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COLORADO SPRINGS – Photo Stencil has been awarded the Best Printing Stencil Award 2006 by the Universal SMT Lab, now known as the Advanced Process Laboratory of Unovis Solutions. Photo Stencil’s AMTX E-FAB electroformed stencil placed first in the lab’s study, with the company’s NicAlloy stencil placing second.

The lab’s 2006 study isolated the stencil printing tool to determine which stencil improves the process and decreases the number of defects. The test group included five electroform stencils and seven laser stencils supplied by four leading manufacturers.

A yield analysis program determined the yield loss as a result of open defects of BGA and uBGA packages directly attributed to the stencil. The results show that, compared to the best stencil, the increase in repair costs varies from an additional $658 for the second best, to several thousand more for poor performing stencils because of higher rework. The repair cost analysis assumes a 20,000-piece board run and a cost of $75 to repair a defective board.