Knowledge Hub

Your Gateway to Technical Knowledge Exchange for the Global Electronics Community

Explore our database of industry knowledge that fuels innovation, learning, and professional growth. Knowledge Hub is a collection of conference technical papers, webinars, presentations, on-demand video and more. You can search by author, title, keyword and type of content. You can also search for keywords and topics in the Tag field. Access to Knowledge Hub is reserved for members.

Case Study – “Limitations of DI-Water Cleaning Processes”

While most cleaning processes in the global electronics manufacturing industry still rely on cleaning with DI-water only (for OA flux removal),recent studies suggest that water is beginning to .. read more

Cleanliness of Stencils and Cleaned Misprinted Circuit Boards

The effectiveness of cleaning stencils and misprinted/dirty printed circuit boards can be effectively monitored. This can be done by washing known clean circuit boards and then checking to see .. read more

Robust Automated Void Detection in Solder Balls and Joints

Accuracy in solder balls and joint void detection is very important. If voids are incorrectly identified,board yield will be affected by incorrect scrapping and rework. Voids are difficult to d .. read more

Advances in Automatic Monitoring of Stencil Printing Processes

The electronics assembly industry has long wished for and made great advancements toward developing a true,closed-loop automatic print verification and process monitoring technology. While sign .. read more

Zoom Fixtures for ATE

This paper details a break-through technology for automatic test equipment (ATE) fixtures. These new fixtures address the current market needs of - "faster,cheaper,and smaller". The new fixture .. read more

Investigation of Process Feasibility / Compatibility and Solder Joint Reliability of Tin-Lead Dippable Solder Paste Ball Grid Array (BGA) Component Rework/Repair

This paper is an examination of the process feasibility,solder joint reliability,and materials/process compatibility of a dippable solder paste material for an area array component rework/repai .. read more

NASA-DoD Lead-Free Electronics Project: Mechanical Shock Test

Mechanical shock testing was conducted by Boeing Research and Technology (Seattle) for the NASA-DoD Lead-Free Electronics Solder Project. This project is follow-on to the Joint Council on Aging .. read more

Copper Tin Intermetallic Crystals and Their Role in the Formation of Microbridges between the Leads of Hand Reworked Fine Pitch Components

Wave soldering is a mature manufacturing process that metallurgically joins component and PWB termination features by passing them together across the flowing surface of a molten solder reservo .. read more

Counterfeit Electronics:Strategies for Fighting Counterfeit Electronics

•Background information •Scope of the problem –Anecdotal –Study by International Chamber of Commerce –Recent study US Dept of Commerce •What to do about it ? –“Findings” and “Best Practices” •T .. read more

Real or Fake? The Counterfeit Chip Conundrum

Counterfeiting is clearly a growing problem in many industries,including electronics,around the world. As the financial impact of counterfeiting has grown over the years,so has the attention th .. read more

Conformal Coatings for Tin Whisker Risk Management

The objective of this study is to evaluate conformal coatings for mitigation of tin whisker growth. The conformal coatings chosen for the experiment are acrylic,polyurethane and parylene. The c .. read more

Effect of Soldering Method,Temperature,and Humidity on Whisker Growth in the Presence of Flux Residues

Since the electronics industry moved to lead-free solders that typically have a tin content of more than 95% there has been concern about the possibility of circuit malfunctions due to whisker .. read more

Bridging Supply Chain Gap for Exempt High-Reliability OEM’s

RoHS exempt high reliability OEMs breathed a sign of relief for not having to go through the grind of revising their processes and material to be RoHS compliant. However,this was short lived be .. read more

Benefits and Limitations of Universal,low-pin count Automated Test Equipment for Printed Circuit Assemblies

This paper discusses the benefits and limitations of universal,low-pin count Automated Test Equipment for Printed Circuit Assembly (PCA) testing utilizing the test access port (TAP) defined in .. read more

A Flexible Fixturing System for In-Circuit Test of High Node Count Circuit Boards

Large printed wiring assemblies (PWB) exceeding 7000 circuit nets create significant quality,cycle time and cost issues at structural test in the new product introduction (NPI) phase. Tradition .. read more

Effective Transition of Electronics Production between Manufacturing Sites

“Unprecedented” is a word often used to describe the events caused by the economic downturn and its impact on the automotive electronics industry. The result has been numerous plant closings an .. read more

Migrating from Paper to Interactive Paperless Work Instructions

One of the effects of the ever increasing mountain of regulatory requirements and the globalization of markets is the need to disseminate and collect information across the shop floor and the e .. read more

Telecommunications Case Studies Address Head-In-Pillow (Hnp) Defects and Mitigation through Assembly Process Modifications and Control

One of the most perplexing phenomena in the electronic manufacturing industry today is the defect called “head-in-pillow.” Head-in-Pillow (HnP) defects occur on the blind solder joints of area .. read more

Addressing the Challenge of Head-In-Pillow Defects in Electronics Assembly

The head-in-pillow defect has become a relatively common failure mode in the industry since the implementation of Pb-free technologies,generating much concern. A head-in-pillow defect is the in .. read more

Thermal Effects on PCB Laminate Material Dielectric Constant and Dissipation Factor

Values for printed circuit board (PCB) laminate dielectric constant (Dk) and dissipation factor (Df) used in circuit design and signal integrity (SI) modeling are typically those presented on l .. read more

Impact of Moisture Content on Printed Circuit Board Laminate Thermal Properties

Moisture plays an important role in the integrity and reliability of printed circuit boards (PCBs). The presence of moisture in a PCB alters its thermo-mechanical properties,induces hygroscopic .. read more

Assessment of Moisture Content Measurement Methods for Printed Circuit Boards

Using embedded structures in printed circuit boards,changes in moisture content have been monitored using route-impulse-energy measurement,capacitance measurement and weight gain. All three met .. read more

Understanding SIR

Many electronics manufacturers perform SIR testing to evaluate solder materials and sometimes the results they obtain differ significantly from those stated by the solder material provider. The .. read more

Effects of Solder Mask on Electrochemical Migration of Tin-Lead and Lead-Free Boards

Electrochemical migration (ECM) is the growth of conductive metal filaments on a printed circuit board (PCB) through an electrolyte solution under a DC voltage bias. ECM can cause a reduction i .. read more

Solder Paste Residue Corrosivity Assessment: Bono Test

Lead free soldering with no clean solder pastes represent nowadays the most common process in electronic assembly. A solder paste is usually considered as no-clean if it passes all IPC J-STD-00 .. read more