Solder Ball Design Guide A solder ball is a sphere of alloy attached to the underside of a ball grid array package, and it becomes the joint when the package is reflowed onto the board. The ball is supplied with the package, so the designer usually chooses the board and…
Cleaning After Assembly And Residue Removal Whether a board should be cleaned after assembly is a decision that follows from the flux, the product and the environment rather than from a habit. A no clean flux leaves a residue that is designed to be harmless, and cleaning it can be…
Selective Soldering: Key Checks Before Release Selective soldering applies molten solder to individual through hole joints on a board that also carries surface mount parts. It replaces hand soldering where the volume justifies a machine and where the process has to be repeatable, and it is used wherever a printed…
Press Fit Pin Hole Tolerance And Plating A press fit connector is held in the board by friction alone. The pin is larger than the hole by a controlled amount, the pin deforms elastically as it enters, and the resulting contact pressure makes the electrical connection. There is no solder,…
Microsection Analysis Guide A microsection analysis is the process of cutting a coupon out of a board, potting it, grinding and polishing it, and looking at the result under a microscope. It is the only method that shows what is inside a plated hole and between the layers, and it…
Reflow Void Reduction Guide A reflow void is a bubble of gas trapped inside a solder joint. It is invisible from the outside, it reduces the area that carries the current and the heat, and it is measured by X ray rather than by the eye. The gas comes from…
Stencil Aperture: Design Rules and Process Limits A stencil aperture is the opening through which the solder paste is printed onto a pad. It is a few tenths of a millimetre across, and it decides the volume of solder that will form the joint. The pad is the electrical feature…
High Tg Laminate Selection And What It Buys The glass transition temperature of a laminate is the point at which the resin changes from a hard, glassy material into a softer, rubbery one. Below it the board is stiff and its dimensions are stable; above it the resin expands much…
Solder Paste Selection Guide Solder paste is a mixture of alloy powder and flux, and it is the material that carries the solder to the joint. The alloy sets the melting point, the flux sets the cleaning action and the residue, and the powder size sets the finest feature that…
USB Routing and Impedance Requirements for Reliable Links USB is designed to be robust, and that robustness hides a great deal of layout sloppiness at low speed. At the current data rates, however, a poorly routed pair produces intermittent enumeration, failed transfers and devices that work on one cable and…












