Masters Abstracts (1993)

SPIEGEL, JONATHAN
(August 1993)

Email: Not Available

Validation and Testing for Solder Paste Evaluation Procedures

This research systematically determined the validity of test procedures used to evaluate solder pastes. At this time, six popular solder paste evaluation tests are primarily used in industry to categorize solder paste attributes. These evaluation procedures have not been validated to predict solder paste performance during PCB manufacturing. Each validation test developed in this research was specifically designed to validate one or more of the solder paste evaluation procedures.

The solder paste types considered include water soluble and no clean solder pastes. Since it was not possible to validate all six solder paste evaluations procedures, only three different experimental procedures (slump, tack strength, and solderability which encompassed the silver chromate, copper mirror and solder bail/exposure solder paste evaluation procedures) were designed to help determine the validity of various different solder paste evaluation procedures. The remaining solder paste evaluation procedure (printability) was discussed but not explicitly validated.

It was found that the evaluation procedures considered in this research were found to accurately predict solder paste properties only under certain PCB manufacturing conditions. Further investigation is needed to identify why the evaluation procedures considered in this research are valid for some scenarios only, and to identify new and comprehensive solder paste test procedures.