I can't speak to the solderball aspect but we have some customers very
particular about the appearance of their matte soldermask so we too take
extra care with handling (slipsheet. Etc, particularly with a solder coat
finish).  At the end of the day it does not matter if IPC covers these minor
defects or not - if the customer is not happy with the appearance of the
product then something has to be done.

John 
-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jack Olson
Sent: Monday, August 16, 2010 9:12 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [TN] Matte Mask and SolderBalls

Greetings,

Here's a situation I'm trying to resolve: An assembly partner requests matte
soldermask to reduce the effect of solderballs. A fabrication partner wants
an extra 3% for matte, Their default is semi-matte or semi-gloss (are those
the same?) explaining that matte boards are slipsheeted throughout
subsequent processes to reduce scratching. I'm tasked with trying to save my
company the 3% increase on every board order. We have designs with both wave
and reflow soldering passes.

I've searched the last ten years of the Technet Archives for every reference
to solderballs and matte soldermask. I learned a lot from previous posts
(THANKS, TECHNET!) and many people have commented on the fact that
solderballs don't stick to matte masks as much as they do to others.

My first question is:
Why doesn't EVERYONE use matte masks if it can mitigate a potential problem
like solderballs?

Secondly:
Are minor soldermask scratches a rejectable condition? I couldn't find any
reference to minor scratching in IPC-SM-840, IPC-6012 or IPC-A-600

onward thru the fog,
Jack


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