PCB materials behaviour towards humidity and baking impact on wettability.

Aquaboard project. Part 2-a, 2-b and 3-a Walter Horaud, Vincent Vallat
Solectron, Design & Technology Center Bordeaux, France WalterHoraud@fr.slr.com

Sylvain Leroux
ACB/Atlantec Dendermonde, Belgium/Malville, France

Dominique Navarro, Jean-Yves Deltage

IXL Bordeaux, France

AFEIT, brasage 2003 September 2003

Abstract: As Electrostatic discharge, humidity can have a bad impact on assembly quality. It requires environmental conditions and process controls but also risks knowledge. To overcome humidity issue, parts (PCB or components) need to be baked to remove moisture. Baking drawback is the wettability issue especially with thermal sensitive PCB finishes. This wettability issue can introduce reliability defects. Solectron has launched on this topic a project called Aquaboard. This project mainly deals with the PCB materials behaviours towards humidity and the impact of the baking on the solder joint reliability according to the PCB finish, and the assembly process. Other tests have been implemented on the test vehicle such as design for reliability. A brief sum-up of those tests can be found in the introduction. The project took place in three steps, this paper deals with the part 2-a&b and 3-a. The parts 2-a&b are about the baking and storage efficiency. Several curves have been drawn for most of the PCB materials (paper, E-glass, aramid, phenol, epoxy, BT, polyimide, hydrocarbon): baking curves (from 80 to 120C), absorption curves (ambient atmosphere, <5% HR, dry pack storage, 85C-85%RH). The part 3-a is the impact of baking conditions on the wettability and solder paste spreading. Key words: Moisture, baking, absorption, Fick's law, diffusion coefficient, wettability spreading, PCB finish, ENIG, OSP , HASL, Im Sn, Im Ag, PCB material, paper, E-glass, aramid, phenol, epoxy, BT, polyimide, hydrocarbon

INTRODUCTION
Following bad experiences due to inappropriate baking (delamination or poor wettability), we have decided to launch a project to better know the material behaviours towards humidity and to see the impact of baking on solder joint reliability. This project called Aquaboard took place in three steps. The first one is focused on literature research on the two main topics (humidity and baking). The second one is dedicated to materials behaviours towards humidity. It is mainly based on weighting PCB during baking and storage. This second step is made of several studies. The first one is to measure the efficiency of the baking. What is the impact of stacking PCB? What are the required times at different temperatures to have the same baking efficiency? This first study was performed mainly on E-glass epoxy and E-glass polyimide as they represent the major part of PCB materials assembled at Solectron. Seven PCB and five baking conditions (80C, 90C, 100C, 110C, 120C) have been considered The second study of this part is based on PCB storage. According to the storage conditions, how long does need the material to absorb water and how long is the allowed time prior reflow? Have the baking conditions an impact on

absorption rate? Most of the PCB materials assembled at Solectron have been studied (paper, E-glass, aramid, ceramic, phenol, epoxy, BT, polyimide, hydrocarbon). For each material the absorption curve has been drawn for the following storage conditions: dry pack (<2%RH), dry cabinet (<5%RH), ambient air (23+/-2C, 45+/-5%RH), high humidity storage (85C, 85%RH). The third study of this part is to see the impact of humidity on assembly quality. Humidity can be the root cause of delamination, voids, and micro-balls... Unfortunately those defects can be caused by other parameters such as a bad lamination, an inappropriate reflow profile. Furthermore those defects are difficult to identify and occasional (PPM). Too much material investment was needed for this study so we only focused on delamination. PCB crammed with a controlled humidity amount went three times though reflow or wave soldering in order to see from which level of humidity, delamination is observed. The forth study of this part is to finalise the baking conditions according to the percentage of copper in the PCB (ground layer), the PCB thickness, and the PCB finish (following the results of the third step of the study). The fifth study is about the absorption curves during the assembly according to the process (no-clean or clean).

Most of the results on the first and second study of this second step will be discussed in this paper. The third step of the study is a test vehicle to see the impact of baking on solder joint reliability according to the PCB finish, the baking conditions and the assembly processes. Daisy chain components such as 0.4 mm pitch QFP, 1.5 mm pitch BGA and 0.5 mm CSP have been assembled. Five PCB finishes (HASL, ENIG, Im Sn, Im Ag, OSP), four baking conditions (from 80C to 120C), three assembly processes (clean, no-clean, lead free), two reflow atmospheres (air, nitrogen) have been studied. Several tests have been performed on the assembled boards: continuity test (daisy chain components) through thermal cycling (-55C, +125C) and mechanical shock, shear test performed on chips, wetting balance (raw PCB, steam aged PCB, baked PCB), spreading test, hole filling (wave soldering), 3D X-rays, cross section & SEM, surface insulation resistance. In addition to this study, design for reliability has been carried out. On those test vehicles, several BGA design have been evaluated (1.5 mm pitch BGA and 0.5 mm pitch CSP): copper defined pad versus solder mask defined pad, dog bone versus microvia in pad design (centred, off-set and tear drop), pad shape (round, oblong, square). In the same way, designs for quality and reliability have been performed on chips: 0603 and 0805 packages, resistor and capacitor components. For each case, five PCB designs times five stencil apertures have been tested. The wetting balance and spreading test results will be discussed in this paper. Only the impact of the baking will be tackled as the study of the impact of the assembly processes (clean, no-clean, lead free), and the reflow atmospheres (air, nitrogen) are still on progress. Materials behaviour1-2: Concerning the materials behaviours towards humidity, the literature research showed that a lot of data from PCB material suppliers are available. Unfortunately most of those data are about raw materials and not about the PCB itself. Obviously, it was easier to find documents about moisture sensitive PCB material such as polyimide than high frequency material that are usually not sensitive to moisture (i.e. PTFE). If we focus on polyimide material such as Polyimide/Thermount, bake PCB for a minimum of 4 hours at 112C, or a maximum of 6 hours at 136C is mandatory. Thicker PCB or PCB with external copper planes should be baked for 6 hours at 136C. In general, when a PCB contains over 50% of Thermount reinforcement, the maximum allowable moisture regain by weight is 2800 PPM to assure reliable assembly. The following chart shows the moisture amount removed from a ten layers PCB.

Depending on the baking temperature, we can see on this chart that after 5 hours the baking is close to 65-80 % efficiency of the 25 hours baking. Forced absorption has also been studied. The following graph compares E-Glass/FR-4 with Thermount in an 85C-85%RH environment.

We can see that after 225 hours at 85C/85%RH the Thermount threshold is around 20000 PPM when the FR-4 threshold is close to 7000 PPM. Fick's law8-14: Assuming a rectangular plate is taken to be infinitely long in the y- and z- directions, the moisture content inside the plate varies only in the x axis. Initially the moisture concentration ci inside the plate is uniform. The plate is suddenly exposed to a moist environment and the exposed faces instantaneously reach the equilibrium moisture concentration ca, which remains constant. The moisture uptake through the thickness of an infinite plate is given by the following simple model Fick relationship:

The solution of this Fick equation can be calculate if the initial concentration and the space limits are known.

