What is DEK doing to assist their partners and clients with the adoption of lead-free materials?

DEK’s research into the impact of implementing lead-free materials into surface mount pre-placement processing has progressed in earnest for years now, and with the 2006 deadline rapidly approaching, assemblers need the benefit of hands-on experience if they are to implement workable processes in time.

It has been documented on countless occasions that substantial percentages of all SMA faults can be attributed to the pre-placement process. This being the case, a comprehensive understanding of the solder imaging process becomes all the more imperative when implementing a change this significant. Earlier research previously referred to began to identify, distinguish and quantify imaging differences between conventional lead-bearing materials and the newer lead-free formulations. More recent generations of lead-free pastes were since added to the investigations and the applications databases we provide our partners and customers continue to expand.

Moving beyond the original findings that identified a measurable and consistent difference in the release efficiency of the lead-free materials, more current focus has been upon broadening the scope of data collection to include a range of stencil types, varying in both material and manufacturing methodology. Our core objective remains to provide a complete and interacting pre-placement process ¾ optimized machine configurations, machine parameters, and substrate support tooling, as well as optimized stencil materials, manufacturing method and aperture design. That ‘the stencil matters’ comes as no surprise to anyone even marginally familiar with the process. However, the manner and degree to which variables in aperture position, geometry and material composition impact a lead-free process differently from a lead-rich one are significant, both with respect to paste release characteristics and the lower wetting forces. Details of these and other applied process engineering projects and research are always available at www.dek.com.