2017 Magazine Archives
August 2017 issue
FEATURES
SALARY SURVEY
Among Designers, Compensation, Job Satisfaction on the Rise
If PCD&F’s latest data are any indication, more than half of today’s PCB designers plan to work in the field for no more than the next 10 years. The good news: Salaries are at their highest point yet – and so is job satisfaction.
by Chelsey Drysdale
CLEANING
Evaluating Rinsing Effectiveness in Spray-In-Air Cleaners
In general, spray-in-air systems include wash, rinse and dry cycles. Engineered cleaning agents are critical to the process. In addition to the ability to solubilize the residues, they exhibit low surface tension averaging about 30 dynes/cm, whereas pure DI-water has an average surface tension of 70 dynes/cm. Given the low-standoff heights of components on today’s PCBs, low surface tension is required to enable the cleaning agent to penetrate underneath components for contact and solubilize the residue. The rinse cycle is critical to the process, for the rinse water must penetrate the same low standoff components in order to “rinse” or remove the residue-laden cleaning agent. However, rinsing uses pure DI water. Given the surface tension of water, how effective is this process?
by Umut Tosun and Jigar Patel
FIRST PERSON
-
CAVEAT LECTOR
What making PCBs looks like at 14.
Mike Buetow
MONEY MATTERS
-
ROI
Making a point about the “single point of failure.”
Peter Bigelow - FOCUS ON BUSINESS
Negotiating with customers.
Susan Mucha
TECH TALK
- ON THE FOREFRONT
Big “fans” at ECTC.
E. Jan Vardaman - TECH TIPS
Smoothing the wrinkles.
Jacek Knop - SCREEN PRINTING
Self-adjusting paste deflectors.
Clive Ashmore - DEFECTS DATABASE
X-ray: It’s not just for components.
Martin Wickham