This solution gives a Gauss shape curve showing the moisture concentration diffusing through the x axis at a given time.
0,25

C(x,t)
0,2

t1 t2 t3

0,15

0,1

0,05

0 -300 -200 -100 -0,05 0 100 200 300

At temperatures well below the Tg of the conditioned material, water absorption of most polymers correlates with Fick's laws. The diffusion coefficient, independent of time and moisture concentration can be calculated from the Fickian diffusion curve. The Fickian diffusion curve is the percentage uptake of water by weight in function of square root of time.

W W Dry W Dry

= f ( t)

The diffusion coefficient D is determined from the initial linear region of the Fickian diffusion curve using the following relationship:

where M is the equilibrium moisture concentration, M1 is the moisture uptake after time t1, M2 is the moisture uptake after time t2 and h is the thickness. The moisture equilibrium concentration corresponds to the final asymptotic value on the diffusion curve. The rate of moisture uptake by a composite laminate is dependent on the temperature and relative humidity of the environment. The equilibrium moisture concentration (saturation concentration in the material) is assumed to be independent of temperature, depending only on the moisture content or relative humidity of the environment. PCB immersion finishes3-7: HASL, OSP and ENIG are famous PCB finishes as they represented more than 80% of the world market in 2001. Then we will focus on immersion finishes and discuss briefly about manufacturing, cost, intermetallics, drawbacks and wettability/spreading. Manufacturing: The electromotive potential between silver and copper is 0.456V, so the reaction is instantaneous. Unfortunately, tin's potential relative to copper is -0.480V, so the reaction is not spontaneous. A strong complexor, typically thiourea, is introduced into the tin solution to act as a selective complexing agent for the cuprous cation. Additional chemicals are used to improve the finish quality. Organic compounds are added to the silver bath to inhibit tarnish and to prevent electromigration. Organic surface modifiers, inorganic grain modifiers or inorganic barrier layers are added into tin baths. Silver and tin form a thin surface coating due to environmental exposure to sulphides and chlorides. These tarnishes are visible and may concern incoming inspection. Silver oxide is not stable, and tin oxide is not readily visible. Immersion metal chemicals systems have been formulated to contain organic materials, resulting in a protective film on the metal surface or within the metal deposit. The degree of protection offered by the film depends on such parameters as porosity, uniformity and solubility. Cost: The cost associated with PCB finish depends on the cost of the metal itself, the thickness of the metal, the cost of the chemicals in plating bath, the cost of other chemistry and equipment before and after metal deposition. One cost benefit of immersion deposit is due to galvanic displacement which is a self limiting reaction that will usually result in a thickness of less than 0.5m. Finally, immersion deposits are generally less expensive than electroless deposits because of the relative simplicity of the immersion baths and overall processes. The electroless nickel process cost nearly 30 times more than the nickel metal itself and immersion silver process is at least 10 times faster than electroless nickel. The cost of immersion processes is about the same than HASL, and 3 times less expensive than electroless nickel.

Intermetallics: When solder becomes molten the immersion metals instantly dissolve into the solder. At 232.2C, gold dissolves at a rate 3ms-1 and silver dissolves at 1.11ms-1. Once copper circuitry is exposed, thin and copper begin to form an intermetallic phase that joins the metals. Then the copper-tin intermetallic interface is the same than the one formed with HASL and OSP finishes. Drawbacks: Reliability drawbacks are well documented, while ENIG is well known to form nickel-tin intermetallic when black line nickel does not act as a killjoy, silver forms water soluble salts when exposed to condensing moisture and electrical bias, and tin is prone to whiskering. The tendency for pure silver to migrate increases with increasing thickness, while lower thickness are more likely to whisker. This explains the standard thickness of silver below 0.5m and that of tin at about 1.0m. Finally tin copper intermetallic is formed at room temperature so sufficient tin thickness is necessary to guarantee efficient storage. Wettability/spreading: Silver is one of the most wettable metals with eutectic Sn/Pb soldering due to mainly the quick dissolution of silver at soldering temperature. Wetting balance studies with Sn/Pb alloy seemed to show that silver remains efficient towards baking while immersion tin suffers from thermal degradation. Spreading studies seemed to be more profitable for ENIG. Immersion tin and immersion silver have nearly the same spreading properties. Solderability of immersion silver is relatively insensitive to storage at 85C/85%RH conditions but depending on the type and thickness of the immersion silver. Wettability and spreading with Sn/Ag/Cu alloy are also well documented and trends to show that immersion tin and ENIG surfaces provided the best wetting results on fresh boards follow by immersion silver and OSP. While immersion silver can withstand multiple lead free reflow, immersion tin cannot withstand multiple lead free reflow without significant degradation.

1. PCB MATERIALS BEHAVIOURS:

This part tackles the PCB materials behaviours towards humidity, meaning absorption and desorption behaviours. It is based on PCB weighting through baking and storage. The equipment used for this study are a Heraeus UT200 oven, Sartorius LP3200D accurate scales (mg), Secasi SLH34SP moisture oven. 1.1. Baking efficiency: First of all the baking efficiency has been checked. We have tried to figure out the impact of stacking the PCB during the baking and also to estimate the time to reach the same desorption for different temperatures and PCB materials. 1.1.1. Inclined or stacked: Heating: We firstly checked the temperature of the PCB in the oven according to if there are stacked or inclined. The following graph shows the temperatures curves from ambient temperature to 110C of an inclined PCB, a five PCB stack, and an eleven PCB stack. One thermocouple has been attached between the first and second PCB of each stack.

An other thermocouple has been placed in the middle of each pile. Finally, one thermocouple records the atmosphere temperature and one keeps the temperature of the inclined PCB.

stack. An important point has also to be noticed concerning the baking of inclined PCB: according to the material, the PCB thickness and PCB dimensions, inclined baking can cause bow issue. 1.1.2. Backing conditions: We have tried to figure out what are the required times at different temperatures to have the same baking efficiency. Seven PCB and five baking conditions have been studied. The PCB have been baked 13 hours for each temperature condition. In order to better know the real dry weight of each PCB an additional baking at 120C during 20 hours was performed. The seven PCB are representative of the PCB technology assembled at Solectron Bordeaux. The following array shows a light description of those PCB:
PCB I.1 PCB I.2 PCB I.3 PCB I.4 PCB I.5 PCB I.6 PCB I.7 Materials E-glass + Epoxy E-glass + Polyimide E-glass + Epoxy E-glass + Epoxy E-glass + Epoxy E-glass + Epoxy E-glass + Epoxy ANSI FR5/23 GPY/41 FR5/23 FR5/23 FR5/23 FR5/23 FR5/23 Width (cm) 6 7,5 4,9 19,5 22 26 26,3 Length (cm) Thickness (cm) 7,5 0,148 14,2 0,182 8,5 0,182 32,3 0,209 26,5 0,212 43 0,226 43,9 0,23

