April 19, 2006

Many electronic part manufacturers because of RoHS/WEEE are changing their part termination finish from a SnPb finish to a 100% matte tin finish.  However, it is not clear if all folks are using matte tin vice bright tin.  Bright tin is more prone to growing tin whiskers than matte tin is.

Does anyone know if there is a test method that one can use to test parts at receiving inspection to determine if the tin finish is matte tin vice bright tin?  Would XRF testing determine this with proper calibration of the XRF test instrument?

Also, is there a test method that could determine if a matte tin finished part was annealed after the tin plating process.  I am not aware of any such method (other than the long term cycling test of JESD STD 101 for determining the propensity for growing tin whiskers).  Annealing part terminations at 150C for 1 hour after matte tin plating 
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is an industry recognized method for mitigating tin whisker growth.