Eddie,
I'm fairly new to TechNet, so I do not now if there is an official IPC
policy on whehter or not we can discuss negative things about particular
products..  (?)  However, I agree with Werner Engelmaier that we should
air the good and the bad for the sake of the industry as a whole.  (It
probably won't hurt our careers any either if we learn from others so we
don't go down rat holes.)

Now with regard to the particular finish in question that started all of
this, Alpha Level:  we have been working with this finish for some time
now at the development level and have never had a problem with the
finish. What has been a problem and will continue to be, is the lack of
board fabricators where one can get it.  The problem is that the poor
PCB houses don't know on which alternative finish square us ol' OEMs are
going to land on and they are hesitant to pick one (in this case Alpha
Level) because they fear picking the wrong one.

Bev Christian
Nortel
>----------
>From:  Eddie Brunker[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
>Sent:  Friday, October 24, 1997 1:41 PM
>To:    [log in to unmask]
>Subject:       [TN] ALTERNATIVE FINISH
>
>In a recent post I mentioned Alphalevel in among a list of surface finishes.
>I have upset the people at Cookson and recieved a direct complaint.
>
>My reason for the comment was this.
>The first features about Alphalevel came out in magazines a few years ago. I
>was very excited by the prospect of this new product. Even now think it is
>an exciting idea.
>We get our boards from two suppliers. I went to the one with whom we had a
>strong relationship at the time and asked if we could get them to look at
>giving us this product in the future and if they could provide some samples
>as soon as possible. This fabricator is working on an international stage
>and supply to countries all over the world. They regularly contribute to
>this NET.
>
>At this time a representative from the large UK supplier who planned on
>fabricating boards with Alphalevel came to visit and we discussed the new
>finish. They informed us that within a few weeks the process would be up and
>running.
>
>Our trusted supplier said they would help us evaluate the process if we
>really wanted to. They have a great deal of international experience and
>understanding of the technologies available. They would have the boards
>finished at another company in a differnt European country with whom they
>had strong links.
>
>Our supplier pleaded with us to abandon any notion of a silver based finish
>as their experience over the years had always shown problems with this type
>of chemistry.
>
>Stories of black pads and unsolderability were the reason on the older or
>other silver based technologies. We persisted and obtained samples of
>Alphalevel.
>If the process works, yes you have a good product.
>
>While we obtained samples from Europe, the Large UK company who introduced
>Alphalevel were struggling to get their line running. There was a long delay
>before Alphalevel boards were coming off the line. Talking to technical
>staff in other companies at the time there were reports of BLACK PADS and
>serious problems with the chemistry.
>I gave up on this as a finish, but recently I was at a conference, and a
>major design and assembly house here in the UK were privately complaining of
>the problems with their Alphalevel as supplied by this UK fabricator.
>
>I'm sorry if I upset you Cookson, it was just a comment in a posting about a
>different subject. We rely on Cookson for a good deal of other products.
>Do people feel that negative comments about brand names shouldn't be made on
>the Net?
>
>Thanks
>
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