5 4 1 2 3

Five PCB stack

Eleven PCB stack

Inclined PCB

Temperature curves from ambient temperature to 110C

120

100

TEmperature (C)

80

Air Inclined PCB PCB n1 of a stack of five PCB

60

PCB n3 of a stack of five PCB PCB n1 of a stack of eleven PCB

40

PCB n6 of a stack of eleven PCB

20 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 Time (min)

It can be noticed that PCB of the eleven PCB stack reach 110C only after 80 minutes when the inclined PCB needs only 10 minutes to reach this temperature and the five PCB stack requires 50 minutes. Those temperature curves were used to bake PCB and see the impact of this slow heating of thick stacks on baking efficiency. Baking: As we mentioned above it takes more time for the eleven PCB stack to reach the final temperature. More time to reach the final temperature means less efficient baking. For this test the PCB have been left 4 hours at 110C. After weighting, the PCB have been baked 20 additional hours at 110C in the inclined way. This allows us to have an idea of the dry weight of each PCB and then to calculate the efficiency of the first baking. The following graph describes this efficiency according to if the PCB are inclined or stacked. We can see that the PCB in the middle of the eleven PCB stack has lost only around 53% of the moisture when PCB on the top of the stack has lost 63 %. The PCB on the top of the eleven PCB stack has lost nearly the same amount of moisture as inclined PCB or PCB from the 5 PCB stack.
70,0 Inclined PCB n2. No stack 65,0

For each PCB and for each baking condition several curves have been drawn. Prior this study most of the PCB have been left on shelves at ambient atmosphere (20+5/-0C; 50+/- 10%RH) as they have been picked up from former revision stocks. The following graphs have been drawn for each studied temperature (80C, 90C, 100C, 110C, and 120C). 1.1.2.1. Desorption curves:
Desorption curve. T = 120C.
2400
PCB I.1 PCB I.2 PCB I.3 PCB I.4 PCB I.5 PCB I.6 PCB I.7 IPC upper limit

PPM

1600

800

0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Time (hours)

Five PCB n2 stack

Eleven PCB n2 stack

% of desorption

60,0

55,0

50,0

This graph roughly describes the desorption rate (PPM) for each PCB. The weight after 13 hours of baking is not zero as the dry weight has been recorded after 20 additional hours of baking at 120C. The 800 PPM line is the value found in the IPC handbook (IPC-HDBK-001) as the maximum value allowed for PCB assembly. We can see that the PCB I.2, I.3 and I.5 have a higher initial PPM (above 2400 PPM) meaning that they have absorbed more moisture during storage. It is understandable for the PCB I.2 as it is the E-glass/polyimide one. The PCB I.3 and I.5 are FR-4 materials, but they have been stocked for longer time at 50%RH 23C. This can explain why they have absorbed more moisture than the other FR-4 PCB. 1.1.2.2. Humidity amount: This graph shows raw data meaning what is the weight lost (mg) by each PCB through the baking. Obviously bigger is the PCB higher is the humidity amount lost during the baking. PCB I.6 an I.7 are the biggest (see above the dimension array), so they loose a lot of water (above 400

45,0 A B C D 1' 2' 3' 4' 5' 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Designation

We made this test with different materials, and PCB having a different thickness. We always found the same conclusion. Above a 2.5cm stack (let say one inch), baking is becoming less efficient for the PCB in the middle of the

mg). PCB I.1 and I.3 are the smallest so they loose less than 25 mg of moisture. One point that can be noticed is that the PCB I.2 looses three times more water than the PCB I.1 and I.3 with nearly the same dimension. It is due to the material type (E-glass/polyimide).
700
PCB I.2 PCB I.3 PCB I.4 PCB I.5 PCB I.6 PCB I.7

100

Baking efficiency

90

80 80C 90C 100C 110C 120C

600

PCB I.1

Humidity amount lost during baking. T = 110C.

70

500

60

400 mg

50

300

40 PCB I.1 PCB I.2 PCB I.3 PCB I.4 PCB I.5 PCB I.6 PCB I.7

200

100

0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Time (hours)

1.1.2.3. Humidity amount versus volume: This graph is based on the previous graph but the amount of moisture lost during baking has been calculated per volume unit. It is understandable that the PCB I.2 (Eglass/polyimide) is the PCB that looses more water per volume unit. The PCB I.7 seems to loose less moisture than the other FR-4. Basically, this PCB is full of copper (i.e. ground layers on layer 2 and n-1).
5 4,5 4 3,5 3 mg/cm3 2,5 2 1,5 1 0,5 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Time (hours)

1.1.2.5. Relative desorption: For each PCB this graph shows the relative desorption. Relative desorption means simply that the initial weight was considered to be equal to one for each test. This allows to have the same starting point (0 , 1).
1,2

Relative desorption curve for PCB I.1

1
PCB I.1 - 120C PCB I.1 - 110C PCB I.1 - 100C PCB I.1 - 90C PCB I.1 - 80C

0,8

Relative PPM

0,6

0,4

Humidity amount lost during baking / PCB volume. T = 100C.

PCB I.1 PCB I.2 PCB I.3 PCB I.4 PCB I.5 PCB I.6 PCB I.7

0,2

0 0 1,2 2 4 6 8 10 12

Time (hours)

Relative desorption curve for PCB I.2

1
PCB I.2 - 120C PCB I.2 - 110C PCB I.2 - 100C PCB I.2 - 90C PCB I.2 - 80C

0,8

Relative PPM

0,6

0,4

1.1.2.4. Humidity percentage: This graph exposes the humidity percentage lost during baking compared to the dry weight measured with 20 additional hours baking at 120.
100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Time (hours)
PCB I.1 PCB I.2 PCB I.3 PCB I.4 PCB I.5 PCB I.6 PCB I.7

0,2

0 0 2 4 6 8 10 12

Time (hours)

Humidity percentage lost during baking. T = 80C.

It can be seen that the PCB I.2 chart shows tight curves meaning E-glass-polyimide looses moisture even at lower temperature. This point can also be seen on the previous graph (1.1.2.4) as PCB I.2 has a baking efficiency after 13 hours above 90% from 90C to 120C. Conclusion: All the graphs (each type, each temperature, each PCB) are available on request. The initial question was what are the required times at different temperatures to have the same baking efficiency? In order to answer this question, we made the average of all the relative desorption curves (1.1.2.5) and drew the inverse. The relative desorption average inverse points are making lines. According to this average, the red curve showing the 800 PPM has been added only for information. This chart simply shows the different rate of baking according to the temperature and then for a fixed "y", it allows to calculate the appropriate "x" according to the temperature.

The following chart is a sum-up of the previous graph. It represents all the measurements after 13 hours of baking for each PCB and each temperature. Obviously, 80C baking is less efficient than 120C.

