My experience is the same. Yes, it can be done. But, not by accident. If your processes are set in the middle of the process window for nickel plated or tin plated caps, you will sort out the AgPd parts. They will be the parts that look like cold solder. But, increasing heat and flux and attaching them is a solder pencil is exactly the wrong thing to do. This type finish is not exclusive to capacitors. I have seen resistors and inductors too. -----Original Message----- From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Hernefjord Ingemar Sent: Thursday, July 03, 2008 8:23 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [TN] Antw: [TN] Silver-Palladium termination SMT solder problems It depends of course on the solder temperature, solder exposure time and the AgPd thickness. We have soldered to AgPd pads, and the solder exposure time was set to a few seconds. The AgPd was as thick as some 25 micrometers. Thickfilm fellas talk about 'leaching'. Inge -----Original Message----- From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Guenter Grossmann Sent: den 3 juli 2008 14:00 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [TN] Antw: [TN] Silver-Palladium termination SMT solder problems Grant You have the same effect when soldering with tin lead. AgPd terminations are not intended to be soldered. The surface is optimised to be fixed with adhesive. AgPb solves very easy in tin alloys. The effect is that the entire metallisation is solved in the solder. The alloy that forms looks as if you had a bad wetted solder joint. If you have a ,microsection done you will see that the AgPd metallisation has mostly gone into the solder, in extreme cases exposing the ceramic of the capacitor. Best regards Guenter _____________________________________________________ EMPA Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research Centre for Reliability Guenter Grossmann, Senior Engineer 8600 Duebendorf Switzerland Phone: xx41 44 823 4279 Fax : xx41 44 823 4054 mail: [log in to unmask] _____________________________________________________ >>> Grant Emandien <[log in to unmask]> 07/02/08 11:19 am >>> Hi all, We are experiencing poor solderability with AgPd-terminations on MOVs exposed to a lead-free reflow profile using a SAC alloy on an ENIG-finished PCB. Though we have run this board only once previously with the same part finish using a lead-rich alloy, we had similar effects but not to the extent we are now experiencing. Can anyone provide some insight into this/ Regards Grant ********************************************************************** Relevant company disclaimers are available at the following addresses: Tellumat (Pty) Ltd e-mail: mailto:[log in to unmask] Web: http://www.tellumat.com/email.aspx ********************************************************************** --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 15.0 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 15.0 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 15.0 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 15.0 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 -----------------------------------------------------