SMTA International 2014 in Retrospect
The plane landed, I got my bags, and I drove home. What a great show. The SMTA International show took place September 28 to October 2 this year in Ro...
Solder Alloys
Low Temperature Solders Slated to Leave Niche Status by 2017
Folks, It surprises many people that the foundation metal of almost all solder alloys is tin. Alloy elements such as lead, silver, copper, indi...
Low-Temperature Solders: Important, Valuable
New developments are happening almost daily in the electronics device world: phones that do much more than just convey voice, clothing that monitors a...
Stencil Printing for Success: Solder Paste Handling and Storage
SMT Optimization for Success in Printing Ultrafine Solder Paste Deposits The SMT industry widely accepts that ~60% of solder defects occur at the ste...
Alloy Density Calculator Generates Most Interest of All Blog Posts
Folks, In the nearly ten years that I have been blogging, I am continually surprised by the interest in a spreadsheet I created that calculates alloy ...
Square Solder Wire - A New "Twist" on an Old Product?????
Round solder wire, especially flux-cored, has been a mainstay of the electronics industry ever since electronics came into existence. Round solde...
Does Lead-Free Assembly Use a Lot More Electricity and High Melt Lead-Free Solders?
Folks, An obvious disadvantage of lead-free assembly is that the oven must be hotter and therefore will use more electricity. But is the extra ...
Donuts and Solder Preforms – Seriously?
I just can’t get enough of a good thing. My last post mentioned donuts – one of my favorite treats. Allow me to continue reveling in...
Printer Process Set-up
Over the last few years, miniaturization, and the drive for increased yields and lower defect rates, have forced the electronics manufacturing industr...
Lack of Concern for Tin Pest as a Reliability Issue in Mission Critical Products Still Hard to Understand
Folks, My recent post on tin whiskers sparked the memory of tin pest in my mind. I have to admit, that with all of the legitimate reliability co...
Dartmouth Student Asks Questions About SACm® Solder Alloy
Folks, Some years ago, a leading IC manufacturer decided that their R&D effort could benefit if analyzed for possible improvement – by hirin...
Indium Solder Paste
Indium metal powder is mixed with flux for application by dispensing or printing equipment. This mixture is referred to as solder paste. Lucky fo...