Interesting comments...taking it a bit further, why not stick with HASL...it is by far the less expensive of the more prominent finishes. Yes, the OSP process is the easiest to maintain for the fabricator; however, this finish does not provide for much flexibility to the assembler, i.e. thermal cycles, risk of contamination, etc. The immersion tin solves a few of these by increased thermal cycles in comparison to OSP as well as providing a surface prior to wave/uv solder that is more forgiving of contaminates found in even the most spot-free assembly shop. Just those two conditions alone make the immersion tin a more attractive finish over OSP. Actually, when the process is well maintained, immersion tin is not much more costly to the fabricator or the assembler...again, when it is well maintained and in control. Franklin --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8d To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet Search previous postings at: www.ipc.org > On-Line Resources & Databases > E-mail Archives Please visit IPC web site (http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm) for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.5315 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------