Hi Ingemar, I send an e-mail as soon as you send me the pictures. Here it is again: Wow Ingemar, My favorite 'Katarina' is Ms. Witt of East-German skating fame--now there is a woman. Back to SJs. Well I eat my hat--however, not to waffle about it, if this is really Ni, this solder joint must have been liquid for a loooong time--certainly not standard reflow. Any abnormal temperature history you are aware of? Whatever it is, to be that brittle and weak to have BGAs fall of the PWBs reminds me of the industry experience in 1982 when the TI Ag-plated PLCCs fell of the PCBs at IBM; Ag/Sn IMCs are very weak. I hope my Qs below may get you thinking in some helpful directions--I wouldn't expect too much help from the PWB and BGA makers, however. Q1. How come the Ni plating is recessed below the Cu pad surface rather than be on top (Photo 1)? Q2. How sure are you this is really Ni? Q3. I take it the Ni was Au-plated; where are the Au-IMCs? Q4. In Photo 2, why is the conclusion: "indicationg unsatisfactory joining con ditions? Q5. In Photo 2, which is the same SJ as Photo 1, it is stated that this pad is solder mask defined; in Photo 1 there is no indication of the the typical SMD-solder ball geometry--it sure looks much more like NSMD. Werner Engelmaier --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 To temporarily halt delivery of Technet send the following message: SET Technet NOMAIL 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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------