Steve I have never seen something like that. Looking at your pictures I think there is more than just a soldermask problem: The copper leads looks like etched as well as the solder joint. Something that's intriguing me is the fact that only some of the joints and leads are damaged. You see this very good on the picture where several joints are seen: The first and the third joint from the left hand side are like etched. The other joints are intact. Also the copper below the soldermask looks liked etched copper. The only acid that I know that etches Tin as well as Copper is Nitric Acid ( HNO3 ). Don't ask me how this could happen to your board. Did you ever do any surface analysis? Have fun Guenter Guenter Grossmann Swiss Federal Institute for Materials Testing and Research EMPA Centre for Reliability 8600 Duebendorf Switzerland Phone: xx41 1 823 4279 Fax : xx41 1823 4054 mail: [log in to unmask] --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------