Rick, Similar to Jeff I started life in ceramic substrate assmebly, and found it to be a pretty robust and generally forgiving system. I would disagree that anything bigger than a 1 inch square sub is awkward, I used to work with 2x2 most of the time. Due to the fact that ceramics are pretty darn hard to melt, there is a massive range of solders available, but avoid going over 400C as damage to bare die can be a problem. One thing to watch for is when snapping substrates, even though they are usually laser scribed 1/3 of the way through, they can snap randomly, and dont always follow the scribe line, follow the technique you use when tiling the bathroom, start at the edge of the tile, and let the crack propigate along the scribe, laying an alumina sub flat with a solid edge under the scribe line is fatal, and will result with a big pile of scrap. Good Luck Roger Massey Materials Technologist Motorola UK [log in to unmask] ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ Subject: [TN] SMT Assembly on Ceramic substrate? Author: "TechNet E-Mail Forum." <[log in to unmask]> at #email Date: 27/10/98 09:07 Hi, One of our customers has asked us to look at assembling smt components on ceramic substrate for them. This is a process that we have no experience with. If anyone can offer information regarding this process, things to watch for, etc. it would be greatly appreciated. TIA Rick Thompson Ventura Electronics Assembly 2665A Park Center Dr. Simi Valley, CA 93065 [log in to unmask] (805) 584-9858 voice (805) 584-1529 fax ################################################################ TechNet E-Mail Forum 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's web site (http://www.ipc.org) "On-Line Services" section for additional information. For technical support contact Hugo Scaramuzza at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.312 ################################################################ ################################################################ TechNet E-Mail Forum 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's web site (http://www.ipc.org) "On-Line Services" section for additional information. For technical support contact Hugo Scaramuzza at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.312 ################################################################