SOLDER BEADING AND SOLDER BALLING BASIC INFORMATION AND TUTORIALS


Solder balling.
Elevated temperatures and excessive time at those temperatures during the warm-up and preheating stages can result in inadequate fluxing activity or insufficient protection of solder spheres in the paste, causing solder balling. In addition to the quality of solder paste, the presence of solder balls may be essentially related to the compatibility between the paste and the reflow profile. On the other hand, inadequate preheating or heating too fast may cause spattering, as evidenced by random solder balls. The two heating stages preceding the spike/reflow zone are primarily responsible for this phenomenon.

Solder beading.
Solder beading refers to the occurrence of large solder balls (usually larger than 0.005 in [0.13 mm] in diameter) that are always associated with small and low-clearance passive components (capacitors and resistors).

This problem will occur even when the paste may otherwise perform perfectly, i.e., free of solder balls at all other locations (components) on the board and with good wetting. The trouble with solder beading is that it may occur in most or all board assemblies, rendering the first-time yield to nearly zero. The current remedy on the production floor is to manually remove the beads.

The formation of solder beads near or under capacitors and resistors is largely attributed to paste flow into the underside of the component body between two terminations aided by capillary effect. As this portion of paste melts during reflow, it becomes isolated away from the main solder on the wettable solder pads, forming large discrete solder beads.

With other factors, reflow profile is a contributor to this phenomenon The practice of adopting a slower preheating rate and a lower reflow peak temperature can reduce solder beading. However, if the reflow profile is at its optimum, and the problem still persists, a new paste with a strengthened chemistry is the solution.

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