Reflow Oven Door Seal: 5 Signs of a Leak An oven door seal is a strip of elastomer that closes the gap between the door and the chamber frame, and it does two jobs at once. It keeps heat inside the reflow zones and it keeps the process atmosphere inside…

Solder Mask Development: 6 Causes of Residue in Fine Openings Solder mask development removes the unexposed film from every pad, via and opening, leaving the cured mask everywhere else. It is a dissolving step rather than a washing step, so the chemistry has to break the film down and the…

PCB Scrap Risks: What Could Go Wrong Modern electronics depend on boards that are assembled correctly the first time. Every product – a phone, a charger, a medical instrument or an industrial controller – relies on thousands of solder joints that must conduct current for years. This article explains PCB…

Paste Agitation: How Much Mixing Solder Paste Needs Paste agitation is the mixing that solder paste receives before and during printing, and it is either the thing that makes a stiff batch printable or the thing that ruins a good one. Paste is a suspension of alloy powder in a…

Plating Ductility: Why Elongation Beats Thickness Plating ductility is the ability of electroplated copper to stretch without cracking, and it is measured as elongation in a tensile test. It matters more than thickness in every case where a barrel has to survive thermal cycling, because a thick deposit that is…

Copper Roughness on PCB: 6 Effects From Adhesion to Loss Copper roughness is the microscopic texture of a copper surface, measured in fractions of a micrometre. It exists for a reason: a rough surface gives the resin something to grip, so the copper and the laminate stay together through drilling,…

PCB Scrap Review: A Second Look 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 scrap review from the perspective of a PCBA factory floor, covering reviewing scrap…

Stencil Tension Loss: 4 Signs to Retension Stencil tension is the force that keeps the mesh or the foil flat inside its frame, and it is the reason a printed deposit separates cleanly from the aperture wall. A tensioned stencil behaves like a drum skin: the squeegee deflects it, and…

Copper Foil Pinholes: Catching Them Before Lamination A copper foil pinhole is a small perforation through the rolled sheet, usually a few micrometres across, that survives lamination and becomes a break in a conductor. On an inner layer it can leave an open trace after etching; on an outer layer…

PCB Scrap Plan: Laying It Out First Modern electronics depend on boards that are assembled correctly the first time. Every product – a phone, a charger, a medical instrument or an industrial controller – relies on thousands of solder joints that must conduct current for years. This article explains PCB…