I showed the tin whisker nightmare photo's to an RF engineer I know here and
she said that they had similar problems years ago in the Space applications
field and the solved it by coating the surface with 'Q-Dope' a
polystyrene/tolulene

Q-Dope
http://www.takefiveaudio.com/gc_q_dope.htm

Material/Safety specs
http://www.chess.cornell.edu/Safety/MSDS/polystyrene_Q_Dope.htm

TIN Whisker Pictures

http://nepp.nasa.gov/whisker/photos/waveguide/index.html


Maybe the solution to TIN plating issues is some sort of coating or barrier
to prevent whiskers? Could conformal coating stop the whiskers from forming
after assembly?

(Makes you wonder why we are even caving in to the pressure to change from
tin/lead solder....)



Bill Brooks - KG6VVP
PCB Design Engineer , C.I.D.+, C.I.I.
Tel: (760)597-1500 Ext 3772 Fax: (760)597-1510
e-mail:[log in to unmask]
http://www.dtwc.com
http://pcbwizards.com

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