Michael - we have the luxury of owning an Auger as well as running high
volumes of ENIG through our plant. We purchased an Auger when we were
running 20,000 panels/week of electroless Pd as this tool is exactly what
you need for surface analysis. It will be of no use for determining the
presence of black nickel as the definition of "black nickel" has yet to be
accepted. Can it determine the amount of phos at the interface - yes, can it
determine the amount of phos in the bulk - absolutely, both indicators of
the quality of how the bath was controlled/maintained by the board supplier,
and something that is cited as indicative of the presence of black nickel.
Can it pick up other contaminants like Cu, etc in the deposit - yes. It will
pick up Ni as you scan the Au surface. It can pick up residues associated
with solder mask or dry film residues. You may wish also to expand it to use
XPS and have them identify the relative oxidation states of the elements
found - can be more informative than just identifying the presence of
something - great for showing excessive rinsing/hold times post Ni plating
that passivates the surface impacts solderability.
If you wish to contact me off line with specifics.


Regards

Gerard O'Brien
Photocircuits Corporation
Co-Chairman 4-14 plating committee.

-----Original Message-----
From: Arbour, Michel [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, September 20, 2005 4:12 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [TN] ENIG contaminant : Auger analysis recommended ?

Hi
We will be sending non solderable PCB for analysis. Goal is to detect black
nickel, black pad, soldermask contamination before plating or other
contaminant. Is Auger analysis with ion sputtering (SAM) an effective method
to determine the contaminants. Is this method proven and accepted in the PCB
industry for this task ?

Michel Arbour

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