Panel Cleaning Before Plating: 4 Steps That Decide Adhesion Panel cleaning before plating is the sequence that makes the copper receptive to a deposit. Oils from drilling and handling, oxides from storage and organic residues from earlier steps all sit between the metal and the plating bath, and none of…

Copper Anode Corrosion: 4 Checks for a Clean Plating Bath Copper anode corrosion is the reaction that keeps an acid copper bath supplied with metal. The anode dissolves as the panel plates, and in a balanced bath the two rates match so that the copper concentration stays where the process…

Etch Line Conveyor Speed: 4 Checks for Dwell Control Etch line conveyor speed is the parameter that converts chemistry into geometry. It sets how long a panel spends under the spray, and therefore how much copper is removed and how much the side wall is undercut while it happens. It…

Heat Sink Bonding: 6 Rules for a Reliable Thermal Joint Heat sink bonding attaches a metal sink, a stiffener or a shield to a board with a filled adhesive that has to conduct heat, hold mechanically and survive the thermal cycles of service. It replaces screws and clips where the…

Laminate Handling: 4 Rules That Protect the Stack Laminate handling is everything that happens to a core between the store and the press. Cutting, moving, stacking and pinning all leave their mark on the material, and the marks are easiest to see after lamination, when they have been bonded into…

Plating Tank Heater: 4 Checks for Uniform Temperature A plating tank heater does more than raise the bath to temperature. It has to hold the whole working volume at one value, from the surface to the bottom and from one end of the tank to the other, because the deposition…

ICT Fixture Probe Alignment: Keeping Probes on the Pad Probe alignment is the tolerance stack that decides whether every spring probe in an in-circuit test fixture lands on its intended pad, on every board, for the whole life of the fixture. When alignment drifts, the fixture does not simply stop…

Pad Cratering Inspection: Dye and Pry vs Cross Section Pad cratering is a fracture that begins in the resin-rich region of the laminate directly beneath a surface mount pad, and it grows outward under thermal or mechanical load. The solder joint usually survives, which is what makes the defect so…

Panel Plating Thickness Distribution: Where the Copper Lands Panel plating is the step in which copper is deposited over the whole surface and through every hole of the panel before the outer layer pattern is defined. It builds the hole wall and the surface copper in one operation, and it…

Rinse Water Recycling: 4 Checks for a Clean Plating Line Rinse water recycling is the practice of treating the water that leaves a rinse stage and returning it to the line instead of sending it to drain. On a plating line it can cut consumption sharply, and it can also…