HDPUG Demonstrates Benefits of Cooperative R&D

Estimated reading time: 17 minutes

Denny Fritz from SAIC called-in to report on the Counterfeit PCB Materials project. The initial working group had identified two threats: safety, for example where an electrical fire resulted from the failure of a counterfeit solder mask, and trust, where the whole board was counterfeit, or where circuitry was added to design to accommodate malicious third party intent. It had been agreed to limit the scope of the project to the safety aspect in the first instance, and the primary objective was to identify and investigate safety as a function of counterfeit materials in the electronics industry and to produce a white paper assessing the validity of claims concerning potential insecure practices in the PCB Materials industry, dispelling or validating known rumours and recommending any changes needed. These recommendations might include possible surveillance schemes or techniques and third party verification of the chemical composition of materials.

HDPUG project facilitator Bob Smith reviewed Phase 2 of the FCBGA Package Warpage project, which was at definition stage. The goal was to establish a limit for dynamic package warpage that could be mitigated during board assembly without impacting solder joint quality. Phase 1 of the project had been to develop a test method to enable the team to compare and contrast the effects of the mitigation techniques.

The objective of Phase 2 was to establish the maximum warp an optimised process could accommodate and characterise the contribution of the mitigation techniques on the process yield. A modified hot air rework station was used to simulate the dynamic warpage characteristics of the FCBGA package, by lifting the component up or down at different temperatures. A video camera monitored the solder joints on the outside row on one side of the package. The material parameters being studied were solder paste activity, solder paste tackiness, solder paste volume, reflow profile, peak temperature, reflow atmosphere and cooling rate. Test vehicle samples were in the process of being assembled, and testing was scheduled to commence in July 2015.

At the end of each presentation, a sign-up sheet was circulated to enable members to indicate their interest in joining that project.

In the final session of a full and varied day, Fisher moderated a review of the follow-up status of ideas for new project proposals: Richard Coyle from Alcatel-Lucent, on a call-in, detailed the proposals for both the SAC Ageing 3 project and the Industry Consortia Collaboration and Resource Management for Thermal Fatigue Evaluations of Alternate Lead-free Alloys project. Other ideas described were Board Thickness Impact on Component Accelerated Thermal Cycling Performance and Effect of Rework on Component reliability.

Fisher commented that there were effectively four levels of technology: industry level, enterprise level, corporate level and operational level; and HDPUG’s sweet spot was in the operational and corporate area, where members could collaborate and cooperate in seeking non-competitive industry solutions. HDPUG's projects continued to provide substantial savings and resource leveraging for its members by sharing the costs of research, raising the awareness of the industry and encouraging material suppliers to develop materials to address its issues and manufacturing companies to adopt procedures and techniques of mutual interest.

It was an eye-opening and technically stimulating day for an outsider. What impressed me most was the feeling of community spirit and the willingness of members to share skills and resources. Many thanks, HDPUG, for giving me the opportunity to understand a little about how your organisation operates.

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