Improving Solder Paste Reflow

Mike Fenner
Technical Manager Indium Europe
March 2010 Slide 1

Today

Heat transfer and equipment How to profile, variables to consider Understanding and designing the Best profile Understanding what the profile does

Slide 2

Heat transfer
Revision
Physics: Transferring thermal energy

Conduction Radiation Convection

Slide 3

Reflow Equipment
Conduction
Hot plate/travelling hot plate Thick film guys Hot bar Specific components Soldering iron Repair, odd form

Induction - Another industry another day

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Reflow Equipment
Leaves Convection
Vapour Phase Reflow [Condensation Soldering] Forced Air convection

Slide 5

Reflow Equipment
Vapour Phase Reflow
Single chamber process Usually batch, can be conveyorised
Boil Inert Liquid Heated Vapour Condenses on Product (All Surfaces) Equilibrium process, heat transfer stops at BP of liquid Not mass, shape or color sensitive Almost No DT at reflow
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Vapor Phase Reflow Oven (Batch Style)

1980s Elegant and simple concept Temperature rise rate/ RAMP rate??? Anaerobic? 21st C Cost?? Mass Production??? Generally high mix/ low volume/prototyping
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Reflow Equipment
Convection/Forced convection
Multi chamber (zone) Usually always conveyorised

Air/nitrogen is heated and circulated Provides Even Heat Moderate Price Not usually, but can be, in equilibrium

The dominant technology

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Convection Reflow Ovens: Dominate the Industry

Courtesy: Electrovert
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Before we go any further

There is no universal best profile
Profile is not determined by the paste Profile is not determined by the PCBA Profile is not determined by the reflow oven Its a combination and that combination is unique to you Mostly its determined by the efficiency of the oven and the workload. Paste is secondary

Any Recommended Profile is therefore just a strong suggestion

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Classic Profiling concept

Z1

Z2

Z3

Z4

Z5

Z6

Z7 Z7

Cooling Cooling

Z1

Z2

Z3

Z4

Z5

Z6

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Capturing a temperature profile

Thermocouples are attached to components on the PCBa The temperature of the components is measured as the PCBa passes through the oven and is soldered.

T
Peak Temp Liquidus Temp
Soak Exit Temp Soak Entry Temp

Heating Rates c/s Soak time Time Above Liquidus RAMP SOAK
Reflow

There are 2 basic methods.

t
COOL

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Fishing wire method

Uses oven/external measurement system and long thermocouples Practical only on small ovens Measurements tend to be more variable Assembly is easily snagged and damaged on moving conveyor parts

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So in practice - how do you determine best profile?

Use a data logger or Profiler Use predictive software with SPC What is the best profile?

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Thermal Profilers

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Process Variables

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Oven type and settings Solder paste and flux Board finish Components technology PCB substrate and layout Throughput

The Lead Free Challenge

Component Integrity
Max package temperatures currently 235-240C
Excess heating has unknown effect on device MTBF Widespread use of delicate package types.

Reduced process window

Lead free pastes have liquidus temp 30-40C higher than Sn/Pb

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Sn/Pb process window

Illustration for standard Sn63/Pb37 solder paste (TLiq = 183C)
Solder paste spec specifies min peak of 205 C for good wetting Component maximum is 235C
Peak Temp Deg C

TOO HOT

235 205

OK
TOO COLD

30C

WE HAVE A 30C PROCESS WINDOW TO WORK WITH !

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SAC process window

Illustration for lead free SnAgCu solder paste ( Tliq = 217C)
Solder paste spec specifies min peak of 227 C for good wetting Max Peak ideally is 257C but component max is still 235C
Peak Temp Deg C

TOO HOT

235 227

OK
TOO COLD

8C

WE NOW HAVE AN 8C PROCESS WINDOW TO WORK WITH !

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Reduced process window

Oven needs to maintain small delta T across the board. Profiles need to be developed for each board type Periodic profiling required to monitor and maintain process

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Pass through profiling system method - AKA Data Logger

Follows the PCBa through the reflow oven Data logger must be protected from the heat Can be used on large or small ovens Generally more accurate and repeatable Must be small to pass through restricted oven tunnels Should be narrow to allow profiling of small PCBs
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Methods of thermocouple attachment

Method
Kapton Tape

Advantage
quick/non destructive

Disadvantage
Non permanent / unreliable, errors

Adhesive metal foil

quick/non destructive

Non permanent / unreliable, errors

High temperature adhesive

robust/quick cure

Rel. poor thermal conductivity, errors

HMP solder (290-305DegC)

Slide 22

robust/good conductivity

Dedicated test PCBa reqd

Where to attach TCs ?

