In response to your question below, you are correct to assume that this pre-heat is unaccaeptable for typical PCB material. If you are to succesfully Gold Wire Bond to PCBs, you need to select a high Tg material, such as high Tg FR-4 to maintain dimensional stability and aggregate material properties. Understand that there is a premium for high Tg laminates. Hope that helps. Cameron E. Presley Manufacturing Lead Engineer K*Tec Electronics, Inc. 1111 Gillingham Lane Sugar Land, TX 77478 Phone: (281) 243-7982 FAX: (281) 243-7882 Pager: (888) 997-5977 Email: [log in to unmask] To page me via email: [log in to unmask] -----Original Message----- From: Payne, James R [SMTP:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Thursday, February 11, 1999 9:31 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [TN] Wire Bond, in over in our heads We have a need to connect a rigid flex pc board to a very small optical module. We are in the prototype process now, on our way to an instrument that will fly in space. We would like to wire bond using gold wire. We are now to understand the bonded surface needs to be pre-heated to 145 degrees C!!. That may not be suitable for an assembled PC board. Aluminum wedge wire on gold pads seems be prone to "purple plague". This will be a very short run (2 protos, 20 flight units) so we are far more interested in quality than efficiency. This is not like connecting substrates to output pins. The module is 2.5" by 2.5". We will be bonding through slots 1.5" long by .220" wide to a surface .062" below. The bond pad size is .006" by .015". When the two modules are together they are about a 2.5"cube. Is there anyone that can provide some information gained from experience or else where that may help make this a success? Thank you for your input. Jim Payne, Sandia National Labs [log in to unmask] James R. Payne MTS MS 0967 Dept. 5706 Sandia National Labs PO Box 5800 Albuquerque, NM 87185 Phone: (505) 844-3336 FAX: (505) 844-5993 email: [log in to unmask] ################################################################ 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 ################################################################ Cameron E. Presley Manufacturing Lead Engineer K*Tec Electronics, Inc. 1111 Gillingham Lane Sugar Land, TX 77478 Phone: (281) 243-7982 FAX: (281) 243-7882 Pager: (888) 997-5977 Email: [log in to unmask] To page me via email: [log in to unmask] ################################################################ 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 ################################################################