Panel Plating Thickness Uniformity and Current Density Control Panel plating deposits copper over the whole surface of the panel and into every hole at the same time, before the outer layer pattern is formed. It is the simplest way to build a reliable barrel, but it is also the step…

Board Thickness Variation Control in Lamination Board thickness variation is a lamination problem that surfaces as an electrical one. A panel that is 0.08 mm thicker at one corner than at another will show a different dielectric thickness on the same layer, and a controlled impedance design that was simulated…

PCB Guide Hole Control: Tolerances for Panel Alignment Guide hole control is about the tooling holes that hold a panel in place while it is drilled, laminated, imaged or routed. When they are right, the panel drops onto its pins with a light push and every layer lines up. When…

PCB Desmear Maintenance: Keeping It Working Electronics manufacturing has become a discipline of small details. Solder paste volumes, placement accuracy, temperature profiles and inspection limits all add up to the final result. This guide looks at PCB desmear maintenance from the perspective of a PCBA factory floor, covering maintaining desmear…

Solder Paste Tack Test and Print Quality Control A tack test measures how strongly a solder paste resists being pulled apart, and the property it describes decides whether components stay where the placement machine put them. Paste that has lost its tack will release the parts during the transfer to…

PCB Desmear Setup: Getting Ready Electronics manufacturing has become a discipline of small details. Solder paste volumes, placement accuracy, temperature profiles and inspection limits all add up to the final result. This guide looks at PCB desmear setup from the perspective of a PCBA factory floor, covering setting up desmear…

PCB Desmear Defects: What Goes Wrong Electronics manufacturing has become a discipline of small details. Solder paste volumes, placement accuracy, temperature profiles and inspection limits all add up to the final result. This guide looks at PCB desmear defects from the perspective of a PCBA factory floor, covering preventing defects…

Creep Corrosion Control on PCB Assemblies: 6 Rules Creep corrosion is the migration of corrosion products across a surface, away from the metal that produced them. It is not the same as ordinary corrosion, where the damage stays close to the affected area. In creep corrosion the product spreads as…

Insulation Resistance Test for PCB Assemblies: 6 Rules Insulation resistance is the resistance measured between two conductors that are supposed to be separated by an insulator. The measurement is simple in principle and difficult in practice, because the value depends on the test voltage, the dwell time, the temperature, the…

Mesh Count Selection for Solder Paste Printing: 5 Rules Mesh count is the number of threads per inch in a printing screen, and it is one of the quiet variables in a solder paste printing process. It decides how much paste passes through the screen, how much is held back,…