Aim is to heat the board uniformly
Components vary in size, mass, texture and colour. PCBs vary is size, shape, mass, component densities

Need to identify extremes of the profile envelope.

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Some pointers
High mass/bigger components will heat up slowest Low mass/smaller components will heat up fastest Power components with integral heat-sinks Components connected to large copper ground planes Indirectly heated components ( BGA ) Components nearer board edges Components nearer the centre / densely populated Components shadowed by others

Slide 24

Profiling dos and don'ts

DO make the TC leads long enough so that the profiler follows at least 1 zone behind the PCB.

DONT pass the profiler through the oven first, always behind the PCBa.
DO profile an example of the actual board being processed.

DONT profile the test board again before it has returned to ambient temperature.
DO profile a populated board.

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Profile Prediction
Allows the effect of heater and belt-speed set-point changes to be predicted Saves time and money by eliminating the need to perform unnecessary profile runs for set-up and fine tuning Reduces machine downtime by allowing process set-up to be completed offline.

Eases process set-up and change over to Lead Free paste Unique graphical approach intuitively provides guidance to the user to optimise the process Quickly allows the user to evaluate the effect of paste changes on the process.

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Optimising Reflow

Conventional / New Profiles Common Defects Ideal Profile Design

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Do a proper DoE Proprietary/Predictive Programs with SPC

Ours is ReflowCoach

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Or use SPC tools which come with good profilers

Instantly produces run charts for each process parameter Also calculates XBar,,Cp and Cpk Source data selected from profile database
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Potential Reflow Problems

250

Temperature (oC)

1. 2.
3. 4. 5.

Splatter, thermal shock Insufficient solvent evaporation 1 Oxidation, too much flux 2 activation Insufficient flux activity TAL
200 150 100 50 0

5 3 4 6

a)

b)

Long/Hot: IM too thick, component damage Short/Cool: trapping of flux, voids

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

Time (seconds)

6.
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Too fast: thermal shock Too slow: large grains=> weak joint

Conventional Profile Design

IR sensitive to variation in parts feature. Soak zone helped to reduce temperature gradient
250
Temperature (C)

200 150 100 50 0 0 100 200 300 400 500 Cold spot Hot spot MP

Slide 31

Time (seconds)

Optimized reflow profile via defect mechanisms consideration

Slow ramp-up to 195C, gradual raise to 200C, spike to 230 C, rapid cool down.
250
Temperature (C)

200 150 100 50 0 0 100 200 300 400 500 Profile MP

Slide 32

Time (seconds)

Defect Mechanisms Analysis

Tombstoning / Skewing
uneven wetting at both ends of chip

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Defect Mechanisms Analysis - II

Wicking / Opens
leads hotter than PCB
slow ramp up rate to allow the board and components reaching temperature equilibrium before solder melts; more bottom side heating

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Defect Mechanisms Analysis - III

Solder balling
spattering (slow ramp up rate to dry out paste
solvents or moisture gradually) excessive oxidation (minimize heat input prior to reflow (slow ramp up rate, no plateau at soaking zone) to reduce oxidation)

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Defect Mechanisms Analysis - IV

Hot slump / Bridging
viscosity drops with increasing temperature
slow ramp up rate to dry out paste solvent gradually before viscosity decreases too much

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Defect Mechanisms Analysis - V

Solder beading
Slumping (Viscosity drops w/ increasing temperature) Spattering (Rapid outgassing under low standoff components)

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Beading is more often a result of poor aperture design

Defect Mechanism - VI
Poor wetting
excessive oxidation(minimize heat input prior to reflow (minimize soaking zone, or use linear ramp-up from ambient to solder melting temperature) to reduce oxidation)

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Defect Mechanisms Analysis - VII Voiding

excessive oxidation (minimize heat input prior to reflow (minimize soaking zone, or use linear rampup from ambient to solder melting temperature) to reduce oxidation) flux remnant too high in viscosity (cooler reflow profile to allow more solvents in flux remnant)

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Defect Mechanisms Analysis - VIII

Charring - dark flux residue Leaching - grainy solder joint appearance Dewetting - uneven pad wetting Excessive Intermetallics - poor joint
reliability
overheat (lower temperature, shorter time above Liquidus)

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Voiding changes things

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Summary
Temperature profiling forms a key part of lead free processing. Used in both process setup and ongoing process control Modern profiling equipment has extensive tools to help setup and maintain your lead free process.
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Further reading: In depth explanation of what weve just seen

Slide 43

Finally
Component Placement 15% Solder Paste Screen Printer 64%

Reflow 15% Incoming Components 6%

Optimizing printing and reflow processes can alleviate almost 80% of defects.
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Thats it
Thank you for your attention Questions
Acknowledgements and thanks to Solderstar for their assistance in preparation of this presentation www.solderstar.co.uk

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