Steve,
How well is the solder adhering to the rest of the PTH pad?   The reason I
ask is usually black pad exhibits its work on a whole feature.  Also the
affected features are usually electrically connected to those with even more
surface area.  You may want to follow the leads David gave you and look at
other things.

regards,
Bev

-----Original Message-----
From: Stephen R. Gregory [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: June 27, 2001 3:20 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [TN] Black Pad...


Hi all ya'll!

Well, I think I have finally seen the "Black Pad" defect. Go to:

http://stevezeva.homestead.com/index.html

I just want to confirm what I'm seeing here. This is happening on some
boards
that are being hand soldered. The lady that's doing the work asked me to
look
at board she was working on. She said that the gold plating on the pads look

great prior to soldering them (just like the pad to the left in my picture),

but then as she's adding the solder into the joint, the pad turns black and
won't wet...so is this the dreaded "Black Pad"? It's not happening all over
the entire board, but randomly at multiple places...

As always, thanks!!

-Steve Gregory-