Hi Barry - I suggest having an in-depth discussion with your vendor before switching to a matte soldermask. Soldermask may or may not be the source of their problems. There is quite a bit of literature published describing how a matte soldermask is not a prone to solderball/splatter as a glossy soldermask. Yet, we use a glossy soldermask in nitrogen with a low residue flux and have no problems with solderball/splatter type defects. There are lots of other contributing variables (flux type/chemistry is ultra critical in many instances) that may be the root cause for their defects. Do a sanity check on their investigation and solution before you switch. Good luck. Dave Hillman Rockwell Collins [log in to unmask] ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ Subject: assy: matte or glossy soldermask? Author: [log in to unmask] at ccmgw1 Date: 8/27/96 5:55 PM Greetings! We are relatively new to the SMT assembly business. Our vendor wants to switch from a glossy to a matte surface soldermask to eliminate a process problem on their end. Are there any issues we need to consider? I seem to recall a discussion about solder balls hating matte finish. Thanks Barry Allen SED Systems Inc. [log in to unmask] *************************************************************************** * TechNet mail list is provided as a service by IPC using SmartList v3.05 * *************************************************************************** * To unsubscribe from this list at any time, send a message to: * * [log in to unmask] with <subject: unsubscribe> and no text. * *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** * TechNet mail list is provided as a service by IPC using SmartList v3.05 * *************************************************************************** * To unsubscribe from this list at any time, send a message to: * * [log in to unmask] with <subject: unsubscribe> and no text. * ***************************************************************************