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 0,5 2,5 4,5 6,5 8,5

Reinforcement
Average relative inverse desorption curves
120C 110C 100C 90C 80C 800 PPM

y = 0,4971x + 1,4992 2 R = 0,9826

Cellulose paper

1 / (Relative PPM)

y = 0,2983x + 1,5625 R2 = 0,997 y = 0,2336x + 1,4301 R2 = 0,9943 y = 0,166x + 1,3633 2 R = 0,9901 y = 0,0946x + 1,3141 2 R = 0,9876

E-glass Unidirectional or Woven Surface or full

Time (hours)

10,5

12,5

14,5

16,5

18,5

If we compare the baking slope, we can say what are the required times at different temperatures to have the same baking efficiency. For example, to obtain the same baking efficiency between 120C and 80C, it requires an average of 5.6 more times.
Temperatures slope comaprison
6,0

Aramid Unidirectional or non woven paper or woven Woven quartz fiber Woven S-2 glass Ceramic Pure or woven glass reinforced Expended PTFE None

5,6

5,0

Resin Phenol Epoxy Polyester/Vinyl ester Epoxy Epoxy/Phenolic Epoxy/PPO Epoxy/Triazine BT/Epoxy Polyimide APPE Cyanate ester Polyimide/Epoxy PTFE Epoxy Cyanate ester Polyimide Polyimide/Epoxy Polyimide Cyanate ester Hydrocarbon PTFE BT Polyimide

4,0

Factor

3,1
3,0

2,1
2,0

The PCB have been divided into three groups: - The group 1: PCB absorbed less 4000 PPM in moist conditions.
Group 1 II.3: E-glass/Epoxy//Ceramic/Hydrocarbon II.15: FR-4 full copper (L1 & Ln) II.9: Ceramic/PTFE II.20: FR-4 full copper (L1 & Ln) II.10: E-glass/APPE IB7: FR-4 Full copper (L1 & Ln) II.12: E-glass/PTFE

1,6 1,0

1,0

0,0 120C 110C 100C 90C 80C

Temperatures

If we consider only the polyimide charts, it needs less time to have the same efficiency (1.1.2.4) due to the material type. But as FR-4 is the major material assembled at Solectron Bordeaux we had to focus on it. Finally, this part of the study seems to show that 4 hours at 120C is appropriate to reduce significantly the moisture in a raw card. This condition decreases the percentage to around 400 PPM (average value) which is below the 800 PPM recommended by the IPC. It also allows to bake in a production environment. According to the previous graph, 4 hours at 120C means 6.5 hours at 110C, 8.5 hours at 100C, 12.5 hours at 90C, 22.5 hours at 80C. Those values are given for standard thickness (<2.4mm) and storage shorter than 2 months at 50%RH and 23C. We also found that 8 hours at 120C can be required to cross down the 800PPM line with thick PCB stored for more than 2 months at 50%RH and 23C. Once again 8 hours at 120C means 13 hours at 110C, 17 hours at 100C, 25 hours at 90C, 45 hours at 80C. One study not tackled in this paper deals with the impact of the thickness and copper density on those values. 1.2. Materials behaviors towards humidity: Most of the PCB materials assembled at Solectron Bordeaux have been studied. The following array shows the different materials available on the market. The one that are with a coloured square have been included in this study.

- The group 2: PCB absorbed between 4000 and 9000 PPM in moist conditions.
Group 2 II.4: E-glass/Epoxy/BT II.11: Aramid/Epoxy II.16: FR-4 II.17: FR-4 Half copper (L2 & Ln-1) II.18: FR-4 Ground on L2 II.19: FR-4 IB1: FR-4 IB3: FR-4 IB4: FR-4 IB6: FR-4

- The group 3: PCB absorbed more than 9000 PPM.

Group 3 II.1: None/Polyimide II.7: Paper/E-glass/Epoxy II.2: E-glass/Polyimide II.8: Paper/E-glass/Phenol/Epoxy II.5: Eglass/Epoxy//None/Polyimide II.2: E-glass/Polyimide II.6: Paper/Phenol IB5: FR-4

1.2.1. Baking: The following graphs are simply showing the baking curves of the three groups at 110C during 13 hours. The dry weight was measured with 20 additional hours at 120C. Prior baking the PCB were left on shelves at 50%RH and 23C.
2400

Baking curves at 110C

2000

1600

PPM

1200

II.3

II.9

II.10

II.15

II.20

IB7

800

400

0 0 2 4 6 Time (hour) 8 10 12

The PCB II.12 curve is missing. This PCB is a very thin Eglass/PTFE PCB. It probably suffered a lot during the baking. It turned from white to yellow. Its behaviour is the opposite of the other materials. It absorbed moisture during baking. So the baking curve is below the x-axis.
4800 4400 4000 3600 3200 2800 PPM 2400 2000 1600 1200 800 400 0 0 2 4 6 Time (hour) 3600 3200 2800 2400 8 10 12 II.1 II.2 II.5 II.7 II.8 IB2 IB5

For each group, in the following graphs you will find the storage conditions described above but also how long did it take for each PCB to reach 800 PPM at ambient atmosphere.
5600 4800 4000 3200 50 hrs 2900 hrs 2000 hrs 3100 hrs 300 hrs
Initial weight before baking 33 hours at 120C

Different storage conditions

Dry pack storage: 3892 hrs (162 days) Dry cabinet storage: 3074 hrs (128 days) at 23+/-2C and less than 5% RH How many times to reach 800 ppm? (23+/-2%C & 45+/-5%RH) Ambient atmosphere storage: 3122 hrs (130 days) at 23+/-2%C and 45+/-5%RH Moist atmosphere storage: 660 hrs (28 days) at 85C and 85%RH

Baking curves at 110C

PPM

2400 1600 800 0

II.3 -800 -1600

II.9

Never

II.10

II.12

II.15

II.20

IB7

PCB
11200 10400
Initial weight before baking 33 hours at 120C

Baking curves at 110C

9600 8800 8000

Different storage conditions

Dry pack storage: 3892 hrs (162 days) Dry cabinet storage: 3074 hrs (128 days) at 23+/-2C and less than 5% RH How many times to reach 800 ppm? (23+/-2%C & 45+/-5%RH) Ambient atmosphere storage: 3122 hrs (130 days) at 23+/-2%C and 45+/-5%RH Moist atmosphere storage: 660 hrs (28 days) at 85C and 85%RH

II.4

II.11

II.16

II.17

II.18

II.19

IB1

IB3

IB4

IB6

7200 6400

PPM

PPM

2000 1600 1200 800 400 0 0 2 4 6 Time (hour) 8 10 12

5600 4800 70 hrs 475 hrs 165 hrs 4000 3200 2400 1600 800 0 II.4 II.11 II.16 II.17 II.18 II.19 IB1 IB3 IB4 IB6 160 hrs

325 hrs

475 hrs

500 hrs

PCB
38400 35200 32000 28800 25600
Initial weight before baking 33 hours at 120C Dry pack storage: 3892 hrs (162 days) Dry cabinet storage: 3074 hrs (128 days) at 23+/-2C and less than 5% RH How many times to reach 800 ppm? (23+/-2%C & 45+/-5%RH) Ambient atmosphere storage: 3122 hrs (130 days) at 23+/2%C and 45+/-5%RH Moist atmosphere storage: 660 hrs (28 days) at 85C and 85%RH

