I am experiencing a contaminant on the gold contact fingers on our boards
after assembly. We have identified it as polyethylene glycol laureate, a
surfactant. We do not use use tape or boots on our fingers and our process
is a no clean process. Our incoming inspection doesn't see it there when the
bare fabs arrive, but we see it there after assembly. We are more than a
lttle mystified as to the source of this. We do use OSP on the boards (Entek
160), but this doesn't appear to be the source either.

I curious if such sufactants would be used during the manufacturing
processes of the bare fabs and could be leaching out during reflow?

 Bill Davis, Ph.D.
 Senior Scientist
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