Hi Bill, We routinely solder dip the CQ132 for Actel. When we handle them they still have their non-conductive tie-bars on them. It is a lot easier to trim the units first then solder dip the leads. If you don't have too many you can use the RMA flux and hand dip the components just fine. Be sure to keep the ceramic body out of the solder. Since you don't have preheat you don't want to create a significant differential temperature across the component body. You may want your operators to practice with some cheap plastic components first. Depending upon whether the units have been burned-in you may see some problems (pin holes and dewetting) at the location of the electrical contact. This can be resolved by using a stronger flux. We have a flux specifially formulated for tinning fine pitch components if you need a free sample just give us a call. Because of the gold thickness it is usually recommended that you do a double dip (especially since you have little control of depth and time) and I assume your pot is static. The trick in getting things just right is to lift one end out of the solder first. In other words the solder should break free from pin 1 then pin 2 ... etc. About a 3 degree angle should do the trick. You will need a pretty steady hand for this job. Also, you will want to exit the solder relatively quickly to keep the thickness above the typical minimum requirement of 200 microinches (if this applies to you). The solder temperature we use is 250 C. And just for the record our machines are automatic and we don't solder dip any components manually. Our experience has taught us that processes manage to change themselves whenever you don't password protect them. One final word of caution. Every once in a while a gross leak escapee gets into the mix. This is a part that is filled with fluorocarbon liquid that will pop when it gets hot enough. It can scare the pants off of your operators and can splash the solder around so be certain they are wearing the proper safety gear. If you need any further assistance please feel free to contact me directly at (408) 526-1350 x 1. Regards, Russ Winslow Six Sigma 1940 Concourse Drive San Jose, CA 95131 [log in to unmask] -----Original Message----- From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Kasprzak, Bill (esd) US Sent: Tuesday, March 09, 1999 9:45 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [TN] : How to Tin Actel-CQ132 Fellow techies: We are going to be using an Actel CQ132 Ceramic Quad Flatpack (25 mil pitch). From a process standpoint I have ordered a die from Fancort to form the part, and we will be dispensing solder paste through a Camalot Poisitve Displacement pump (can't stencil due to component location), component will be placed then run through my Heller 1088 reflow system. All this forming and dispensing stuff is new to me but the pitch and the reflow is not. There is one part of the process that I'm taking for granted and that is the tinning of the part. The part is received with gold leads.(Doesn't come in anything but gold, and besides, the part will not form well with solder on the leads) I'm assuming that after the part is formed, I can dip the feet of the formed part in RMA flux then tin in a 500 degree F solder pot like any other part, one side at a time. I would then clean the part in Flux-Off-CZ then place into my matrix tray to hold until placement time. I'll probably use a vacuum pencil to hold the part. Is the tinning of this part as routine as I think its going to be or do I need to worry about another new process ? Recommendations are needed. Bill Kasprzak Moog Inc. (Have we hit the 2000 mark yet ? [Just havin' fun Steve, I know how it feels]) ################################################################ 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 ################################################################