Hi Earl Moon ! Did you check your G-200 ? We are confident that your solder joints are more than perfect !!! By the way, this pinhole problem as per IPC is within specification but is a "non-conforming process indicator"... For us, the difference between a pinhole and a blowhole is that a blowhole clearly shows that there was outgasing and gas came out of the hole while pinhole is only a little hole in the solder. Can we say that a pinhole is the same as a blowhole but less critical ???...We taught that it was 2 different problems. We think that the root cause might be different between a blowhole and a pinhole. We baked the boards and still have pinhole...it did not make any difference...that is why we think it is not a moisture or gas escape problem. Could it be a process issue ? Annie At 09:25 AM 1/6/99 -0600, you wrote: >Annie, > >Next to my favorite main board manufacturer (Tyan), Matrox is my (and so many others) favorite >graphics card maker. To hear you are having these difficulties makes me run to my G-200 and check >the solder joints, on the one hand, and congratulate you for your honesty and courage on the other. > >I will send you a couple of pretty/ugly pictures as x-sections, if you like, showing some >possibilities. Moisture may be an issue. Other issues may include glass fiber protrusion into plated >hole walls (not effectively removed after etch back) acting as a conduit for gas escape while also >reducing plating thickness below that specified. > >With that much copper inside the MLB, you and your fabricator might be experiencing other problems. >For you, as you well know, there is a serious thermal barrier to effective solder process >management. Plating quality/thickness, or?, may play a part. Other issues might include certain >laminate conditions as micro voiding or larger than specified voids in the thermal evaluation area. >However, I would bet you are using a very good fabrication facility that could render much help. > >Are you using quality conformance test circuitry? How do your x-sections look as received and after >thermal stress? > >Keep up the good work and I can't wait to see what this product turns out to be, > >Earl Moon > >################################################################ >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 ################################################################