David, There is a lot of people out here that can tell you a lot more about OSP's but the thing that is at the forefront of my thinking is that a board with a OSP coating has a short shelf life (6 months or less before it is assembled) and you have to watch how it get's to you. At a previous place of employment we had boards coming to us literally on a slow boat from China. The shipping environment was a large concern and took 1 month to get them. Immersion Tin is the choice that is becoming more of a standard for high volume production. I know there are certain PCB houses that say gold immersion is as cheap as even a HASL board, but I don't think you would find it that way for large production runs. I have no idea how immersion tin effects RF designs. Hope this helps. Joe J. -----Original Message----- From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of David Harman Sent: Friday, February 04, 2005 12:17 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [TN] OSP process for PCB Can anyone help me understand the difference between gold immersion and the new technologies (OSP) ORGANIC SOLDERABILITY PRESERVATION, my understanding is OSP, immersion silver and immersion tin are the leading lead-free alternatives. My vendor is asking us to change from a gold immersion to this OSP process. What are the positives and or negatives for this process? What do I need to look for? Are there any limitations that may affect RF performance? Is this process better then gold immersion and if so why? Comparing OSP to immersion silver or immersion tin, Is this the direction of the industry? What about reliability? Any assistance in this would be helpful. Thanks David --------------------------------------------------- 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 Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100 ext.2815 ----------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------- 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 Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100 ext.2815 -----------------------------------------------------