Electronics,especially mobile electronic items,are subjected to unintentional abuse by having various beverages spilled onto or into them. Ion Chromatography and emission spectroscopy were used to identify the common inorganic ions in various carbonated drinks,coffee,tea,milk,juices,beer,wine,hot chocolate and a well-known sports drink. Except for the carbonated drinks,the others were then intentionally spilled onto clean circuit boards,dried,extracted and re-analyzed. The results show that there is generally little change from the virgin materials using the IPC extraction method and thus a library of “usual suspects” can be accumulated for comparison purposes for electronic products that come back from the field.

An assessment to measure the cleanliness of the area underneath a component has been completed. The assessment uses an 8”×9”×0.093” test vehicle with FR4 laminate,OSP surface finishing,and 21 package types. The test vehicles went through a Pubs assembly process and inline aqueous cleaning. The two test methodologies used are Ion Chromatography (IC) and Electron Migration (EM). Based on the test results,most of components pass the criteria,except three high pin count LBGA’s on Bromide level of Paste B. No significant differences between the low stand-off components group and other groups. Among the four low stand-off components,LGA133,which has the lowest stand-off,shows a higher Total Anion level. The test results also verified that,within the similar package types,the ionic level is likely proportional to the stencil paste volume. It also shows there is no statistical differences among the three Time-To-Wash cases. In other words,if the board is washed within 72 hours,there is no significant difference on ionic level. EM test results are still under analysis. It will be available at conference.

Addition of Al into SAC alloys reduces the number of hard Ag3Sn and Cu6Sn5 IMC particles,and forms larger,softer non-stoichiometric AlAg and AlCu particles. This results in a significant reduction in yield strength,and also causes some moderate increase in creep rate. For high Ag SAC alloys,adding Al 0.1-0.6% to SAC alloys is most effective in softening,and brings the yield strength down to the level of SAC105 and SAC1505,while the creep rate is still maintained at SAC305 level. Addition of Ni results in formation of large (Ni,Cu)3Sn4 IMC particles and loss of Cu6Sn5 particles. This also causes softening of SAC alloys,although to a less extent than that of Al addition. Addition of Al also drives the microstructure to shift from near-ternary SnAgCu eutectic toward combination of eutectic SnAg and eutectic SnCu. Addition of Ni drives shifting toward eutectic SnAg. For SAC+Al+Ni alloys,the pasty range and liquidus temperature are about 4?C less than that of SAC105 or SAC1505 if the addition quantity is less than about 0.6%. Addition of Al and Ni also results in a slight decrease in modulus and elongation at break,although the tensile strength is not affected.

It is known that pure tin will undergo an allotropic transformation below 13°C where it becomes a semiconductor with a 26% volume increase,and in appearance turns from a bright shiny metallic material,white ß tin,to a dark blue/grey dust,a tin. Such a transformation for an electrical interconnect is disastrous,if it were to occur in any of the high tin lead-free alloys it would be a catastrophe. The elimination of lead,one of the best elements to arrest the transformation process,has resulted in a number of high tin content alloys about which the potential to transform is unknown. Environmental factors that may enhance or arrest the rate and the incubation period of the transformation processes are also unknown.
An analysis based on the lattice parameter of a tin to find similar materials was substantiated and was used to select inoculators to minimize the incubation period. Following which a number of experiments were conducted using CdTe. To further the study the transformation process was videoed using time lapse photography with the sample held at –35°C in vacuum system. The transformation progressed radically from the inoculation point,starting at the surface. Propagation into the bulk occurred by peeling; with the external layers tending to “roll out” due to the volume expansion of the internal layers. In the meantime,cracks parallel to the propagation direction formed. Typically a sample would completely transform in just over 24 hours.
Further work is now looking at the effect of cubic ice,temperature on the transformation and the effect of alloying additions in influencing the transformation process.
The roll of this particular lattice form of ice is a worrying aspect,since it can commonly occur under the relevant temperatures. Experiments have shown that ice can act as the inoculators,seeding the transformation,particularly when other inoculators are in the vicinity.

