In a message dated 97-11-04 05:05:57 EST, you write: > Can any one help me with a solution to this problem, I'll give it a shot. > we have recently experenced board failures because of a contamination > across various sm capacitors which first looks like a splat of black paint > which run diagonally across the cap, under a microscope it looked like > fern leaves. The black material could be a number of things: dense dendritic growth, carbonizing from an arc, leaking electrolytic solution from a cap, stray encapsulant material, etc. If I could see it, I would have a better idea. Any chance of making a digitized photo and sending me one? The "fern leaf" structure indicates it is probably dendritic growth. > Our boards are wave soldered and w edo not clean after solder flow. What are you wave soldering with and are you mixing any flux technologies? Doug Pauls CSL [log in to unmask] ############################################################## TechNet Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8c ############################################################## To subscribe/unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the body: To subscribe: SUBSCRIBE TECHNET <your full name> To unsubscribe: SIGNOFF TECHNET ############################################################## Please visit IPC web site (http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm) for additional information. For the technical support contact Dmitriy Sklyar at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.311 ##############################################################