How to create the perfect SMT reflow oven profile - ESCATEC

The reflow oven is used primarily for the reflow soldering of surface mount electronic components to printed circuit boards (PCB). If you fail ... SupplierPortal AboutUs OurCompany MarketSegments GlobalFacilities Solutions Innovate ProductDesign&Development NewProductIntroduction MicroOptoElectroMechanicalSystems Scale IntelligentSupplyChain ElectronicsManufacturing&Moulding OrderFulfilment Repeat RelationshipManagement ProductLifecycleManagement Repair&Rework Resources Contentlibrary Blog Careers WhychooseESCATEC CurrentVacancies GETINTOUCH OurCompany ESCATEChavealonghistoryofprovidingdesignandmanufacturingsolutionstoworld-renownedOEMs.Werealisetheirideas,fromconcepttodeliverytoafter-salesservice,andofferthemthespecificsolutionstheyneed. Readmore MarketSegments ESCATECpartnerswithnumerousmajorOEMbrandsacrossawiderangeofmarketsegments.WehavehelpedOEMsinavarietyofsectorssuchas;IndustrialElectronics;Medical,Healthcare&Life-sciences;Mobility&Transportation;IoT&ConnectedDevices. 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ViewtheScalepage Jumpto: IntelligentSupplyChain ElectronicsManufacturing&Moulding OrderFulfilment Repeat Demandforyourproductisstrongbutyouknowit’sonlyamatteroftimebeforethecompetitionstarttotryandcatchup.You’renotlookingtostandstill,you’reamarketleader,andthat’swherethe‘Repeat’stageoftheESCATECprocesskicksin. ViewtheRepeatpage Jumpto: RelationshipManagement ProductLifecycleManagement Repair&Rework AboutUs OurCompany MarketSegments GlobalFacilities Solutions Innovate ProductDesign&Development NewProductIntroduction MicroOptoElectroMechanicalSystems Scale IntelligentSupplyChain ElectronicsManufacturing&Moulding OrderFulfilment Repeat RelationshipManagement ProductLifecycleManagement Repair&Rework Resources Contentlibrary Blog Careers WhychooseESCATEC CurrentVacancies ElectronicsManufacturing 29May,2019/ BYRichardBarratt HowtocreatetheperfectSMTreflowovenprofile SHARETHISARTICLE Printedcircuitboardassemblies(PCBAs)areoftenviewedascommodityitems.Butconsistentlyproducingtheminvolumecantaketimetoperfect. Electronicsmanufacturingservices(EMS)providers maywellhavetheirown preferences whenitcomestotheirchoiceof machinetypeandbrand.But,broadlyspeaking,theprocessstepsthattheygothroughtoproducePCBAsare thesame. Thereishoweveronespecificstepthatcanmakeallofthedifferencewhenitcomestoqualityandconsistency -creatingthesurfacemount(SMT)reflowovenprofile. The reflowoven isusedprimarilyfor the reflowsoldering ofsurfacemountelectroniccomponentstoprintedcircuitboards(PCB). Ifyoufailtoprofiletheovencorrectly,thenallofthehardworkandeffortthathasgoneintoloadingfeeders,programmingthemachines,optimisingthebuildandthenrunningtheproductionlinewillbewasted. SowhatshouldyourEMS partnerbedoingtoperfecttheirreflowovenprofile?Let'sfindout. Workingonthebaseline TheNewProductIntroduction(NPI)engineerwillusuallystarttheprocessbyselectinganovenprofiletheyhaveusedbeforeandthatisstoredontheirsystem. Overtime,someEMSprovidersmaydeveloparangeof"baseline"profiles,whichcanthenbeselecteddependingonthePCBAtheyareworkingon.Thetimetakentoperfectthebaselineprofilewillpaydividendsasmostassemblieswillthenfallwithinoneofthem. Baselineprofilesmayinclude: Onededicatedtodenselypopulatedassemblieswithelevatedtemperatures Onededicatedto"standard"assemblies