I agree. The chemistries are better than they were and if you take area array packages out of the equation you probably won't have too much of an issue. SAC alloys will make things a lot worse though Ian Fox Goodrich ECS -----Original Message----- From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Wenger, George M. Sent: 14 April 2005 17:22 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [TN] ENIG - no more problems? Genny, I agree with part of your belief: I too believe Black Pad failures are as prominent as they were 4 to 5 years ago primarily because the chemistry suppliers were forced by the users having Black Pad failures to improve their chemistry and I think they have responded appropriately. However, I don't believe that they largely understand the failure mechanism because if they did they should be able to produce Black Pad failures and all of the studies I've seen where investigators tried to create Black Pad failures didn't create Black Pad failures. Regards, George George M. Wenger Reliability / FMA Engineer Base Station and Subsystems Group Andrew Corporation, 40 Technology Drive, Warren, NJ 07059 (908) 546-4531 [log in to unmask] -----Original Message----- From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Ed Hare Sent: Thursday, April 14, 2005 12:04 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [TN] ENIG - no more problems? Genny, I continue to see black pad failures in this laboratory. However, I believe there is a kernel of truth in the statement that it is largely understood and not as prominent as say 5 years ago. Best regards, Ed Hare, Ph.D. VP SEM Lab, Inc. --------------------------------------------------- SEM Lab, Inc. Scanning Electron Microscopy and Failure Analysis Snohomish, WA Ph. (425)335-4400 Fax (603) 658-4519 http://www.semlab.com --------------------------------------------------- Genny Gibbard wrote: >Just listened to a Lead Free presentation by one of our assembly >materials suppliers. They tested different pastes on different board >finishes using a variety of different patterns, spacings, aperture >sizes, etc,... By far and away, ENIG was the best finish for >performance, for wetting, defects, voiding, ... The guy making the >presentation said that he felt a lot of the initial concerns re ENIG - >black pad being the biggest - have been resolved, and that they are no >longer a concern, that they have determined what the cause of it is and >eliminated it. Anyone want to comment on that? I'm not sure if he is >correct, or just out of the loop. It was interesting as well: ImmAg >got a very bad rating from them in performance, even though many on >this forum really praise that finish. It exhibited dewetting (they >printed solderpaste pads on an area with no soldermask, and the solder >did not stay and spread where it was printed, it crept together with >other pads into a big blob, like you might see a water drop do) and the >amount of voiding was impressive!! About 4 years ago I joined this >forum, and one of the reasons was because I was looking for info on >ENIG. We had done a prototype run of a couple of boards and they >failed miserably. They were never analyzed in depth, so it wasn't >figured out what exactly caused the failure. It was the excuse we >needed to not choose this finish and some of the extra costs associated >with it. However, with the Pbfree push now, I don't know if we should >re-examine whether to use the finish. For products where we needed a >flat finish, we have gone to ImmSn, but we still use HASL wherever >possible. > >Genny > >"Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus >handicapped" Elbert Hubbard > >--------------------------------------------------- >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 ----------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------- This message is for the designated recipient only and may contain privileged, proprietary, or otherwise private information. 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