If you have fine pitch components plus the latest generation compliant pin sockets, like VHDM or Metral 3/4000, beware that the insertion would be harder. You cannot use lubricants with these assemblies either, so you need to have a controlled and repeatable, slow insertion processes. We are building a lot of these and our product engineer tells me that he can press in the same type of connector into half a dozen different finishes blindfolded and tell which one is silver! Other than that the finish is good for fine pitch. One needs to handle the boards with care - by the edges and with the use of gloves. Regards, Lakshmi -----Original Message----- From: Krmpotich, Mark [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Thursday, September 25, 2003 4:33 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [TN] Silver Immersion right for fine pitch? Bill, We have just completed full analysis of converting our PCB's from IWT to Immersion Silver. Benefits are: bettering soldering than IWT, good for fine pitch components, Shelf life 12 Months Downside: Must change handling process - everybody now has to wear clean gloves and NO copy paper is allowed in the area. Sulfides from finger prints and copy paper tarnish the silver and prevent soldering. We have just started using it in our High Volume products that have fine pitch part less than 20 mil or under 1.0 mm pitch BGA. Otherwise we use HASL. If you do double Reflow with a Selective Wave process it will require a little more activation in the flux. Our board buyers are saying that cost is the same as HASL, OSP and the rest. But that maybe because we buy in large numbers. Mark Krmpotich DFx Engineer World Wide Operations Technology Scientific Atlanta Tel: 770-236-5166 Fax: 770-236-4707 mailto:[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> http://www.scientificatlanta.com/ <http://www.scientificatlanta.com/> -----Original Message----- From: Brooks,Bill [ mailto:[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> ] Sent: Thursday, September 25, 2003 4:08 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [TN] Silver Immersion right for fine pitch? Hi Technetters, I have just attended a meeting of the IPC Designers Council where the subject of finishes for PCB's came up and it was revealed that Silver Immersion seems to have great benefits for assembly, shelf life, solderability, rework, etc... Can anyone give me their experiences with the process and its benefits and down sides? Have you personally used it, how long, what sort of problems have you seen, what are the cost issues? Best Regards, Bill Brooks "Politics is more difficult than Physics" - Albert Einstein --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8e 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 or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL) To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives <http://listserv.ipc.org/archives> Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 <http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16> for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.5315 ----------------------------------------------------- - - - - - - - Appended by Scientific-Atlanta, Inc. - - - - - - - This e-mail and any attachments may contain information which is confidential, proprietary, privileged or otherwise protected by law. 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