275 hrs

Baking curves will have to be drawn with the same PCB after taking them out from forced moist atmosphere. This will allow to have the baking curve with the starting point being the moisture saturation.
PPM

Different storage conditions

22400 19200 16000 12800

1.2.2. Storage: This part aims to check the storage efficiency. First PCB have been hard baked (33 hours at 120C) and then they have been stored through different ways: - Dry pack: PCB are sealed under vacuum with a desiccant. The storage conditions can be estimated below 2%RH. - Dry cabinet: PCB are stored in a dry atmosphere. The dry air coming from the inlet pipe is around 2%RH and 23+/2C. The dry cabinet has been used for production, this means that the door was opened several times during the day. Each time the door is opened the moisture percentage increases to 15-20%RH and it takes around one hour to decrease below 2%RH. That is to say that we took the worse case to test the dry cabinet storage efficiency. - Ambient atmosphere: PCB were left on a shelf. The standard storage conditions are 50+/-10%RH and 20+5/0C. During the experiment the outside air was very dry (cold winter), then the storage observed conditions were 45+/-5%RH and 23+/-2C. Moist atmosphere: PCB were placed in moist conditions 85%RH and 85C. Of course measurements disturb measurements. For example each time we made a measurement it took around one hour before the moist conditions (85%RH) become stable back. This phenomenon has not been taken into account. 1.2.2.1. Storage comparison:

275 hrs

70 hrs

0,5 hrs

6400 3200 0

II.1

II.2

II.5

10 hrs

II.6

II.7

80 hrs

II.8

IB2

15 hrs

9600

425 hrs

IB5

PCB

We can say that more the PCB material is able to absorb a big amount of moisture, faster it absorbs the moisture after baking (group one versus group three). Some PCB are not belonging to this rule. PCB II.10 (E-glass/APPE) for example absorbs less than 3200PPM in moist conditions but need only 10 hours to reach 800PPM after baking. 1.2.2.2. Absorption curves: PCB materials: All the absorption tests were made with inclined PCB. Absorption curves of stacked PCB are on going. This should badly decrease the absorption rate. For each material we are able to draw the different absorption curves. If we take for example the PCB II.4, we can draw the absorption curves for the first 525 hours.

125 hrs

250 hrs

60 hrs

950 hrs

8000

17600

PCB II.4 absoption curves

7000 6000

Ambient atmosphere absorption curves: 23+/-2C & 45+/-5%RH

II.1 II.2 II.5 II.6 II.7 II.8 IB2 IB5

16000 14400 12800

5000 PPM 4000 3000 2000 1000

11200

Ambient atmosphere storage: 3122 hrs (130 days) at 23+/-2%C and 45+/-5%RH Dry cabinet storage: 3074 hrs (128 days) at 23+/-2C and less than 5% RH Dry pack storage: 3892 hrs (162 days)

PPM

Moist atmosphere storage: 660 hrs (28 days) at 85C and 85%RH

9600 8000 6400 4800 3200 1600

0 0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200 225 250 275 300 325 350 375 400 425 450 475 500 525

0 0 250 500 750 1000 1250 1500 1750 2000 2250 2500 2750 3000

Time (hours)

Time (hours)

With such a scale it seems that the moist atmosphere and ambient atmosphere curves have started to reach their plateau. But when we increase the scale we can see that the ambient atmosphere curve jumps from 2000PPM to 3000PPM and that the moist atmosphere curve has only started to bend. The moist ambient curve is still on progress.
8000

PCB II.4 absoption curves

7000 Moist atmosphere storage: 660 hrs (28 days) at 85C and 85%RH 6000 5000 PPM 4000 3000 2000 1000 0 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 Ambient atmosphere storage: 3122 hrs (130 days) at 23+/-2%C and 45+/-5%RH Dry cabinet storage: 3074 hrs (128 days) at 23+/-2C and less than 5% RH Dry pack storage: 3892 hrs (162 days)

1.2.2.3. Absorption comparison: For each group, the following graph are showing the initial weight before baking 33 hours at 120C. Following this baking PCB are left at 45+/-5%RH and 23+/-2C. You will find two weights. One after 96 hours and one after 3122 hours. Then the PCB are baked 4 hours at 120C and left again at 45+/-5%RH and 23+/-2C. You will find again two weights. One after 96 hours and one after 656 hours. Then the PCB are baked 8 hours at 120C.
3200

2400

Different storage & baking conditions

Initial weight before baking 33 hours at 120C Ambient atmosphere storage: 96 hrs (4 days) at 23+/-2%C and 45+/-5%RH Ambient atmosphere storage: 3122 hrs (130 days) at 23+/-2%C and 45+/-5%RH Baking 4 hours at 120C Ambient atmosphere storage: 96 hrs (4 days) at 23+/-2%C and 45+/-5%RH Ambient atmosphere storage: 656 hrs (27 days) at 23+/-2%C and 45+/-5%RH Baking 8 hours at 120C

1600

PPM

800

0 II.3 -800 II.9 II.10 II.12 II.15 II.20 IB7

Time (hours)

Absorption conditions: As for the baking curve, we can draw the absorption curves for each condition and for each PCB group. For example the following graph are showing the ambient atmosphere absorption curves.
2400

-1600

PCB
Initial weight before baking 33 hours at 120C Ambient atmosphere storage: 96 hrs (4 days) at 23+/-2%C and 45+/-5%RH Ambient atmosphere storage: 3122 hrs (130 days) at 23+/-2%C and 45+/-5%RH Baking 4 hours at 120C Ambient atmosphere storage: 96 hrs (4 days) at 23+/-2%C and 45+/-5%RH Ambient atmosphere storage: 656 hrs (27 days) at 23+/-2%C and 45+/-5%RH Baking 8 hours at 120C

4000

Different storage conditions

Ambient atmosphere absorption curves: 23+/-2C & 45+/-5%RH

2000

3200

II.3

II.9

II.10

II.12

II.15

II.20

IB7

1600

PPM

2400

1600

PPM

1200

800
800

0
400

II.4

II.11

II.16

II.17

II.18

II.19

IB1

IB3

IB4

IB6

PCB
0 0 250 500 750 1000 1250 1500 1750 2000 2250 2500 2750 3000

Time (hours)
3600

Ambient atmosphere absorption curves: 23+/-2C & 45+/-5%RH

3200

II.4
2800 2400 2000

II.11 IB1

II.16 IB3

II.17 IB4

II.18 IB6

II.19

1600 1200 800 400 0 0 250 500 750 1000 1250 1500 1750 2000 2250 2500 2750 3000

16800 16000 15200 14400 13600 12800 12000 11200 10400 9600 8800 8000 7200 6400 5600 4800 4000 3200 2400 1600 800 0

