Hi Guy - ok, here is the short list and yes, I have a HUGE dislike for brite acid tin: Brite acid tin (electroplated) 1) grows tin whiskers like a chia pet due to the co-deposited organics in the plating. The same co-deposited organics "boil" during a soldering process causing lots of voids and generally poor solder joints. Very short shelf life - three months is not uncommon. Doug and I have some great pictures of the bubbling in one of our tutorials Matte tin (electroplated) 1) one of the most common component finishes on components today. Lacks thermal excursion robustness but will pass JSTD-002/003 solderability testing from good plating processes. Can also tin whisker, less prone than brite acid tin, but also not zero tin whiskers. Good for corrosion issues in some product use environments. Fewer soldering ability issues with stronger fluxes Immersion tin 1) Has poor thermal excursion robustness but will pass JSTD-003 solderability testing. Much less propensity to tin whisker when plating formulation includes specific inhibitors. Good for corrosion issues in some product use environments. Very flat and good for SMT assembly. Because it is deposited by a galvanic reaction, typical much thinner than electroplated tin systems. This plating system is covered by the IPC-4554 specification. Take a look in the IPC AJ 820 or the IPC -7095 standards as they both have good sections on surface finishes including some tin plating comparisons. And remember, the initiation of tin whiskers is a characteristic of tin itself so all pure tin finishes, regardless of their deposition process, can have tin whisker issues. Hope this helps. Dave Hillman Rockwell Collins [log in to unmask] On Thu, Mar 5, 2015 at 7:51 PM, Guy Ramsey <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Can anyone give me a nutshell difference between immersion tin for a solder > finish and electroplated tin? > Advantages, disadvantages as a surface finish more than the chemical and > plating process differences. > Thanks, > Guy > > > > > > ______________________________________________________________________ > This email has been scanned by the Symantec Email Security.cloud service. > For more information please contact helpdesk at x2960 or [log in to unmask] > ______________________________________________________________________ > ______________________________________________________________________ This email has been scanned by the Symantec Email Security.cloud service. For more information please contact helpdesk at x2960 or [log in to unmask] ______________________________________________________________________