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Here is a pretty good list of resources on the topic of corrosion, if you’re interested: 1. Chongchen Xu. “Corrosion in Microelectronics“ 2003 2. Charles A. Harper. Electronic

Corrosion is caused by an electrochemical reaction between two dissimilar metals, one acting as an anode – one as a cathode. Halide ions, such as fluoride, bromide, and chloride, are the usual

Corrosion leads to field failures. I could probably stop right there – that’s bad enough. To flesh that out a little more, corrosion can lower thermal and electrical conductivity, cause

This is the first of a 4 part series on corrosion to cover: 1) What corrosion is, 2) How it affects us, 3) Sources of corrosion and prevention, and 4) How to learn more. Corrosion comes in 3 basic

When considering the choice of flux for preforms, in addition to factoring in the amount of flux required on a preform, the type of flux is also important. Fluxes are categorized using the

Folks, About two years ago it appeared that SAC305 (3.0% silver, 0.5% Cu, the balance tin) was becoming the de-facto standard for Pb-Free assembly. With the increased need for shock resistance in

Multiple times I have discussed the intrinsic properties of metal thermal interface materials which make them the top performer on the market today. With thermal conductivities of 86W/mK, there is

There are some applications which can function fine with grease at the thermal interface or even with no thermal interface material at all. This was the case for most electronics of the

Have you ever had that sinking feeling when you tried soldering to stainless steel and found it to be very draining? You can join stainless steel, you know, and here's how! You need the correct

There is a significant push in the electronics industry to produce “halogen-free” products in order to be more environmentally friendly. The industry has begun to adopt the definition of

Before even thinking of dipping a component, you had better verify that your paste or flux is 1) the proper thickness and 2) uniform across the surface of the flux reservoir. You can check this by

For those of us who recommend solder alloys, Au/Sn holds a place in our hearts. In many cases it is the #1 solder for an application (if you don’t factor cost into it). Although the cost of the

Package-on-Package solder paste is a relatively new concept in the solder industry. With limited material sets, we need to be able to capitalize on the flexibility of the few solder pastes that are

The picture shows a “Dispensing Component Kit”. I find this is extremely helpful in quickly verifying your powder/needle combination. This particular kit is put together by EFD. As

Folks, Tim Jensen, Product Manager, PCB Assembly Materials, would surely be considered one of the most knowledgeable people in lead-free soldering and solder materials. I was able to catch up with

The word Creep is not something an engineer wants to hear when designing a metal TIM into their Laser Diode Stack up. But is creep really an issue, and do we really understand creep when talking

There are multiple types of thermal interface materials available, but due to its high thermal conductivity, compressibility, and ease of application, indium metal is one of the most desired thermal

Folks, I was recently asked to give a presentation and audit an assembly line regarding minimizing "tombstoning" of passives at a major electronic

Folks, I mentioned this in the quiz at the left, but am I the only one that didn't know that a 01005 passive is really not that size? The designation 01005 means that the passive should be 0.010

Folks, One of my closest and most respected colleagues in our industry is Jim Hall of ITM. Along with Phil Zarrow, also of ITM, Jim and I developed SMTA's Process Certification Workshop and

Folks, The technique to calculate density of an alloy still attracts interest about a year after I first discussed it. Although I am pleased to share my Excel software that calculates solder alloy