Different storage conditions

Initial weight before baking 33 hours at 120C Ambient atmosphere storage: 96 hrs (4 days) at 23+/-2%C and 45+/5%RH Ambient atmosphere storage: 3122 hrs (130 days) at 23+/-2%C and 45+/-5%RH Baking 4 hours at 120C Ambient atmosphere storage: 96 hrs (4 days) at 23+/-2%C and 45+/5%RH Ambient atmosphere storage: 656 hrs (27 days) at 23+/-2%C and 45+/-5%RH Baking 8 hours at 120C

PPM

PPM

II.1

II.2

II.5

II.6

II.7

II.8

IB2

IB5

PCB

Time (hours)

Those graphs show that when you bake at 120C during 4 hours, PCB left 3122 hours at 45+/-5%RH and 23+/-2C, it

takes around 650 hours for most of the materials to reach again their weight prior the 4 hours baking. The third and sixth columns of each PCB graph have the same moisture level. The dry weight (0 PPM) has been measured after 33 hours at 120C. It is important to notice that 4 hours at 120C is not enough too cross down the 800PPM line after that the PCB were left 3122 hours at 45+/-5%RH and 23+/2C. Furthermore for some materials 8 hours at 120C does not decrease significantly the weight compare to 4 hours at 120C. 1.2.2.4. Materials comparison: We can also compare the different materials behaviours towards moisture. The first graph is the amount of moisture per volume unit absorbed after 3122 hours at 23+/-C and 45+/-5%RH. Of course, we find on the left the PCB belonging to the group one and the PCB on the right are belonging to the group three.
20 Amount of absorbed humidity per volume unit after 3122 hours at 23+/-2C & 45+/-5%RH

3500

D2 = 6,21*10-6 mm2s-1
3000

PCB II.10 absoption curves (Fick's law)

PCB II.10 (85%RH, 85C) PCB II.10 (45+/-5%RH, 23+/-2C)

2500

D1 = 6,41*10-7 mm2s-1
2000

PPM
1500 1000 500 0 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000

Square root of time (s0,5)

10000 9000 8000 7000 6000 D2 = 8,14*10-7 mm2s -1

PCB II.17 absoption curves (Fick's law)

PCB II.17 (85%RH, 85C) PCB II.17 (45+/-5%RH, 23+/-2C)

PPM

5000 4000 D1 = 2,21*10-7 mm2s-1

15

3000 2000 1000

mg/cm3

10

0 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500

0,5

3000

3500

4000

0
II. 3: Egl as s/E p II. oxy II. 20 // 9: : F Ce C R- ram era m 4 fu ic/H ic/ II. ll 15 co yd PTF :F pp roc E er ar R4 (L bo fu n 1 ll & IB co 7: pp IB1 Ln) FR er :F -4 (L RFu 1 & 4 ll co L pp IB4 n) er : F (L R1 & 4 II. L 19 n) II. :F 5: Eg I B Rlas 3: 4 FR s/E II.1 po 0: E IB6 -4 II. xy/ -gl : FR 18 /N as : F on s/A -4 R- e/P PP 4 G olyi E ro un mid e d on II. II. 7: 12: II.1 L2 Pa E- 6: pe gl FR r/E ass -4 II. II. 17 / 1 -gla PT :F R- IB 1: A ss/ FE 4 2: ra Ep H al E-g mid oxy f c la / o ss Ep II. ppe /Po oxy 4: r ( lyi E- L2 mi gl & de as II. s/E Ln 8: po -1) Pa II.2 xy pe : E r/E -g IB /BT -g las 5: las s/P FR s/P ol -4 II. y 1: hen im N ol/ ide on E II. e/P pox 6: ol y Pa yim pe r/P ide he no l

Square root of time (s )

10000 9000 8000 7000 6000 D2 = 8,29*10-7 mm2s-1

PCB II.2 absoption curves (Fick's law)

PCB II.2 (85%RH, 85C) PCB II.2 (45+/-5%RH, 23+/-2C)

We can also compare the PCB materials on their absorption velocity. The following graph show how many days does it take for each PCB to reach 800 PPM after 33 hours of baking at 120C.
16 14 12 10
How many times to reach 800 ppm? (23+/-2%C & 45+/-5%RH)

PPM

5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 0 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
0,5

D1 = 1,02*10-7 mm2s-1

3000

3500

4000

Days

8 6 4 2 0

Square root of time (s )

Again, we can roughly find the group three on the left and the group one on the right. 1.2.2.5. Fick's law11-14: Some PCB have a Fickian behaviour. For example, the three following graphs are showing Fickian curves for one PCB of each group described previously: PCB II.10 (Eglass/APPE), II.17 (Half copper on L2 & Ln-1 and II.2 (Eglass/Polyimide).

Some values can be compared to the moisture/water diffusion coefficient of pure resin found in literature: - The polyimide diffusion coefficient was found to be nearly constant with reaction temperatures ranging from 160C to 240C around 2.2 to 4.8 x 10-7 mm2s-1. Moisture diffuses through polyimide at room temperature with a diffusion coefficient of 5 x 10-7 mm2s-1. In comparison we found for E-glass/Polyimide 1.02-8.29 x 10-7 mm2s-1 depending on the conditions. - The epoxy diffusion coefficient was found to be around 13 10-7 mm2s-1. The distilled water diffusion coefficient was found to be 0.53 x 10-7 mm2s-1 at 22C and 13.6 x 10-7 mm2s-1at 60C. In comparison we found for E-glass/Epoxy 2.21-8.14 x 10-7 mm2s-1. One point has to be noticed. The literature values are given for pure resin. In our case there are also E-glass and randomly copper as the tests were performed on raw PCB. More points during the linear part of the curve would have given a more accurate result. Furthermore the M used for the calculation is not the real M as at that time the moist test duration was about 660 hrs which seems to be not enough to reach the asymptote for some materials. Conclusion:

II. 1: N on II e/P IB .6: oly II. 2: Pa im 17 i E- pe :F gl r/P de RII ass he 4 H .10 /Po nol al f c : E- lyim op gla id II. per ss/A e 2: ( II. E- L2 PPE 8: gl & as L Pa II pe .11 s/P n-1 r/E : A ol ) yi -g las ram mid e s/P id/ he Ep no ox l/E y II. 4: po II. E 18 -gl IB5 xy : F ass : F RR- /E p 4 4 G oxy ro II. un /BT 7: d on Pa pe L r/E IB6 2 -g : F las Rs/E 4 II. p II. 5: 12 II.1 oxy Eg : E 9: las -g FR s/E la ss -4 po /P xy T //N IB FE on 1: e/P FR ol -4 yi II. mid IB 16 e 7: :F F II. 3: II.1 R-4 I B R-4 E- 5: 3: F Fu gl FR as R-4 ll c op IB4 -4 s/E pe : p ful II. oxy l co r (L FR20 //C pp 4 1 & :F e e R- ram r (L Ln 4 fu ic/H 1 & ) ll co ydr Ln) pp oc II. er ( arbo 9: L n Ce 1 & ra m Ln) ic /P TF E

Following this study we better know the PCB materials behaviours. The three identified groups are in accordance with PCB materials supplier data sheet. Some comments can still be made. The PCB II.12 (E-glass/PTFE) has been destroyed during this test (colour change and random behaviour). Within a group, some PCB have amazing behaviours. For example the PCB II.10 (E-glass/APPE) absorbs less than 3200PPM in moist conditions but need only 10 hours to reach 800PPM after baking while in the mean time the PCB II5 has the opposite behaviour. It absorbs more than 9600 PPM but needs 425 hours to reach 800PPM after baking.