Flux technology for lead-free alloys differs considerably from that for eutectic Sn/Pb solder systems,mainly for soldering and cleaning purpose. For most of the lead-free solders,paste handling is not an issue. Although dust has not settled yet,it becomes clear that the flux needed should have higher flux capacity,higher oxygen barrier capability,and higher thermal stability. Halide-free fluxes are placing greater challenge on cleaning due to the lower flux efficiency per unit flux volume than halide-containing fluxes. The oxygen barrier capability can be reduced if inert reflow atmosphere is available. RMA flux,no-clean flux with high solid content,and water washable systems exhibit a greater prospect to be upgraded for lead-free applications. For 58Bi/42Sn solder,flux with low activation temperature is needed. For Sn/Zn/Bi solders,the demand on flux capacity and oxygen barrier capability is even greater than other lead-free solder systems. In addition,the fluxes should be stable enough to retard the reaction with Zn. Cleaning flux residue of lead-free solder pastes is more challenging than that of Sn/Pb systems. This is primarily due to (1) higher reflow temperature,(2) higher flux capacity,therefore higher flux-induced side reactions,(3) more tin-salts formation. The cleanability decreases from no-clean soft-residue fluxes to water washable fluxes to no-clean hard residue fluxes. Improvement in cleanability may link to improvement in thermal stability of fluxes. Semi-aqueous and/or aqueous solvent sprayable cleaners yield the best cleaning efficiency,if the solvent is selected properly. Spray is the most critical mechanical agitation,regardless whether it is spray-in-air or spray-under-immersion. Ultrasonic aid also imparted a significant positive effect. Saponified aqueous spray is one of the top choices for cleaning water washable residues. Better solvency and spray are the directions for further improving cleaning. Improvement in flux thermal stability will help both soldering and cleaning.

Companies seeking sales or suppliers in the global marketplace must proceed with caution. This presentation provides an overview of U.S. regulation of import and export transactions. Importers must exercise “reasonable care” to ensure that accurate information is provided to U.S. Customs & Border Protection regarding the nature,value,and origin of imported merchandise. Reliance on third parties or suppliers for that information does not protect the importer from liability. Further,importers must establish and maintain compliance programs consistent with the customs laws and regulations. On the export side,companies seeking new markets for their products must ensure compliance with U.S. export controls,economic sanctions,and embargoes. This presentation will give companies insight into how to manage these risks while employing legal tools to reduce costs in international trade.

•Rewards businesses with a dollar for dollar reduction of tax
•Rewards “evolutionary” and “revolutionary” activities
•Federal tax benefit can be as high as 6.5% of investment in new products and processes
•Ability to file retroactively

Various forms of contamination on the surface of hydrocarbon ceramic dielectric PWBs have been observed following component population. Although contamination is occasionally observed on PWBs fabricated from other dielectric materials,the light color of hydrocarbon ceramic substrates increases the frequency of detection,and consequently increases the number of investigations into possible contamination causes and impacts to reliability. Three contamination types are evaluated: staining due to rework of gold plated surfaces,discoloration due to flux application,and the resulting anomalies due to the effects of multiple chemical processing steps. The causes of the anomalies,quantitative analysis of residues,and impacts to reliability for each of these contaminants are discussed.

All things corrode,and the rate of corrosion among electronics devices is accelerating. Electronic devices are being used in more places than ever before. They are finding more uses,they're more portable,and they're increasingly used in polluted areas. Worldwide industrialization has produced more sulfur,chlorine and nitrogen compounds that aggressively attack electronics. The initiatives to eliminate lead (Pb) in electronics reduced the ability for circuitry to resist corrosion. To replace thick tin-lead deposits more circuits employ thin,easily corroded surface finishes on the PCB,connectors,and component leads. There is a need for better prediction of service-life corrosion,yet there is a lack of adequate test methods. Environmental testing rarely progresses beyond thermal cycling or heat/humidity. Mixed flowing gas testing uses standardized pollutants as a stress to electronics,but has limited success in reproducing all corrosion failures. An elevated rate in the observation of one type of failure,termed creeping corrosion,motivated the electronics industry to review corrosion test methods. As part of the IPC 3-11g committee,a number of OEM's,EMS providers,PCB fabricators,material suppliers,universities,and testing laboratories joined forces to address the need for better corrosion prediction.
The project conducted experiments using environmental pollutants and various levels of exposure to moisture to form corrosion salts from copper circuitry. A main objective of the testing was to create a standardized method for inducing corrosion. Test results will show the ability to recreate creep corrosion at the participating laboratories. As a project summary,this paper will review the many attributes of a PCB surface finish,the ways that each finish can fail under environmental contamination,the mechanism of creeping corrosion,and new ways to interrupt the corrosion mechanism while preserving other surface finish attributes. The summary contained herein had been intended to include the latest corrosion results from the IPC 3-11g team; however,the testing was not complete by the time of publication. This review will detail the status of the team’s findings to date,provide references to newly collated data,and chart the team’s forward direction.

Electronics,especially mobile electronic items,are subjected to unintentional abuse by having various beverages spilled onto or into them. Ion Chromatography and emission spectroscopy were used to identify the common inorganic ions in various carbonated drinks,coffee,tea,milk,juices,beer,wine,hot chocolate and a well-known sports drink. Except for the carbonated drinks,the others were then intentionally spilled onto clean circuit boards,dried,extracted and re-analyzed. The results show that there is generally little change from the virgin materials using the IPC extraction method and thus a library of “usual suspects” can be accumulated for comparison purposes for electronic products that come back from the field.