-
- News
- Books
Featured Books
- smt007 Magazine
Latest Issues
Current IssueIPC 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.
The Cost of Rework
In this issue, we investigate rework's current state of the art. What are the root causes and how are they resolved? What is the financial impact of rework, and is it possible to eliminate it entirely without sacrificing your yields?
- Articles
- Columns
Search Console
- Links
- Events
||| MENU - smt007 Magazine
The Inside LIne
December 31, 1969 |Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
SMT Nabs Best Cover Award for Second Year
The December 2004 cover of SMT magazine won a PennWell Advanced Technology Division (ATD) Eddy Award for Best Cover Concept. Conceptualized and illustrated by Chris Short, the “Industry Forecast 2005” took this award for the second year in a row. Chris Short also illustrated last year’s winning cover, the “Industry Forecast 2004”.
“Two years ago, when I needed a December cover concept, Rick Short, director of corporate communications at Indium, suggested that if we wanted something truly creative, we should contact his brother, Chris Short, a professional illustrator,” said Gail Flower, editor-in-chief. “Chris has given us inspiring, award-winning illustrations for our last two December issues. He was able to make electronics into a futuristic world of its own through the eyes of an artist.”
Of the three nominees for Best Cover Concept, SMT’s cover was chosen for its ability to grab a reader’s attention, visually attractive graphics and ability to easily convey the meaning of the cover story. The 5th Annual PennWell ATD Eddy Awards acknowledge the exemplary efforts of the ATD editorial staff throughout the year. Each editor-in-chief of the 18 magazines at the ATD submits one cover from the year to compete for this award.
- Michelle M. Boisvert
SAC 305 Alloy of Choice in IPC Study
The decision of which solder to use has been a topic of great debate in the lead-free transition. The IPC Solder Products Value Council (SPVC) is offering a lead-free testing program in hopes of ending this debate once and for all. For three years, the SPVC bellied up the equivalent of nearly $1 million in volunteer hours, equipment and supplies to answer this solder-alloy question. The 50-page report, titled, “Final Report - Round Robin Testing and Analysis of Lead-free Solder Pastes with Alloys of Tin, Silver and Copper,” answers two key questions:
- What alloys will most likely be used as tin/lead solder replacements?
- What tests can accurately determine the differences in the properties of the most likely candidates?
The council determined that most standard replacement alloys are composed of tin, silver and copper - the SAC alloy - and analyzed the three most commonly used lead-free alloys: 1.) 96.5/3.0/.05 tin/silver/copper; 2.) 95.5/3.8/0.7 tin/silver/copper; 3.) 95.5/4.0/0.5 tin/silver/copper. Test methods used include DSC melt analysis, wetting balance, area of spread, visual inspection of solder joints, X-ray analysis of solder joint voids, temperature-cycle testing, thermal shock and metallurgical analysis. The report’s data support the Council’s recommendation of 96.5/3.0/0.5 tin/silver/copper (SAC 305) as the alloy of choice for most lead-free applications. The report also summarizes findings on the effect of voiding on solder joint reliability, and highlights solder joint performance based on package type.
The report and 18 appendices of data are available, covering alloy characterization, down-select data, an assembly processing parameter summary, test vehicle descriptions, assembly process data, void data, metallographic analysis of 500 to 6,000 cycles and thermal shock and temperature-cycling results. An executive summary of this report is available for free at www.ipc.org. A full report is also available on CD. Visit www.ipc.org/onlinestore for info.