Optimizing temperatures will ensure the best possible conditions for soldering.

Verifying and optimizing the temperature profile of a reflow oven ensures an ideal thermal environment for solder paste to melt, flow and solidify, forming robust solder joints.

Calibrating the oven temperatures and ensuring they are set correctly involves sending a so-called “golden board” through the oven. Ideally, a “golden board” is supplied as part of the work kit by the customer or design team. This board (Figure 1) will be a sacrificial, fully populated assembly with (ideally five to seven) thermocouples attached via high-temperature solder in strategic locations across the assembly. It is processed through the reflow oven, collecting detailed information that technicians can use to make adjustments, ensuring the components and areas on the board stay within specified temperature constraints.

Are industry standards sufficient for characterizing the effects of cleanliness at high voltages?

The increasing popularity of high-voltage electronics, particularly in electric vehicles, underscores the need to address the quality assurance and reliability challenges linked to these technologies. Standards, such as those published by IPC, are a great way to accomplish this. A crucial step to ensure the proper application of standards is to tailor them accordingly. For high-voltage electronics, an initial part of this process involves defining high voltage. Different organizations have already put forth their definitions.

For instance, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and British standards stipulate that anything above 1kV AC or 1.5kV DC constitutes high voltage. On the other hand, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) categorizes high voltage as ranging from 115-230kV, extra-high voltage as 345-765kV, and ultra-high voltage as exceeding 1,100kV. When referring to IPC standards, however, which are more pertinent to the electronics domain, a provision in IPC-J-STD-001H states that the definition of high voltage hinges on the specific application.

A novel approach leverages ion exchange technology with continuous monitoring for superior tank management.

Aqueous cleaning operations in printed circuit board population require particular attention to water quality. Various soils – internal and external to the population processes – need to be removed to a very high degree to ensure trouble-free operation of the circuit board. The water used for the makeup of the cleaning solutions and rinsing must also be of very high quality to minimize the potential for contamination of the circuit board, with ion exchange technology being the technology of choice to purify and recover the water.

The quality of printed circuit boards, their operating characteristics, and ultimately, their lifespan depend on several factors, with one of the more important factors being the cleanliness of the boards. Several soils, if not removed, can negatively impact the operation of circuit boards. Incomplete removal of solder flux residue, for example, can lead to corrosion and potential short circuits. Aqueous cleaning chemicals may contain various additives (such as saponifiers, surfactants, etc.) that aid in soil removal but must also be completely removed from the PCB, as failure to remove these cleaning chemicals can lead to the formation of residual spotting on the board.