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The Inside Line
December 31, 1969 |Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
Plastic Stencil Frames: A New Solution to Industry Issues
EAST WALPOLE, Mass — An East Coast industry-based company is making headlines in the surface mount solder paste stencil printing industry. QTS Inc. has introduced a new look in frameless stencils.
According to QTS CEO Gunter Erdmann, the major advantages of ordering a stencil without the standard aluminum (e.g., frame) are clear: Without the cost of the foil, the stencil is reduced by approximately 50 percent; shorter delivery times are available; and lower shipping charges are incurred.
Frameless stencils differ from typical stencils in that they are placed into a master stretch frame manufactured by various frameless stencil companies. Some companies actually stretch the foil two ways, which Erdmann said is not recommended. Instead, the foil generally is engaged via pins or hooks, which are activated by springs, air bladders or mechanical methods.
Despite these advantages, the frameless stencil never gained the popularity designers expected, because, according to Erdmann:
- An industry-standard 20 x 20" foil stencil that is 6 mil thick (0.006") is hazardous to the operator; the 29 x 29" stencil has to be handled with extreme care.
- Stencil storage is a major problem because each foil needs a cardboard container.
QTS solved these issues by introducing the plastic container frame, which consists of the company's four-way master stretch frame and patented plastic container frame.
"QTS" technology is successful and continually gaining notice because of the cost and time savings," Erdmann said. "Our technology offers a 20-second changeover, a 50 percent cost reduction and a 75 percent storage reduction. Stencils are safe to handle and easily stored."
Allowing for a larger board image, the system features 28 contact points from the container frame to the stencil to ensure a secure connection to the stencil.
This new method reportedly offers many advantages over conventional aluminum castings and tubular frames, such as:
- Stencil cost savings
- Foil identification
- Reduced storage space and setup time
- Shorter delivery and turnaround times
In three months, QTS has sold more than 15,000 frames, indicating that the industry is taking advantage of this technology.
— Jenny Popp
AMTECH Creates Synthetic No-clean Solder Paste
BRANFORD, Conn. — AMTECH Inc., a supplier of solder powders, pastes, fluxes and associated products recently introduced SynTECH, a new generation of no-clean solder paste, which uses a synthetic poly-adduct formulation to improve thermal and photo-chemical product stability. Research and development of the paste took 26 months, and was the result of a decision by the company to use synthetic technology to address long-standing problems associated with traditional organic-based solder paste formulations: lot-to-lot consistency, the need for refrigeration, and the need for higher metal loading (91 percent) to reduce opens on QFPs and other fine pitch component packages.
According to Ajith Premasiri, Ph.D. and senior research chemist at AMTECH, SynTECH's flux residue will not break down when exposed to water and does not leave a white residue on the assembly. Using the new paste results in solder joints with acceptable cosmetic and SIR values with non-hydroscopic and non-conductive post reflow residues.
Leigh Gesick, vice president of operations, reports that SynTECH has been used in the EMS market, the automotive industry and for high reliability products. It has been able to increase throughput and production yields by delivering a wider process window (12- to 18-hour stencil life, 18- to 24-hour tack time) than traditional organic-based formulas. Overall, the results of this new product development has lead the company to continue research and development into synthetic products for the electronic assembly market.
— Gail Flower