Assuming you are dealing with a HASL board. For a wave soldering
operation, missing resist on the contact side may be coated, depends on
the activity of the flux and age of the board, Sod's law says it won't.
Have to agree though that cracks are worse than missing resist because
as Susan says, they can trap process chemicals. If you have missing
resist and conformally coat the board, all things being equal, it
shouldn't cause you much of an issue.

Ian Fox
Goodrich ECS

-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Susan Mansilla
Sent: 04 October 2006 18:11
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [TN] IPC-610D Question

Not a big gun, however, I do have an explanation.

If the solder mask comes off cleanly then the copper is usually solder
coated and you have an intact circuit.

If the solder mask cracks, it can serve as a trap for assembly process
chemicals and moisture and result in shorts between surface features on
the board.

Susan Hott
Robisan Lab

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