The Deadly Sins of SMT and Lead-Free Assembly

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$199 Registration Fee Includes Solder Paste Seminar and Buffet Lunch in the VIP Sky Box

Instructor(s): Phil Zarrow, ITM Consulting  

Objectives of the Workshop: Everyone has heard of the “7 Deadly Sins” that will, supposedly, lead one to Hell. There are also the “Deadly Sins” of SMT - there are more than just 7 – and they can make your assembly process a “hell on earth”.

During the course of our assembly process audits and troubleshooting work, we tend to see trends in the types of errors and problems. In other words, a lot of people are making the same mistakes. The resulting process problems wreak havoc with an impact on assembly yields ranging from 5 to 20%. In addition to this direct cost, there is also additional financial impact with regard to time spent reworking and repairing, the on corrective action by QC, Engineering and Management, and, of course, “do-over”.

This workshop identifies the “deadly sins” of SMT assembly, both for Pb-free and “leaded” processes. Besides the symptoms and consequences of each type of error, root-cause, rectification and prevention techniques will be presented. The workshop will, thus, provide the participant with an understanding of how to hopefully avoid, or at least quickly identify and correct the most common SMT assembly problems. It will include identification of vendor and source problems including components and materials as well as design related problems. Case studies are cited throughout the course.

 Topics Covered: Areas of General Process “Sins”

• Utilization of Process Feedback Data
  Quality methodologies & effectiveness

• Design for Manufacturability and Assembly
  Design related issues

• In-Process Inspection and AOI
  Inspection equipment and strategies

• Solder Paste Selection
  Basic material selections

• MSD
  Handling procedures throughout the process

• Procedures and Documentation

Equipment Issues: we find sins in the set-up, operation and maintenance of all the basic machines in the processes

• Process Issues: Sinful practices rear their satanic heads throughout all the steps in assembly, from Printing through soldering.
  
• Inefficiency: these sins eat away directly at “The Bottom Line” and, again, are found throughout the assembly process

Lead-Free Specific Process “Sins”

• Uncontrolled Mixed Assembly
  Materials control and logistic issues can relate directly to the process and quality issues in LF

• Stencil Design
  Hardware & tooling issues can be unique for LF

• Inspection

• Wave Soldering
  Certain machines and processes present complex conversion issues.

Failure Analysis Technique  

Q & A and Discussion

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