The electronics industry has, over the course of the last half century, transformed the world in a way that only science fiction writers could have imagined when the industry was still in its infancy.

The idea of monitoring manufacturing processes using statistical methods goes back to the 1920s when Walter A. Shewhart, an American physicist, engineer and statistician, was engaged by the Western Electric Company in Chicago to find a way to produce their products with a certain quality level. 

The trend towards ever smaller components and more function density continues unabated in the SMT field.

have said it many times in articles and seminars, Nothing Solders Like Solder, but design and manufacturing engineers need to understand all the different process options available.

Scientific exploration often requires the need to work with extraordinary technologies. Therefore, universities and research institutes require SMD production machines with a very large application range that allow the highest quality production, especially with small series.

Few things strike more dread in the hearts of technical service personnel than the words "Is your flux compatible with material 'XYZ'?"

Electronic assembly cleaning processes are becoming increasingly more complex because of global environmental mandates and customer-driven product performance requirements.

Three-dimensional interconnection of electronic assemblies is a topic very much at center stage presently, as the electronic packaging community struggles to continue to deliver the long-standing market demand for small, lighter, faster, cheaper and better electronics.

During manufacture, circuit boards can be subjected to many steps, with each step impacting the surface finish.

The reliability of lead-free solder joints has been addressed in previous Global SMT & Packaging columns to the extent possible at that time.

With the introduction of lead-free assembly, engineers have experienced a range of new process defects at each stage of manufacture.

Depending on how liberal one is in their definition of what a wafer level package is, the technology is either entering its second, third or perhaps even its fourth or fifth decade of use.

As the first process step in an SMT production line, solder paste printing is of key importance. 

In part two of the series, other factors, such as board metallization, component finish metallization, mixing of alloys and their effect on the IMC formation, are highlighted in detail.

The continuing trend for the miniaturisation of portable electronic devices, combined with the demand for ever-greater functionality from those devices, has driven many surface mount designers away from the traditional SMT leaded package selections of PLCC, QFP, TSOP etc, and towards packages with an area grid array footprint.

Over the last few years I have been asked to examine many different ball grid array (BGA) defects from assembly and on field failures here are a selection of the defects and some of the popular causes.