The selection of a liquid flux for use in wave soldering operations is extremely critical to both the manufacturing assembly process and the long term reliability of electronic assemblies. As in the case of VOC-free fluxes,suppliers have developed products that minimize their impact on the environment and meet IPC-JSTD004 Revision A requirements. Just over 4 years ago Revision B was released[1]with significant changes to the Surface Insulation Resistance testing including thermal profile,humidity targets,bias voltages,and measuring frequency requirements. These changes along with tighter halide limits have significantly restricted the VOC-free flux offerings,due to concerns of reliability test failures. Though harsh environments may have seen improvements in the field of reliability,correlation to field failure rate improvements has not been seen on typical environments since the option of Revision B release. Smaller flux formulators are not always aware of the changes nor have re-classified their products. Testing has uncovered numerous VOC-Free products,which do not meet stated specifications. Even for fluxes claiming to pass the current standard,the lack of adequate method detail on how to execute the test and reporting of parameters used,introduces variation in results and interpretational errors. In order to meet the IPC J-STD-004 standard Revision B requirements and design materials that can meet the thermal challenges of today’s products,most liquid flux formulators increased or re-introduced rosin in the formulations. As a result,moving back to the use of alcohol fluxes is the primary option. This transition back to VOC containing materials conflicts with the majority of the environmental initiatives within manufacturing. This paper details the challenges to be encountered by comparing results provided by flux manufacturers to that obtained in-house during verification testing. Comparison will also be made between laboratory testing and production results. Gaps and opportunities will be presented in the industry’s current approach to flux development and selection.

In this rapidly moving electronics market,fast to market with new products is what separates top performing companies from average companies. A survey conducted by Arthur D. Little (ADL) [1] revealed that “New-Product Development (NPD) productivity in atop performing company is five times what it is in the average company. The top performer gets five times as much new product output for the same investment.” What do they know that the rest of us do not? One winning factor is the use of the Robert Cooper process [2]. Since its introduction in the early 1980’s,it has gone through many modifications to make it more lean and effective for today’s business climate. Many larger organizations already practice this method. However,for small to medium size organizations,a dedicated New Product Development (NPD) process may appear to be a daunting task. This is due to the perception of the complexity of the Stage Gate process. This paper will present a Lean Six Sigma approach to “right sizing” the Stage Gate process to be efficient,practical,and easy to manage. Various tools of Stage Gate,along with proven best practice,will be covered. In addition,a reduced Stage Gate model will be discussed for simple,low risk projects.

Sustaining the results of any continuous improvement effort can be challenging. With Lean improvement,constant monitoring,coaching and tweaking is often required to keep the "old ways" from creeping back into the process. With Six Sigma process improvement,the challenge is to create ownership in the improved process; without this ownership the changes often disappear overnight. Two companies,both contract electronic manufacturers,have adopted methodology from both Lean and Six Sigma that has proven successful by placing the ownership in the workforce's hands and demonstrating results-based support from leadership. Both companies were searching for ways to improve quality and customer satisfaction when they began utilizing Lean Manufacturing concepts and then quickly integrated Six Sigma concepts to strengthen their outcomes. As Lean began to produce results,it was apparent that there needed to be metrics in place to sustain the results and allow employees to manage the processes through the concepts of an empowered workforce. Finding that the traditional metrics that had been used for years were not sustaining the gains or providing adequate guidance to employees,these two companies turned to a fundamental Six Sigma Green Belt measurement tool and the concept of “Measurements with Meaning”. Not needing to overwhelm their employees,Process Behavior Chart (PBC); AKA control chart software,was introduced to the manufacturing floor. Being able to measure the way processes normally behave and investigating signals to find root cause greatly enhanced daily production results,and gave the employees the ability and authority to identify and act upon problems as they occurred. Relying on the concepts of Measurements with meaning to help identify the metrics necessary for success,fully engaged work forces evolved at both companies very quickly. Employees had no problem identifying what they valued both within their processes and as a company,and they wanted a way to show management that they were doing everything possible to succeed. Instead of "chasing" every minor change in productivity,each work center simply focused on total parts produced and work orders "left on deck" (due but not complete at end of day). All signals which now appear on the Process Behavior Charts are investigated initially for assignable (special) cause. Focusing on the right issues and items,through employee ownership of the processes,has created significant and lasting results for both companies.

In the high temperatures during board assembly reflow soldering,the base material becomes soft and there is a severe risk for permanent warpage. There are many parameters that could affect board warpage during reflow soldering. The board width,board thickness,layer count,amount of copper,distribution of copper,glass fiber weave style,milling,type of base material,symmetry in all directions,component population and component weight are,among others,important factors. It is very difficult for the board designers to decide when an area on the secondary side should be left free of components to give place for board support during the reflow soldering process in order to mitigate board warpage. An evaluation was therefore performed that aimed at formulating an easy-to-use rule for this purpose.

In the high temperatures during board assembly reflow soldering,the base material becomes soft and there is a severe risk for permanent warpage. There are many parameters that could affect board warpage during reflow soldering. The board width,board thickness,layer count,amount of copper,distribution of copper,glass fiber weave style,milling,type of base material,symmetry in all directions,component population and component weight are,among others,important factors. It is very difficult for the board designers to decide when an area on the secondary side should be left free of components to give place for board support during the reflow soldering process in order to mitigate board warpage. An evaluation was therefore performed that aimed at formulating an easy-to-use rule for this purpose.

