In this column, I will confine my comments to the milestones, key events/activities, and thought processes, to some extent, of IPC Joint Industry Standard J-STD-006: “Requirements for Electronic-Grade Solder Alloys and Fluxed and Non-Fluxed Solid Solders for Electronic Soldering Applications.” 

J-STD-006 primarily focuses on solder alloys and is generally deemed mundane—certainly not glamourous. However, solder alloy is critical to electronics, performing a critical function as the interconnecting material for electrical, thermal, and physical connections as well as other surface coating functions. To reiterate my two snippet statements over the years: 

Accordingly, J-STD-006 has been playing a pivotal role in serving the industry’s needs and wants, particularly during the transitional period from the leaded world to lead-free and onward.  

Serving as the chairman of the standard over the years, I have been privileged to personally work with both users and suppliers of solder alloys to enhance communication and facilitate solving prevalent issues in a timely manner. Our goal has always been to find the best solution when an issue arises and to reach consensus when different positions exist. Throughout the years, in our communications and discussions, whether in-person or via air waves, our task group always follows the principles of standardization from the American National Standard Institute (ANSI) and IPC.  

These principles include how standards should show a relationship to design for manufacturability (DFM) and design for the environment (DFE), minimize time to market, contain simple language, focus on end-product performance, and include a feedback system on use and problems for future improvement. Principles also: include—rather than inhibit—innovation; do not keep people out, and; do not contain information that cannot be defended with data. The standard should include specification information—it should not tell you how to make something. In a nutshell, it is worthwhile being reminded that the standard is a specification—not a know-how document. 

With these items in mind—for the benefit of readers who have not been participants in our task group, and for the interest of paving the future path of current and future participants—I share a few highlights of J-STD-006, in both retrospective and prospective perspectives, that might be helpful.

What Has Been Accomplished
First and foremost, we thank our task group members who have worked patiently and relentlessly to move the J-STD-006 forward and upward over the years. J-STD-006 has moved (improved) from J-STD-006 to J-STD-006A version (May 2001), and to J-STD-006 B (January 2006) and J-STD-006B with Amendments 1 and 2 (October 2009), further to J-STD-006C (July 2013) and J-STD 006C with Amendment 1 (October 2017). For the recent years since the lead-free transition period, key milestones include:

Solder Alloy Inclusion in the Standard
Requirements to list a solder alloy in the J-STD-006 include:

It should be noted that all elements herein refer to all intentionally introduced elements or included in the manufacturing process of an alloy composition for a purpose, use or expected function, rare earth or otherwise (e.g., La, Ce, Nd, Mn, Ge, etc.) regardless of dosage (e.g., 88 wt% or 0.01 wt%); that is, elements in an alloy composition that are not introduced by design are impurities.

Upcoming Challenges
In our recent past meetings, I have challenged the task group to address four questions: 

To this end, one of the recurring issues that was brought up in our task group meetings is dopant vs. impurities. As more new alloys are being developed with intentionally added dopant(s)  
in a small weight percentage, J-STD-006 bears the responsibility to provide a guide.

Framework Efforts on Dopants vs. Impurities
Updating solder alloy impurities remains a challenge. Differentiating dopants from impurities drives another level of effort. I have laid out the skeletal framework that is to be considered in three distinct categories of elements.

1. Current impurities elements (Table 3-2). 

• E.g., Ag, Cd, Pb, Al, Cu, Sn, As, Fe, Zn, Au, In, Sb, Bi, Ni

2. Additional elements to be considered. 

3. Dopants being used in alloys that are listed in the current impurity table.

• E.g., Ni, others 

To move forward to the next stage of development of J-STD-006, the issue is requested to be addressed. This will be a daunting task, demanding substantial efforts and affecting suppliers, users, and the industry overall. 

Click here for part 2 of this column.

 This column originally appeared in the January 2020 issue of SMT007 Magazine