Steve, as always can't thank you enough. I have all that stuff and more and confusion is now decreasing. No one should assume anything about anything. I learned this long ago. I did listen to our people talking about the "ceramic" packages in question and their soldering problems. I just knew, as they are not component, design, and manufacturing types so I had to investigate the issue more. Turns out, like you say and does TI, these are plastic parts with aluminum slugs on top. Still creates a problem for UNQUALIFIED assemblers that we used for so long. Also, the problem may still be with the part supplier in question for whatever reason yet to be discovered. Withing the last few days, I have been investigating reality and discovered what you did in minutes. Problem is, still not satisfied with the issues concerning these parts. That will come. Currently, I am having "good" boards, redesigned from last revision but still not optimized (that will come in next/last revision. This means solderability, laminate integrity, and hole wall cracking problems will end. Therefore, no board continuity issues will be apparent, nor will our problems with components "leaping" off boards, so we can concentrate on soldering and solder joint issues. Kerry supplied a "successful" profile for his 100 plus BGA board including the ones we use. It works for him on a board more dense, in all ways, than ours. As previously discussed, we will attempt duplicating something similar for our comparitavely "little" boards, starting with supplier recommendations (much like Kerry's) with the same devices. Should work fine when real profiles determined. One of the things that initially threw me off was TI's report on their MicroStar BGA's. These little guys must be associated with the TMS3206000 with such critical design requirements concerning CTE mismatch. Also, if big Joe is out there, these parts must be the Tessera variety he did so much to make a reality. Joe, is this right? These device types are the ones TI talks so much about reliability and the CTE differential between Silicon's CTE (3.0) and FR4's 16-18. I don't think, again, this concerns the TMS320C6203BGLS we are using. I will know more Monday and invite TI DSP users to provide some more information as well. Still, soldering and solder joint issues only will be resolved in a qualified assembly capability. Thanks for letting me think out loud and Werner, I never considered seriously the Kevlar, CIC, or sockets for our little old commercial "hi-rel" stuff, but thanks for setting me, and the rest of us, straight again and again. Earl --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest 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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------