The electronics markets place widely varying demands on products,thus necessitating a great deal of complexity with regard to board design and connector technology. A nearly inexhaustible multiplicity of electronic components is available to this end for implementing the respective product concepts. There is of course no universal soldering process which fulfills the requirements of all of these different products at the same time. However,the capability demonstrator board has provided us with the opportunity of exploring the limits of what is feasible and what is not,additionally pointing out the difficulties associated with the reflow soldering process of complex PCBs. In the following pages we will discuss target goals for reflow soldering derived from generally recognized rules and standards,as well as the temperature-time curves (reflow profiles) obtained with the demonstrator board. Our examinations focused primarily on convection reflow soldering,but various results obtained with vapor phase reflow soldering will be discussed comparatively as well.

Whilst many companies invest time,effort and cost into up front work to fix snags which would lead to issues with yield during production,this paper shows the efforts of the company who looks to take things further. With increasing pressure on cost reduction within our industry,companies are looking ever more closely at their manufacturing process. In order to remain globally competitive and even to succeed in their local market every dollar saved here helps the bottom line. However,in many areas there is a danger that lower price equals lower quality and therefore actually results in higher costs in the end. The approach here involves spending a little more money than normal at the start of a project but less than hundreds of dollars and the results show savings of many times more than this outlay. However,it is acknowledged that this does take a little more time to get the job onto the shop floor. The key to this methodology is that it needs the time and effort of a skilled team and time on a production line before the job is started. But as the paper shows it really does improve yield,reduce cost,save the potential issues around repair and gives better reliability. In essence the results of the solder paste printing process are analyzed,after the components are placed,using X-ray and these results compared to the results after reflow soldering. The resultant pre-reflow solder paste shapes are impossible to see with the naked eye or by lifting the components,as the paste would not release evenly. This allows the engineer to determine how differences in printed paste shape and volume react when components are placed on them and how ultimately this affects product quality. Post reflow problems including mid-chip solder balls were found to be common faults,as were issues under BGAs including insufficient solder and shorts. The product is run on a “real line” and the results evaluated. Improvements are then made to the stencil design and other key process parameters to ensure that when in production the board is producing acceptable yields.

Plated Though Hole (PTH) vias are common in the PCB industry,however their impact on electrical performance can sometimes be unclear. The confusion can be due to several different issues. Some PTH related circuit affects are due to frequency dependency,circuit thickness,circuit construction,PTH structure and PTH function. This paper will give summaries of several different studies regarding PTH via influence regarding high frequency RF performance. The typical PTH via functions are signal transition,grounding vias and power transitions. For this work the signal transition and grounding vias will be evaluated. There are several PTH structures and some are through-circuit-via,buried-via,micro-via,etc. Evaluations were done considering through-circuit-vias and buried-vias. The varieties of circuit thickness and construction can be nearly endless,however studies will be done using 2 copper layer circuits (Grounded Coplanar Waveguide) of different thickness using different repetitive grounding via pitch which will show the effectiveness of propagation mode suppression as it relates to different frequencies. Another circuit construction will be considered for evaluating signal vias by using buried vias and through-circuit-vias in a 4 copper layer circuit design. This multilayer construction will evaluate the different PTH vias in regards to frequency dependencies. Additionally,the impact of back-drilling through-circuit-via signal vias will be considered as well.

Currently there is no industry standard test method for measuring dielectric properties of circuit board materials at frequencies greater than about 10 GHz. Various materials vendors and test labs take different approaches to determine these properties. It is common for these different approaches to yield varying values of key properties like permittivity and loss tangent. The D-24C Task Group of IPC has developed this round robin program to assess these various methods from the “bottom up” to determine if standardized methods can be agreed upon to provide the industry with more accurate and valid characteristics of dielectrics used in high-frequency and high-speed applications.

Determining the root cause of a failure in a complex system is a demanding task that requires a structured and disciplined approach. From engaging the appropriate subject-matter experts,to verifying the failure in a particular subsystem,to determining the analytical techniques used,this process can be an overwhelming task. The objective of this paper is to describe the approaches and techniques used in a recent case history,and to provide a summary of methods engaged in analyzing the printed wiring assemblies (PWAs) that were involved in the failure. One of the initial steps taken was to assemble a team of subject-matter experts (SMEs) from the various subsystems that comprise the complex system,prior to verifying the failure. During verification of the failure,it was critical that what caused the failure was not disturbed,otherwise critical information leading to the direct cause could be compromised. SME-developed tests were outlined and executed to perform the verification. Once the failure was verified,techniques such as fishbone diagrams were used for causal analysis. The use of root cause tools led the team from a systemic failure,down to a set of PWAs. Once the suspected root cause was determined to be within a particular PWA,a formidable list of analysis techniques were used to narrow down the precise cause. These included,but were not limited to: Bench-top electrical testing,visual examinations,real-time X-ray,Computed Tomography (CT) scans,Printed Circuit Board (PCB) cross-section analysis,scanning electronic microscope (SEM) evaluation,and data package pedigree review. This paper provides a structured,methodical approach to failure analysis and root cause determination for a very complex system. It can be utilized as a guideline for other highly complex systems,or other systems where the cause is suspected to be within a PWA.