Kelly,

I would agree.  If the solder has in fact melted onto the gold, as in Figure 10-3, it is a defect.  I would err on the side of caution and venture to guess that the actual width of the gold finger is 1 mm and would apply the 10x criteria at a minimum.  The 20x case can also be made depending on what is being inspected.  If someone was insisting on using 4x, I would turn down the illumination and the gold vs solder color contrast would become more obvious to them.

The critical contact area is extremely pertinent to the situation.  

The bigger question is why solder spheres are being left in the critical area and then being allowed to reflow. Out of control printer wipe cycles, dirty stencils, improper misprint cleaning all come to mind. 

Phil

-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Kelly Morris
Sent: Thursday, April 21, 2011 10:21 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [TN] IPC-A-610, Solder on gold fingers - Inspection/Acceptability

I failed to clarify in my previous posting that the solder is being found in the critical contact area of the gold finger.

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