Board and kit ease lead-free evaluation

The new PCB049 board and kit - developed by Practical Components in conjunction with Indium Corp - is billed as the ultimate resource for evaluating mixed-technology lead-free assembly.

In the push to restructure electronic assembly processes ahead of the 1st July "lead free" deadline, the use of dummy mechanical components may be a vital part of development.

Dummy components - mechanically and metalurgically identical to their "real" counterparts, but a fraction of the cost - allow machine tests, soldering trials, rework assessment and establishment of new protocols and training regimes for the "post-July-one" lead free environment.

The new PCB049 board and kit from Intertronics - developed by Practical Components in conjunction with Indium Corp - is the ultimate resource for evaluating mixed-technology lead-free assembly.

This "do everything" kit allows companies to test a wide variety of JEDEC and EIAJ components.

This ensures that pre-production and re-work assessment can be thoroughly carried out to ensure optimum production performance.

The PCB049 board is used to evaluate solder paste wetting and spread, solder paste slump performance, solder preform pin-in-paste performance, and wave flux hole fill performance.

Additionally, the board helps provide pick-and-place equipment and placement accuracy, reflow process capabilities, effectiveness of cleaning processes, surface insulation resistance (SIR), surface finish interaction factors, and lead-free underfill performance.

The 8 x 10in PCB is available in four different optional finishes: OSP, ImSN, ImAg and ENIG.

The PCB049 board and kit comes from the well known Indium Corporation and Practical Components and includes a copy of CircuitCAM and CheckPoint software, ready-to-run CircuitCAM project files (CPFs), assembly documentation samples and templates, installation instructions and user manual.

The new AIM print test board and kit has also been designed as an assembly development aid and includes many of the printing challenges commonly encountered on manufacturers assemblies.

For BGA and microBGA pads, there are both circular and square pad designs to test paste release.

AIM has included the standard IPC slump test pattern in order to further challenge the properties of any product tested.

This print pattern is more "real life" and can more accurately predict slump since individual pads are used as opposed to one pad that is common in the "thermometer" method.

Common pad sises are incorporated into the layout and there are several fine-pitch QFP pads designed to check for the propensity of any given product to cause bridging, and to confirm the existence of torn prints, peaking (dog ears) or bridging.

Back to top