Steve -

On issue also is that by processing the PCB through the soldermask
development chemistry, a slight affect is seen on the tin/lead which
creates an oxide layer.  This layer does reduce the solderability of the
board and also the shelf life of the parts.  This condition also will
have higher ionic contamination levels in your products being delivered.
The users must understand the photoimagble soldermask are not compatible
with a tin/lead conductive pattern.



Jeffrey Bush
Director, Quality Assurance and Technical Support

                          76 Technology Drive - POB 1890
                             Brattleboro, Vermont 05302-1890
                                Tel. 802.257.4571.21 Fax. 802.257.0011
                                    [log in to unmask]
                              http://www.vtcircuits.com	



-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Gregory [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
Sent: Thursday, April 08, 2004 9:52 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [TN] Solder Mask over Tin/Lead...


Had a really frustrating conference call today. Our customer is standing
firm that they will not change their drawings on their fabs that specify
that everything needs to be coated with tin/lead before solder mask.

Their arguement is that they've never had any problems before, so why
should they change anything...and I percieved that they blamed our
assembly processes for the mask adhesion issues that we were seeing.

What do you do in a situation like this? I'm trying to gather as much
information as I can that shows that anything other than SMOBC is risky,
but during the conference call, anything that I tried to say was
dismissed...because they say that they've been doing this for years, and
this is the first time that they have heard from any of their
subcontractors that there is a problem.

I suppose that there won't be any good answers for this, we'll have to
deal with this the best that we can. Sure makes life interesting...the
customer is always right, and we're all about customer satisfaction.

-Steve Gregory-

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