Product category:
Electronics Manufacturing Materials and Consumables
News Release from: Photo Stencil | Subject: AMTX E-FAB
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 25 May 2006
Stencils pass paste transfer test
Photo Stencil has revealed the results of Universal SMT Laboratories' independent, extensive study, conducted in February 2006.
Photo Stencil has revealed the results of Universal SMT Laboratories' independent, extensive study, conducted in February 2006 The print-process study isolated the stencil alone to determine performance differences among a group of stencils manufactured by other stencil suppliers
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 11 Jan 2005 at 8.00am (UK)
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Photo Stencil's AMTX E-FAB stencil performed the best out of 12 stencils tested, provided by five different stencil manufacturers.
Photo Stencil is the only Xerox-authorised stencil manufacturer to use the AMTX electroform stencil technology, licensed under US Patents 5,359,928 and 5,478,699, owned by Xerox and acquired by Photo Stencil in 1998.
The study included five electroform stencils and seven laser stencils, including Photo Stencil's proprietary NicAlloy stencil.
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The final 35-page report contains extensive data on the solder volume data for a range of SMT devices and aperture designs.
Solder paste deposit heights, area and volume were measured for over 154,000 solder paste bricks.
Solder paste volume and paste volume repeatability were measured for 16 SMT components in all 12 stencils.
Both lead-free and tin-lead solder paste were used in the study.
Stencils were ranked in paste volume delivery performance as well as paste volume repeatability.
Photo Stencil's AMTX E-FAB stencil provided the best paste transfer for both solder pastes among all stencils tested.
NicAlloy, also produced by Photo Stencil, was in second place for paste transfer, beating out all other electroform and laser stencils.
"We are excited about the study and confident in the high-performance capability of our stencils", says Dr Bill Coleman, Vice President of Technology for Photo Stencil.
"Photo Stencil prides itself on offering a range of quality stencils and tooling".
"This study is one of many studies, conducted both internally and by independent laboratories that allow us to prove the value of our products".
"Using the correct high-quality stencil saves both time and costs incurred by rework".
Universal's state-of-the-art yield analysis program was used to determine the yield loss due to open defects of BGA and uBGA packages directly attributed to the stencil.
The results show that compared with the best stencil, the AMTX E-FAB, the increase in repair costs vary from an additional $658 for the second best to an additional $10,122 for the last place stencil.
AMTX E-FAB provided the lowest rework cost for both solder pastes (lead-free and tin-lead) among all 12 stencils tested, with NicAlloy again coming in second.
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