-
- News
- Books
Featured Books
- smt007 Magazine
Latest Issues
Current IssueBox Build
One trend is to add box build and final assembly to your product offering. In this issue, we explore the opportunities and risks of adding system assembly to your service portfolio.
IPC APEX EXPO 2024 Pre-show
This month’s issue devotes its pages to a comprehensive preview of the IPC APEX EXPO 2024 event. Whether your role is technical or business, if you're new-to-the-industry or seasoned veteran, you'll find value throughout this program.
Boost Your Sales
Every part of your business can be evaluated as a process, including your sales funnel. Optimizing your selling process requires a coordinated effort between marketing and sales. In this issue, industry experts in marketing and sales offer their best advice on how to boost your sales efforts.
- Articles
- Columns
Search Console
- Links
- Events
||| MENU - smt007 Magazine
The Benefits of Vapor Phase Reflow Soldering
May 3, 2023 | Barry Matties, I-Connect007Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
JB Byers, vice president of technical support services at A-Tek Systems in Longmont, Colorado, recently gave a presentation on vapor phase reflow soldering at the SMTA Boise Expo & Tech Forum. After his presentation, I-Connect007 briefly talked with him about how the process can help reduce voids and lower operating cost.
Barry Matties: In your session on vapor phase reflow soldering, you did a great job of explaining how you're able to eliminate voids through a vacuum in the process. Talk to us about that and its other benefits.
JB Byers: With power or structural applications, if you don’t have the right amount of solder designed by the engineers, you don’t get the structure, energy, or heat transfer that’s necessary. While the solder is under a liquidous condition, the vacuum process within the reflow of vapor phase, reduces the voids that can overcome those problems had the voids been left in. When you reduce the atmospheric pressure around the voids, it causes them to grow and break the surface tension of the liquid solder bubble. As you return them back to atmospheric pressure, the voids are dramatically reduced.
Matties: We're now seeing some alternate technologies, like laser technology. How would this compare?
Byers: They all have a specific role to fill. I like the vapor phase because it's fairly broad on what it covers. It is a great technology for manufacturers that struggle with the convection oven due to dissimilar sizes, material board layouts, etc. In a vapor environment, the applied heat and energy to the board is very homogeneous and very even throughout the board.
Matties: All things are equal.
Byers: Yes, and that's a real benefit. With a convection oven and some of your larger heatsinks, it takes a lot of energy to get them up to temperature and to reflow the solder. By the time they're at temperature, the small surface mount components around them may have dramatically overheated.
Another benefit of the vapor phase is that the maximum temperature—the boiling temperature of the fluid—is limited. No matter how long you’re in the reflow chamber of a vapor phase, the maximum temperature your board will reach is 230°F.
Matties: The temperature doesn't continue to climb.
Byers: That’s right.
Matties: Interesting. How widely used is the vapor phase?
Byers: It's growing in the United States because, in my opinion, we've actually decided to start making things here again. We're bringing back a lot of production lines. Throughout my 30 years in this industry, I watched production lines continually move away every year, but I believe their numbers have increased in the last two years—for the first in a very long time.
Matties: Why hasn't this technology been adopted on a wider scale?
Byers: It is growing, but because many of these products are easy to manufacture, there's no reason to change from convection.
Matties: Is this for more high-end medical, high reliability?
Byers: Mostly high reliability. The big players are starting to look at it from the technology side.
Matties: The cost of utilities has gone through the roof. Does this lower the cost?
Byers: Yes. Typically, a vapor phase will use less than a third of the energy than a standard convection oven uses. With vapor phase, we only need to create energy when we're actually reflowing boards. When we're not doing that work, we set it at a very low boiling temperature, the minimal amount of energy. If we need energy, we create it. That’s unlike convection ovens, where all zones maintain heat at the same time.
Matties: What will prompt more exploration of this, particularly when the infrastructure is already in place and it's hard to pull something that's generally working.
Byers: We see customers want to upgrade their processes. Many of them are well aware of vapor phase and are looking to learn more.
Matties: Is this an automated process? Does it require a certain skill set?
Byers: Only a minimal skill set is needed. Maintenance technicians need a general understanding of, for example, reading schematics—lefty loosey, righty tighty. Process engineers can be trained to operate the machines and certain features of its software.
Matties: In today's world, data collection, statistical process control is a factor. I'm sure you have traceability.
Byers: Yes, we can download, dump data, or whatever is needed.
Matties: JB, thank you very much. This has been very informative.
Byers: Thank you.
Suggested Items
AIM to Highlight NC259FPA Ultrafine No Clean Solder Paste at SMTA Wisconsin Expo & Tech Forum
04/18/2024 | AIMAIM Solder, a leading global manufacturer of solder assembly materials for the electronics industry, is pleased to announce its participation in the upcoming SMTA Wisconsin Expo & Tech Forum taking place on May 7 at the Four Points by Sheraton | Milwaukee Airport, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Hentec/RPS Publishes an Essential Guide to Selective Soldering Processing Tech Paper
04/17/2024 | Hentec Industries/RPS AutomationHentec Industries/RPS Automation, a leading manufacturer of selective soldering, lead tinning and solderability test equipment, announces that it has published a technical paper describing the critical process parameters that need to be optimized to ensure optimal results and guarantee the utmost in end-product quality.
Empowering Electronics Assembly: Introducing ALPHA Innolot MXE Alloy
04/16/2024 | MacDermid Alpha Electronics SolutionsIn the rapidly evolving electronics industry, where innovation drives progress, MacDermid Alpha Electronics Solutions is committed to setting a new standard. Today, we are pleased to introduce ALPHA Innolot MXE, a revolutionary alloy meticulously engineered to address the critical needs of enhanced reliability and performance in modern electronic assemblies.
New Book on Low-temperature Soldering Now Available
04/17/2024 | I-Connect007I-Connect007 is pleased to announce that The Printed Circuit Assembler’s Guide to… Low-temperature Soldering, Vol. 2, by subject matter experts at MacDermid Alpha Electronics Solutions, is now available for download.
Inkjet Solder Mask ‘Has Arrived’
04/10/2024 | Pete Starkey, I-Connect007I was delighted to be invited to attend an interactive webinar entitled “Solder Mask Coating Made Easy with Additive Manufacturing,” hosted by SUSS MicroTec Netherlands in Eindhoven. The webinar was introduced and moderated by André Bodegom, managing director at Adeon Technologies, and the speakers were Mariana Van Dam, senior product manager PCB imaging solutions at AGFA in Belgium; Ashley Steers, sales manager at Electra Polymers in the UK; and Dr. Luca Gautero, product manager at SUSS MicroTec Netherlands.