1. No. (with 1 exception) 2. a)yes b)no c)maybe 3. Our service life is typically 10 years. 4. We try for as reliable as we can without going to medical or military. Nobody dies if our product fails, but there could be large dollar values. 5. We do limited HALT/HASS testing and we rely on field/RMA data. Is there a spec for mask thickness somewhere? I agree, miller sounds good... -----Original Message----- From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Wednesday, August 24, 2005 3:36 PM To: [log in to unmask]; Henry Rekers Subject: Re: [TN] Soldermask Henry, 1. Are you conformally coating the board? 2. Will the assembly be operating in a: (a) cyclical humidity environment; (b) high vibration environment; or (c) high thermal cycle/shock environment? 3. How long is long? (Design service life) 4. How reliable is reliable? (MTBF) and what are the consequences of failure? 5. What kinds of life testing do you do now to determine the rated life of your product? The question you have to ask yourself is "Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya?" OK, it is definitely time to go home. Miller time..................... Doug Pauls Henry Rekers <Henry.Rekers@PWR M.COM> To Sent by: TechNet [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]> cc Subject 08/24/2005 05:25 Re: [TN] Soldermask PM Please respond to TechNet E-Mail Forum <[log in to unmask]> ; Please respond to Henry Rekers <Henry.Rekers@PWR M.COM> We've received some info from our board vendor, and they have indicated that there may be a compounding issue. First, the soldermask layer was thin at the edges of the traces. (5-7 microns, or 2-3 tenths of a mil) Second, an oven problem may have resulted in overcuring during the bake cycle. This would be an overcuring of the acrylic I'm guessing? My question is this: If we had PCB's that have gone through our process that had mask that was thin (say less than 5 tenths) what would the long term reliability be? Can I expect mask flaking in the field? Does anybody know of long term reliability testing? Thanks. Henry. -----Original Message----- From: Bob Metcalf [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Tuesday, August 23, 2005 1:15 PM Subject: Re: Soldermask Henry, I completely agree with Doug. Solder mask vendors are held to strict requirements about what they can adjust in a formulation under SM-840. As Doug states it is most likely a pre-clean issue or even a curing issue. From time to time I have observed variances in some solder mask products due to raw material variances. Every ingredient has a spec that has an allowable range. Sometimes when a few ingredients are at the extreme end of the spec it could influence the performance of the product. If your vendor has confirmed the processing of the mask on the bare board was done correctly, it may be useful for them to contact their solder mask supplier to make them aware of the problem. They can do a raw material review traced back to the batch that was used on your boards to confirm all raw materials were in spec. Regards, Bob Metcalf Circuit Solutions 949-709-2544 -----Original Message----- From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Douglas O. Pauls Sent: Friday, August 19, 2005 2:50 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [TN] Soldermask Henry, If the solder mask is qualified to IPC-SM-840, the vendor is only allowed a very small window of formulation "fiddling" before he has to requalify as a new mask formulation. For what we have done so far, most high quality masks will pass lead free as well. I suspect that peeling solder mask has more to do with changes in pre-mask cleanliness at the fabrication site than in formulation changes by the mask vendors. Doug Pauls Henry Rekers <Henry.Rekers@PWR M.COM> To Sent by: TechNet [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]> cc Subject 08/19/2005 02:55 [TN] Soldermask PM Please respond to TechNet E-Mail Forum <[log in to unmask]> ; Please respond to Henry Rekers <Henry.Rekers@PWR M.COM> Has anybody out there had issues with peeling solder mask after wave soldering lately? It seems that some of the mask vendors are changing their formulations for RoHS. Henry J. Rekers B. Eng Senior Manufacturing Engineer Power Measurement Tel: 1-250-652-7100 ext. 7510 Fax: 1-250-652-7107 E-Mail: < mailto:[log in to unmask]> Website: < http://www.pwrm.com/> drive energy performance(tm) THIS COMMUNICATION IS INTENDED ONLY FOR THE INDIVIDUAL OR ENTITY TO WHICH IT IS ADDRESSED. IT MAY CONTAIN PRIVILEGED, CONFIDENTIAL, ATTORNEY WORK PRODUCT, OR TRADE SECRET INFORMATION WHICH IS EXEMPT FROM DISCLOSURE UNDER APPLICABLE LAWS. 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