One famous journalist recently described success as “when people see you as what you wish you were.” The man who wrote that never met Ray Boissoneau (as in “boss-in-oh”).

Two lanes on a single machine means multiple products can be built simultaneously.

Producing more boards per hour within the same line footprint is the ambition of every high-volume electronics assembly company. The more high-yield boards that can be squeezed out of the SMT line, the more profitability can be squeezed out of the bottom line.

Exposed copper coupled with silver final finish is causing opens.

Figures 1 and 2 show two images of the same problem: one x-ray, the other optical. In both cases it’s the result of sulphur corrosion on the surface of copper and silver surfaces.

Both surfaces remain exposed after a soldering operation, and in the presence of sulphur, it is possible to witness corrosion. In time it can result in an open connection, as the figures show. Figure 1, taken on a Dage x-ray system, shows different degrees of corrosion on the tracking just below the solder joint fillet. In failure investigations it’s important to see and record as much as possible without change or damage to the sample. On one joint there was an open connection on this QFP device.

A multi-part study found plenty of whiskers, but not where they were expected.

The elusive tin whisker is only 1/100th the width of a human hair, but this tiny, single filament protrusion can wreak havoc with all sorts of electronics, and has even been cited as the cause of some sudden acceleration failures in cars.