Instrument Zero

-15 mm

Fmax

Corrected Zero Tw

2. BAKING IMPACT:
This part of the paper is to check the impact of the baking conditions on the PCB finish. Five PCB finishes were tested: HASL, ENIG, OSP, immersion silver, and immersion tin. Boards have been assembled following a baking in order to see the impact of the baking on solder paste spreading. Furthermore, several wettability coupons have been taken out from each board at different assembly process steps to perform the tests. The assembly line was composed of Dek 265, Fuji CP65E, Fuji IP3, Paragon P150. The stencil was a 150m laser cut for the bottom and a 110m electroformed for the top side. The solder paste used for the assembly is the no Clean SMQ92J. The reflow atmosphere is air. The reflow profile is as follow: 2.1. Wettability: For each finish and for each baking condition, the wettability test has been performed after baking, after first reflow and after second reflow. According to the finish, we can roughly represent the different wettability curves as follow:
Wettability curves shapes

2.1.1. Fmax: We have taken the highest Fmax and fixed it at 20, the smallest Fmax was fixed to nil and then we were able to give marks to the other Fmax between zero to 20.
Relative Fmax according to the finishes and ageing conditions
25

20

80C 10hrs 120C 6hrs 120C 2hrs + one reflow 100C 5hrs + two reflow

100C 5hrs 80C 10hrs + one reflow 120C 6hrs + one reflow 120C 2hrs + two reflow

120C 2hrs 100C 5hrs + one reflow 80C 10hrs + two reflow 120C 6hrs + two reflow

15

Score
10 5 0 ENIG OSP Sn Im Ag Im HASL

Finish

Only ENIG, HASL and immersion silver are above 15. OSP is below 5 and immersion tin is around 14. ENIG seems to be slightly impacted with baking conditions when immersion silver remains good whatever the baking condition. HASL is the only finish that improves slightly its Fmax when baking conditions are becoming more severe. 2.1.2. TW: As for Fmax, we have taken the fastest Tw and fixed it at 20, the test duration was fixed as the slowest Tw means fixed to nil and then we were able to give marks to the other Tw between zero to 20. Unfortunately when the Tw could not be measured (mainly OSP) because of the wettability curve shape, we had taken into account the remaining negative Fmax at the latest point on the curve. The negative values are not representative of Tw, they simply indicate if the curve was far from cross over again the corrected zero.
Relative Tw according to the finishes and ageing conditions
28 24 20 16 12 8 4 0 ENIG -4 -8 OSP Sn Im Ag Im HASL

ENIG - HASL OSP ImSn Im Ag

Immersion silver and immersion tin reach a threshold, ENIG, OSP, HASL don't. ENIG, HASL and immersion silver cross over the corrected zero, immersion tin reaches with difficulties the corrected zero, OSP never crosses the corrected zero. According to the IPC test method it can be measured two results: the wetting time (Tw) and the wetting force (Fmax).

80C 10hrs 120C 6hrs 120C 2hrs + one reflow 100C 5hrs + two reflow

100C 5hrs 80C 10hrs + one reflow 120C 6hrs + one reflow 120C 2hrs + two reflow

120C 2hrs 100C 5hrs + one reflow 80C 10hrs + two reflow 120C 6hrs + two reflow

Score

Finish

OSP never crossed again the corrected zero meaning very poor wettability. Immersion tin has irregular results and faced difficulties to cross over the corrected zero. Baking

10

conditions seem to have a slight impact on ENIG, immersion silver and HASL. Immersion silver and HASL are the only finishes above 13. 2.1.3. Final score: If we make an average whatever the baking conditions we have a final result for Fmax and Tw. Finally, we can also have an overall score whatever the baking condition and measurements by making the overall average.
25

of each circular pad is about to be computerised with a grey scale mode to be more accurate.
20 18 16 14 12 Score 10 8 6 4 2

80C, 10 hrs 100C, 5 hrs 120C, 2hrs 120C, 6 hrs

Circular spreading test

Wettability relative final score (Fmax & Tw) + overall relative final score
20

15

Fmax Tw Overall score

0
ENIG BOT ENIG TOP OSP BOT OSP TOP Im Sn BOT Im Sn TOP Im Ag BOT Im Ag TOP HASL BOT HASL TOP

Finish and board side

10

Ag Im
-5

HASL

ENIG

Sn Im

OSP

-10

Finish

We can see that the immersion silver has the best results, followed by HASL. ENIG is only third because of poor Tw result due to the wettability curve. Immersion tin is a bit behind while OSP is far from good results. 2.2. Spreading: We have performed two different spreading tests. One is a standard test with rectangular apertures, the other is based on archery target. Those two tests are present on the two board sides in order to see the impact of the first reflow. Finally the standard test is present twice on the top side to see the impact of sweat on spreading. All the boards were manipulated and assembled with appropriate gloves except this second area where people were allowed to add their finger print prior baking. The two following pictures are stencil apertures designs:

It is important to notice that the spreading test is much better on the bottom side which is assembled first than the top side that undergoes one additional reflow prior assembly. In fact, this result is not better because the finish of the top side is destroyed during the first reflow but because the solder paste on the bottom side has two reflows to spread. The spreading tests on the bottom side gave nearly the same result than the one on the top side prior the second reflow. Only OSP and HASL on the TOP side seem to be slightly affected by the baking conditions. The HASL spreading score on the bottom side increases when baking conditions are severe. Only ENIG is above 15. OSP and HASL are below 10. Immersion tin and immersion silver are between 10 and 15. 2.2.2. Standard spreading test: Like for circular pad, a mark was given to each standard spreading test. Higher score means all the pads reach its neighbours.
16,0

Score

Rectangular spreading test

14,0 12,0 10,0 Score 8,0 6,0 4,0 2,0 0,0
ENIG BOT ENIG ENIG TOP TOP Sweat OSP BOT OSP TOP OSP Im Sn TOP - BOT Sweat Im Sn Im Sn TOP TOP Sweat Im Ag Im Ag Im Ag HASL HASL HASL BOT TOP TOP - BOT TOP TOP Sweat Sweat

80C, 10 hrs 100C, 5 hrs 120C, 2hrs 120C, 6 hrs

The three pictures are showing a circular pad after screen printing prior reflow and the same pad after reflow for OSP and ENIG finish.

Finish and board side

The better spreading on the bottom side is less obvious than with the circular test. ENIG is around 12. HASL and immersion silver are between 6 and 12. Immersion tin and OSP are below 6. Concerning the impact of sweat on the spreading, if we mainly consider the 80C peak on the top side, OSP and immersion silver are affected with organic contaminants. 2.2.3. Final score: If we add all the spreading test results we can have a relative final score that has to be compared with the wettability final score. ENIG and immersion silver swap their position, meaning ENIG becomes first for the spreading test and immersion silver becomes third.

