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Eliminate Tin Whiskers on Component Leads
Is there a process that can be used to re-plate component leads to add lead to eliminate the problem of tin whisker formation?
Phil Zarrow, ITM Consulting With over 35 years experience in PCB assembly, Phil is one of the leading experts in SMT process failure analysis. He has vast experience in SMT equipment, materials and processes.
Jim Hall, ITM Consulting A Lean Six-Sigma Master Blackbelt, Jim has a wealth of knowledge in soldering, thermal technology, equipment and process basics. He is a pioneer in the science of reflow.
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Currently we use selective solder (Kiss 104) to solder mixed technology boards with bottom side surface mount parts. I have been running into customers using 5 and 6 one ounce copper layers as ground planes and tying them all to the same pins (10 mil spokes for thermal relief are used) on connectors and sockets. Subsequently there is a lot of heat and solder time need to even get 50% hole fill. Is this a normal practice for the pcb design now?
Brandon Martinelli, Altek Electronics
Related to tin-lead dipping part leads, beware that you don't damage the internal structure due to thermal shock. There have been studies showing that this can happen. Sometimes you have to dip at controlled rates, sometimes damage is unavoidable. Depends on die size, materials, package size, etc.
Ted Schnetker, Sundstrand
Robotic hot solder dip with eutectic tin lead solder has been used successfully on many package styles. There is an industry standard that we use in aerospace and defense, GEIA-STD-0006, it covers qualification of this process. There are several vendors who offer the service including Corfin industries and Six-Sigma. This process completely removes the tin and replaces it with tin-lead.
David Pinsky, Raytheon
SnBi shows great promise as a lead finish to mitigate tin whiskers. This lead finish has been used by several Japanese companies without any issues. While there have been concerns that brittle intermetallics could be formed if a SnBi plated lead is used with conventional Pb-based solder, this has not been a problem when a small amount of Bi is used in the plating solution. Celestica published some studies on this topic and a new study is underway at Auburn University.
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Use the form below to submit a comment.
Brandon Martinelli, Altek Electronics
Ted Schnetker, Sundstrand
David Pinsky, Raytheon
Jan Vardaman, TechSearch International, Inc.