Solder joint integrity may be compromised through mechanical shock, particularity in portable electronics using area array devices with solder balls for interconnections.

The electronics industry’s mantra has for many years been “Smaller, Faster, Lighter, Better and Cheaper.” 

Lean Sigma, an approach that has been in practice for several years, mixes the lean manufacturing concept and problem solving approach with Six Sigma for a more efficient manufacturing process.

The expansion of business into alternative energy, green components and energy-efficient components is having a significant impact on the electronics and semiconductor industry.

Shear force measurement is a common and quick way of destructively assessing solder joints and complement pull strength measurements.

Part 2 of this retrospective, seen in last month’s issue of Global SMT and Packaging, took a bit of a detour from the topic to explore the reasoning and the impact of the ‘80% Rule.’

Part one left off noting that surface mount brought with it significant advantages to IC packaging but also that there was need to provide guidance for future development. The result of that effort is something that is now known as the ‘80% rule.’

There is definitely an increasing interest in conformal coating for electronics.

EMS providers rely on component suppliers to ensure that the lead-free transition on the component terminations is seamless to their soldering processes, but that rarely happens.

This article discusses new developments in stencil laser and material technology and shows how these advancements, when combined, provide comparable and cost-effective alternatives to traditional electroformed stencils. The results are improved yields, cycle time reductions and significant cost savings.

Although the advantages of hot air solder leveling (HASL) in providing the most robust solderable finish for printed circuit boards are well recognized, in the years leading up to the implementation of the EU RoHS Directive in July 2006, the conventional wisdom was that it would have no place in the new lead-free electronics manufacturing technology.

Changes in the domestic printed circuit board assembly industry have resulted in a dominant shift to a high-mix, low-volume (HMLV) manufacturing environment resulting in a high frequency of line changeovers.

The electronics industry is under pressure to eliminate brominated flame retardants (BFRs) that were once widely used in electronics housings and cases and are still used extensively in printed circuit boards.

While already in widespread use in the consumer market for handheld, portable electronics, package on package (PoP) continues to gain in popularity and seems likely to be implemented in other types of electronic assemblies.

In an ideal world, components would only be purchased from the original producer, a franchised distributor or an approved non-franchised source.

Since the beginning, all IC packages have been designed to perform the basic tasks of interconnecting and protecting the semiconductor die and making it useful for interconnection at the next level.

Do you know what level of applied strain your printed circuit board assembly realizes in your fielded state?

There are two types of solder balls generally seen after wave soldering.

All IC packaging technology structures since the invention of the integrated circuit itself have been tasked to perform, at a minimum, the simple and fundamental tasks of interconnecting and protecting the semiconductor die and making it useful for interconnection at the next level.