Course Objectives This half-day workshop focuses on solder paste and how to select the best one for an operation using the new SMTA Miniaturization Test Vehicle. Solder pastes have over 20 individual characteristics that must be considered during the selection process. Moreover, some characteristics conflict with each other and the tradeoffs must be carefully considered when determining the best process chemistry in order to avoid surprises on the production line. Many operations delay updating their soldering materials because of the high cost, lost production time, and complexity of the materials. These concerns have been met with a low-cost evaluation kit that minimizes line time, maximizes test efficiency, and demonstrates the tradeoffs in performance characteristics. The kit includes pre-designed PCB boards and components; an active spreadsheet to configure the PCB population, cost and sample sizes; stencil and vacuum board support designs; ODB++ database; placement files; SPI files; step-by-step directions for a 30-print DOE; an SMT soldering reference manual; directions for statistical reduction; and the customizable Score Card, which helps assemblers understand the tradeoffs involved and chose the best possible product. The hardware for the kit is available for purchase from commercial suppliers; the documentation and user files are available for FREE download from a website. This course discusses each characteristic of solder paste, how it impacts the SMT process, how the kit tests it, and how and why the board was designed. The Score Card is the key to customizing the test to a specific operation. Attendees will be encouraged to consider the solder paste characteristics on the Score Card as it relates to their SMT operations in an open discussion forum.
Topics Covered 1. Kit Overview 2. Solder Paste Characteristics 2.1. Categories and details 3. PCB Design 3.1. Top Side Elements 3.2. Bottom Side Elements 4. Components 4.1. Size Range 4.2. Cost Range 4.3. Bill of Materials Configurator Spreadsheet 5. Nesting the Tests for Efficiency 5.1. One side sits for abandon test while the other side gets worked in a shear test 6. Test Execution Order 6.1. Top Side 6.2. Bottom Side 6.3. Bottom Side 6.4. Top Side 7. Data Collection and Reduction 7.1. Print 7.2. Reflow 8. Score Card 8.1. Weighting each factor on importance to the specific operation and open discussion 8.2. Ranking each paste’s performance relative to each other 8.3. Category subtotals - Tradeoffs 8.4. Overall score 9. Fatal Flaws 9.1. Graping 9.2. Voiding 9.3. Peaking 9.4. Wipe Sensitivity 9.5. Other 10. Other uses for the SMTA MTV 11. Q&A
Monday September 23, 2019 8:30am - 12:00pm CDT
Room 53
