGEN-FREE ELECTRONICS ASSEMBLY PROCESS video.

    The electronics industry continues to strive to provide more environmentally friendly products. This movement is partly due to legislation from various countries, partly due to public outcry from well publicized 3rd world recycling practices, and partly due to non-government organizations (NGOs) testing and publishing information on electronic devices regarding their content of various toxic materials. One set of materials targeted for reduction and eventual elimination are halogenated compounds. Halogens are found in plastics for cables and housings, board laminate materials, components, and soldering fluxes. Replacing these halogenated compounds can have a dramatic affect on the PCB assembly process. In this paper those challenges will be discussed as well as techniques and practices that will help ensure high end of line yields and continued reliability.

    oxidation barrier, activator, pb-free, reflow, graping, head-in-pillow, halide-free, halogen-free, halogens

    Posted on 4 Mar 2010

  • High Technology Challenge: Assembling Today's Miniaturized Electronics Products

    by Dr. Ronald C. Lasky

    If asked what technology product defines today, one might first answer the personal computer (PC). Although, 10 or 15 years ago that might have been the right answer, a little more thought will show that the mobile phone is today's technologically defining product. Sheer numbers tell the story: over 1 billion mobile phones are manufactured each year. Considering that the population of the world is about 6.5 billion souls, 1 billion mobile phones each year is an astounding number. In addition, a mobile phone is likely the most multi-functional personal device in existence. Just think, it can be a phone, camera, personal data assistant, web surfer, email device, text messenger, GPS device, portable music player, portable video player, streaming audio and video player, miniature PC, and probably a few more things. To package and assemble all of this electronic functionality in such a small device is a challenge indeed. This paper will discuss some of the assembly challenges of such miniaturized electronics.

    lead-free, graping, stencil printing, solder paste

    Posted on 4 Mar 2010

  • Process Optimization to Prevent the Graping Effect

    by Dr. Ronald C. Lasky, Ed Briggs

    The explosive growth of personal electronic devices, such as mobile phones and personal music devices, has driven the need for smaller and smaller active and passive electrical components. Not too long ago, 0401 (40 x 10 mils) passives were seen as the ultimate in miniaturization, yet the introduction of 0201s and, most recently, 01005 passives have occurred. For active components, area array packages with 0.4mm lead spacing have become virtually a requirement for enabling the many features in modern portable electronic devices, with 0.3mm packages already on the way.

    This miniaturization trend, occurring at the same time as the conversion to RoHS compliant lead-free assembly, has put a considerable strain on the electronic assembly industry. This paper will discuss the specific challenge of the graping effect and the work that has been performed to mitigate this phenomenon. Discussed are the effects of the solder paste material attributes, consistent stencil printing of the small solder paste deposits required, and minimizing oxidation of the small solder paste deposit during reflow. All of these steps are necessary to assure a good finished solder joint.

    solder paste, graping, oxidation, stencil printing

    Posted on 21 Jan 2011

  • Sealing the Gap of Solder Paste Technology in Lead-Free Halogen-Free Era

    by Dr. Ning-Cheng Lee, Dr. Arnab Dasgupta, Dr. Runsheng Mao, Dr. Yan Liu

    Electronic industry has been driven toward lead-free by RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive) which is in force since 2006. Recently REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals) further drives the industry toward halogen-free. As a result, solder pastes for PCB assembly are required or desired to be both lead-free and halogen-free. Lead-free solder alloys in general wet poorer than tin-lead due to the higher surface tension of the former alloys. In the mean time, halogen-free fluxes typically also wet poorer than the more powerful halogen-containing fluxes. Consequently, the lead-free and halogen-free solder paste products that emerged inevitably suffer from a considerably inferior soldering performance than that of conventional halogen-containing tin-lead solder pastes. The deficiencies include poor wetting, solder balling, voiding, graping, head-in-pillow, etc. This gap is particularly significant for fine-pitch applications where the impact of oxidation is more profound. Furthermore, the higher soldering temperature of the higher melting lead-free alloys also aggravates the challenge of in-circuit test for no- clean processes, mainly due to the difficulty for probe to penetrate through the toughened flux residue. Although use of inert reflow atmosphere may alleviate some of the problems, the higher cost of it is prohibitive for most of the manufacturing firms. In this work, a halogen-free lead-free no-clean solder paste system, Indium8.9HF series, has been developed. It exhibits superior oxidation tolerance, thus assures superior resistance against graping, head-in-pillow, solder balling, voiding, and poor wetting for miniaturized electronic applications. In spite of the immense challenge in material science, this system also shows outstanding probe testability, in addition to its very good printability, non- slump, SIR, and ECM performance. The superior performance of this Indium8.9HF system effectively sealed the gap caused by lead-free and halogen-free requirements.

    lead-free, halogen-free, no-clean, solder, solder paste, miniaturization, graping, head-in-pillow, voiding, solder balling, probe testability, ICT, oxidation

    Posted on 1 Jan 2009

  • Soldering Challenges in a Halogen-Free PCB Assembly Process (Chinese)

    by Amanda Hartnett, Dr. Ronald C. Lasky, Timothy Jensen

    Chinese version of Soldering Challenges in a Halogen-Free PCB Assembly Process

    halogen-free, halide-free, solder, soldering, graping, flux, head-in-pillow, hole-fill, CHINESE LANGUAGE

    Posted on 13 May 2011

  • Soldering Challenges in a Halogen-Free PCB Assembly Process (English)

    by Timothy Jensen, Dr. Ronald C. Lasky, Amanda Hartnett

    Flame retardants have played an important role in the safety of many products. It is safe to say that thousands of lives have been saved by flame retardants. Flame retardants are used in products as varied as children's pajamas to electronics assemblies. Some of the more successful flame retardants are halogenated compounds. Halogenated materials are found in polyvinyl chloride (PVC), brominated flame retardants (BFRs), chlorinated flame retardants (CFRs), as well as in fluxes used in the electronics assembly industry. Product does not contain any halogenated compounds. However, that is not exactly how the term is used for soldering fluxes. A flux that is classified as halide-free by the IPC/J-STD-004 is actually only free of ionic halides.

    hole-fill, head-in-pillow, flux, graping, soldering, solder, halide-free, halogen-free

    Posted on 10 Mar 2010

  • The Graping Phenomenon: Improving Pb-Free Solder Coalescence Through Process and Material Optimization

    by Timothy Jensen

    As small surface-mount components such as 0201 and 01005 packages have entered volume assembly, manufacturers are observing increased instances of poor solder coalescence during reflow. The root cause is the change in oxidation behavior at very low volumes of deposited paste. A solution is required, both to restore a high-quality appearance to solder joints and to maintain customer confidence. Comprehensive analysis of factors including material selection, print process settings, reflow profile, and factory-floor practices highlights a number of measures that engineers may apply to solve this issue cost- effectively without impairing satisfactory reflow of other components on the board.

    solder paste, pb-free, lead-free, electronics assembly, graping

    Posted on 10 Mar 2010

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