IPC Panel on Bottom-terminated Components

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

Rovere: Yes, you have the potential for cleaning materials to get trapped under the BTCs as well, which could affect your electrical performance. The tough part with cleaning is that tracing it back to a cleaning defect is fairly difficult. You might have that issue, but you wouldn’t know it because you would just replace the part, thinking it was a part issue or something else. It’s tough to find a root cause in that type of situation. The nice thing about solder is it’s cut and dry. You might have a short and solder that’s bridged between two leads. Or the solder isn’t there, and there’s an open. Whereas when you start getting into the flux, you might see degradation in performance versus clearly identifying the cause.

Shaughnessy: And dendrites could also be a problem.

Rovere: Exactly. Over time dendrites, might grow. That’s another concern where you wouldn’t see it initially, but sometime down the line, you could have an issue.

Shaughnessy: They were saying that they try to grow dendrites, and they’re easy to grow.

Rovere: I’ve always had the experience that if you want to try to do something, it always becomes difficult, but then when you’re not trying to do it, it’s the easiest thing to do.

Shaughnessy: So, you’ve been out of college 15 years or so?

Rovere: I completed my undergraduate degree at Lehigh University. About five years later, I went back part-time for a master’s degree at Binghamton University in New York; I did one class a semester for about 3.5 years, and then did a master’s thesis for about one year. I’m glad I did it, especially before I had kids. It was a decent amount of time, traveling back and forth for classes and everything. I learned a lot in terms of how to conduct research for papers, and seeing how people promote papers was interesting. For early-career engineers, I recommend that they try to earn a master’s degree at some point, maybe without doing a thesis, if they can do without one.

Shaughnessy: What’s the next show you plan on attending?

Rovere: This is the first of many panels, assuming they let me back. I’m going to go to SMTAI this fall, and I plan on attending IPC APEX EXPO in January. I’m going to try to bring some of the early career engineers in our area with me. I started attending shows a little late in my career, so I’m trying to get them started earlier. And right now is a good time because a lot of companies are looking for the next generation to take over. If you want to get involved, it’s just as simple as emailing the IPC Conference Program Manager and telling them that you want to be on a panel.

Shaughnessy: It’s great if you and your company are involved in the standards process.

Rovere: Adopting it within a company as a benefit can be challenging, which is why I participate in these panels. This reinforces the message that Lockheed Martin is fully engaged in the standards process. At the same time, it helps improve my skill set by speaking in front of a large room full of industry experts.

Shaughnessy: It benefits everybody. Thanks for your time.

Rovere: Thank you, Andy.

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