OSP Coating Thickness: 6 Controls for Solderable Copper An OSP coating is a thin organic film that grows on clean copper and protects it from oxidation until the board is soldered. It is measured in nanometres rather than micrometres, it is invisible on the finished panel, and it is removed…

Squeegee Angle: 5 Settings That Decide Print Quality The squeegee angle is the angle between the blade and the stencil surface, and it decides how the force you apply is divided between wiping and pushing. A blade held at a shallow angle converts more of the carrier force into downward…

Board Holder Setup: 6 Rules for Safer Rework A board holder is the fixture that supports and clamps an assembly during rework, and it does more than hold the board still. It controls how heat spreads through the panel, how much the board warps when it is heated locally, and…

PCB First Pass Yield Plan: Laying It Out First 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 first pass yield plan gives you a practical…

Pink Ring and Wedge Voids: 6 Causes in Drilled PCB Holes Pink ring is the halo that appears around a drilled hole in a microsection where the resin has separated from the inner layer copper, leaving an area that etches differently from the surrounding laminate. It is named for the…

Dendrite Growth on Assembled Boards: 5 Drivers Dendrite growth is the formation of metal filaments between two conductors on an assembled board, driven by voltage, moisture and ionic contamination. A dendrite grows across the surface rather than through the laminate, and it starts as a faint trail that raises leakage…

Spindle Runout: 5 Effects on Drilled Hole Quality Spindle runout is the wobble of a rotating drill spindle, measured as the total indicated movement of the tool or the collet at the point where the bit enters the board. A spindle with runout spins the bit off centre, so the…

Router Depaneling: 6 Controls That Keep Cut Edges Clean Router depaneling separates boards from a panel with a small carbide cutter that follows a routed channel. Unlike a guillotine or a V-cut break, the router removes material rather than fracturing it, so the board edges carry far less bending load…

Etch Compensation on PCB: 6 Rules That Hold Trace Width Etch compensation is the deliberate widening of the artwork so that the finished trace reaches its designed width after etching. The etchant removes metal sideways as well as downwards, and if the artwork were drawn at the target width, the…

PCB First Pass Yield Data: What Matters on the Production Line 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 first pass yield data from the perspective of…