Lee, Welcome back! When you look at the "pits" in cross-section using an SEM, do they look black? Sounds like classic case of Black Pad. Small pads connected to larger pads (a ground plane is a really, really big pad in comparison) are more prone to this. And, yes, it gets worse with the amount of time in the bath. Bev RIM -----Original Message----- From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Lee Whiteman Sent: Monday, July 07, 2008 8:07 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [TN] ENIG PLATING QUALITY Now that I am back in the collective (resistance is futile), I got a question... We got several ENIG plated boards whose Ni layer has some "pitting" or corrosion in the PTH's with ground planes only. This has resulted in poor solder joints in a Class 3 environment (SnPb solder so far). The SMT pads and PTH's without ground planes do not have this "pitting" or corrosion phenomena. Our immediate thought was that there was too much P in the process, but analysis shows the P levels were minimum. A couple of questions... 1. The board house indicated that the boards were in the plating baths too long. Any comments on this? 2. Received samples that have this same "pitting" or corrosion phenomena but to a much lesser extent that produced good solder joints. We've put them through vibration testing and they passed so far. Any comments on the long term solder joint reliability? 3. What are the high reliability standards for ENIG plating porosity quality (i.e. "pitting" or corrosion)? Thanks. Lee Whiteman Senior Member Engineering Staff L-3 Communications East Telephone: (856) 338-3508 FAX: (856) 338-2906 E-Mail: [log in to unmask] --------------------------------------------------- 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 ----------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- This transmission (including any attachments) may contain confidential information, privileged material (including material protected by the solicitor-client or other applicable privileges), or constitute non-public information. Any use of this information by anyone other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you have received this transmission in error, please immediately reply to the sender and delete this information from your system. Use, dissemination, distribution, or reproduction of this transmission by unintended recipients is not authorized and may be unlawful. --------------------------------------------------- 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 -----------------------------------------------------