Tombstoning in SMT Assembly: Causes and Prevention Tombstoning is one of the most visible defects on an SMT line: a chip resistor or capacitor lifts on one end and stands upright after reflow. The mechanism is mechanical rather than chemical, and it almost always comes from an imbalance between the…

Surface Finish Selection: ENIG, OSP and Hard Gold Surface finish is the last hundred nanometres of a board and one of the first things to go wrong in production. It decides whether a pad still wets after six months in storage, whether a fine pitch array solders without voids, and…

PCB Prototyping and Production: Key Issues to Resolve Most of the cost and delay in a new board comes from decisions taken before the first order is placed. A prototype that is released with an unresolved question about the stackup, the connector or the test method will come back with…

PCB Shadowing in Reflow: When a Part Blocks the Heat 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…

PCB Courtyard Design: Space Around the Part 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…

PCB Component Placement Rules: Where Each Part Goes Buyers and engineers often focus on the finished product and forget the production line behind it. In practice, most field failures can be traced back to process decisions made during assembly. Understanding PCB component placement rules gives you a practical advantage when…

PCB Design for Manufacturing Review: Reading the Layout as a Factory Buyers and engineers often focus on the finished product and forget the production line behind it. In practice, most field failures can be traced back to process decisions made during assembly. Understanding PCB design for manufacturing review gives you…

Imaging Equipment PCB Design: Signal Integrity and Thermal Design Together Imaging equipment concentrates several difficult requirements into one board. It has a sensitive analogue front end handling small signals, a high speed digital section moving large amounts of data, and power conversion for the detectors and the interface, often inside…

PCB Orientation for Reflow: Which Way the Part Faces 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 orientation for reflow from the perspective of a PCBA factory…

PCB Tombstoning Causes: A Part That Stands Up 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 tombstoning causes from the perspective of a PCBA factory floor, covering…