2.2.1. Circular spreading test: It was given to each circular pad a mark like for archery target. Higher is the mark less area on the pad is free of solder paste. The maximum mark means full pad covered with reflowed solder paste. The chart below represents the average mark (6 archery target) for each side. X-ray picture

11

20,0 20,0

Spreading overall relative score

15,0

14,4 12,7 12,1

10,0

8,8

5,0

0,0 ENIG HASL Im Ag Im Sn OSP

Conclusion: To see the impact of the baking conditions on the PCB finish, we can rank the finish by adding all the scores (wettability and spreading). Three finishes have nearly the same result: HASL, ENIG, and immersion silver. It is important to notice that the HASL had almost the same behaviour whatever the test (twice second in previous ranking). But ENIG and immersion silver had once the first place and once the third place which make an average around the HASL result. Immersion tin is a bit behind while OSP is very far behind. Obviously the finish that is the most affected by severe baking conditions is OSP. ENIG, immersion silver and immersion tin are slightly impacted with severe baking conditions. HASL has better result with severe baking conditions. One critical point that need to be said is that 0.4 mm QFP and 0.5 mm CSP pitch are assembled on the board. Furthermore 100m SIR are also on the outer layer. This means that hard hot air knives were used to have a flat and regular HASL finish resulting in a thin and weak finish. This can explain why the spreading test and wettability test were not as good as expected with HASL as tin-lead alloy shall spread and wet easier on tinlead finish than other metallic or organic finish.
25,0

Relative overall score : wettability + spreading

80C, 10 hrs 100C, 5 hrs 120C, 2hrs 120C, 6 hrs

20,0

15,0

10,0

5,0

0,0 ENIG OSP Im Sn Im Ag HASL

Finish

3. CONCLUSION:
Why shall we bake the PCB? On the first hand if you do not bake the PCB you might have voids, solder balls issue or even delamination. But on the other hand according to the PCB material, a hard baking might be needed to remove the moisture. Hard baking means wettability and reliability issue if a temperature sensitive finish is used on the PCB. Delamination or reliability issue? Who decide? Though the parts of this study we are now able to bake properly the PCB. We know that the PCB can be stacked as long as the stack is not higher than 2.5cm. We know that

one hour baking at 120C has almost the same efficiency than 1.6 hours at 110C, 2.1 hours at 100C, 3.1 hours at 90C and 5.6 hours at 80C. We also know that 4 hours baking at 120C is needed to remove moisture from the PCB thinner than 2.5mm, stored at 50%+/-10%RH for less than two months and belonging to the group 1 (HF material) or to the group 2 (most of the FR-4). Otherwise for thicker PCB or PCB stored for more than 2 months or PCB made with moisture sensitive material (group 3), 8 hours at 120C is required instead of 4 hours. Those values are given to decrease the moisture percentage below 800 PPM with the dry weight measured after 33 hours baking at 120C. For example, in the literature PCB material supplier recommend for aramid system 2800 PPM maximum for assembly. This value allows to divide the baking times by two. Anyway this baking has an impact on the wettability. This impact is obvious on OSP. No wettability improvement were observed by baking OSP finish 10 hours at 80C instead of 2 hours at 120C. The wetting force is not significantly impacted by the baking while the baking disturbs badly the wetting time for immersion tin and decreases significantly the wetting time for ENIG, immersion silver and HASL. Finally, one of the two spreading tests showed that the baking impacted all the finishes, except HASL. If people want to take care of moisture they have to know that choosing a PCB technology might impose the PCB finish. It would not be recommended to have an OSP or tin immersion finish on a 16 layers polyimide rigid flexible. An other example is the paper/phenol system that seems to be one of the most sensitive material. But it is often used with OSP for the automotive market due to their cost effectiveness. This means that one of the most sensitive system is used with the most temperature sensitive PCB finish. It just has to keep in mind that choosing a PCB technology that requires moisture sensitive materials might reduce the available PCB finish list due to baking constraints. The first results of the on going delamination study show that only few PCB are delaminating during three successive reflow even if they are full of water (800 hours at 85C/85%RH meaning over 7000PPM). It might be worth assembling moisture sensitive PCB without baking them and taking the risk to have assembly issue than bake the PCB and destroy the finish so badly that the PCB cannot be assembled anymore. Anyway when a PCB finish is not affected by temperature (i.e ENIG, immersion silver, HASL), baking is recommended, as if delamination occurs it avoids arguing with the PCB supplier. Anyway, prior assembly, if there is any doubt about the storage conditions, the baking is mandatory Finally, after baking or good packing delivery, storage in a dry cabinet (<5%) allows a long time storage without any risk of moisture absorption. Acknowledgment: We would like to thanks CIREP for giving us some PCB samples. REFERENCES: 1. Subhotosh Khan, Comparison of the Dielectric Constant and Dissipation Factors of non-woven

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Aramid/FR4 and Glass/FR4 Laminates. Downloaded from internet. 2. Arlon, Recommendations for Storage, Drying, and Assembly of Printed Wiring Boards Containing 85NT Substrates. Downloaded from internet. 3. Donald Cullen, Silver & change a tale of silver, copper, nickel and gold. Downloaded from internet. 4. Donald Cullen, Lenora Toscano, Immesion metal PWB surface finishes: A direct comparison of selected fabrication assembly and reliability caharacterictics. Downloaded from internet. 5. Christ Hunt and Ling Zou, Board finish solderability with Sn-Ag-Cu, APEX 2003. 6. Minna Arra, Dongkai Shangguan, Wetting of fresh and aged immersion tin and silver finishes by Sn/Ag/Cu solder, APEX 2003. 7. Robert Gordon, Susan Marr, Dongkai Shangguan, Evaluation of immersion silver finish for automotive electronics. Downloaded from internet. 8. Miller Brothers School of Engineering. Winona state university. Composite materials Engineering. ENGR451: Transport phenomena laboratory: Diffusion coefficient. Downloaded from internet. 9. Raphal Duboz, and al. Utiliser les modles indviduscentr comme laboratoires virtuels pour identifier les paramtres d'un modle agrg. Downloaded from internet. 10. WR Broughton and MJ Lodeiro, Techniques for monitoring water absorption in fibre-reinforced polymer composites. Decembre 2000. Downloaded from internet. 11. Dr. David R. Day. Moisture Monitoring at the PI-SiO2 Interface Using Microdielectric Sensors; Micromet Instruments, Inc. Downloaded from internet. 12. David Locker. An Evaluation of Chip Scale Packages for Missile Applications. Downloaded from internet. 13. A.S. Hussain, and al. Finite element modelling of moisture absorption in single fibre reinforced composite systems. Downloaded from internet. 14. J. Chin, and al. Sorption and Diffusion of Water, Salt Water, and Concrete Pore Solution in Composite Matrices. Journal of Applied Polymer Science, Vol. 1, 483-492, 1999.

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