Onededicatedtoassembliesthatcontainsensitivepartsandrequirelowertemperatures Usingtheirskill,judgementandexperience,theNPIengineerwillselecttheprofileandtemperaturesettingsthattheybelievearebestsuitedtothenewassembly. RequestingasamplePCBA Ideally,theOEMwillhaveprovidedtheirassemblypartnerwithapopulatedprintedcircuitassembly.Ifoneisn'tprovided,thentheNPIengineermayrequestoneforuseduringtheset-upprocess. TheNPIengineerwillattachthermocouplestomultiplelocationsacrossthesampleboard.Theseshouldbeattachedtoarangeofcomponentswithvaryingdegreesofheatdissipation-i.e.atransformer,ballgridarray(BGA)andpassivedevices. DependentonthesizeofthePCBA,itisrecommendedthatbetweenthreeandsixthermocouplesareattachedandit'scriticaltheyareconnectedproperly. QuiteoftenEMSproviderswilltapetheseinplacebut,unfortunately,thereisariskthattheywillliftduringtheprocess,whichcanresultintheairtemperaturebeingmeasuredratherthantheboardandleadtemperature. Forasecureconnectionwerecommendapplying: Hightemperaturesoldertosecurethethermocoupletothecomponentlead Anadhesive,suchasChipbonder,ensuringresidualglueisnotfoundbetweenmatingsurfaces SpecialattentionshouldbegiventoBGAs.Forthebestresults,athermocoupleshouldbeplacedunderneaththedevicewhichmakesdirectcontactwiththeterminations andenablingasmallholetobedrilledthroughtheundersideoftheboard.Butthis canbeadestructiveprocesssowillrequireasamplePCBAfromtheoutset. ThePCBAwillthenberunthroughthereflowovenwiththermocouplesattachedtoadatalogger.It'simportantthatthatthedataloggerispositionedcorrectlysothatitdoesn'taffectthemovementofthePCBAthroughtheoven. OncethePCBAhaspassedthroughtheoven,theresultsfromthedataloggerwillbedownloadedintothechosenovenprofilingsoftware.Andthisiswherethefirstrealanalysisoftheprofilebegins. It'sallinthedetail Eachsolderpastemanufacturerwillrecommendabaselineprofilewith+and-tolerances.Wherepossible,theEMSproviderwilltryandachievearesultinthemiddleofthesetolerancebands.However,certaincomponentrequirements mayrequirethemtoworkattheupperorlowerlimitsofthesetolerances. TheNPIengineer shouldbepayingcloseattentiontothefollowingthreeareas(basedontheassumptionthatatypicallead-freealloywithameltingpointof217degreesCelsius(°C)isused): Ramp-thisistherateoftemperatureincreasemeasuredin°Cpersecondandshouldbebetween1-3°Cpersecond.Thiswillbemorenoticeableatthebeginningoftheprofilewheretheboardtemperaturechangesfromambientto120°C.Failingtocomplywiththiscouldleadtocomponentdamageandthisisoneareacomponentmanufacturerstypicallyspecify. Soak-normallyoccupies33-50 percentofthetotalheatedtunnellengthandexposesthePCBtoarelativelysteadytemperaturethatwillallowthecomponentsofdifferentmasstobeuniformintemperature.Thesoakzonealsoallowsthefluxtoconcentrateandthevolatilestoescapefromthepaste. Reflow-thisistheareawherethetemperatureiselevatedtobetween230and250°C.Acriticalmeasureisthetimeabovereflow,whichtypicallylastsbetween45 and90seconds.It'simportanttocheckcomponentspecificationsformaximumtemperature. Finetuningtheprofile Dependingonthedataloggeroutput,theNPIengineermaydecideto"finetune"theprofilefurther.Usingtheovenprofilingsoftware,theNPIengineerhastheabilitytoamendcertainovenparameters(speed/temperature)throughtheovenprofilingsoftwareandtothenviewthe"predicted"results. Inourexperience,wehavefoundthepredictiontooltobehighly effective-however,itdoesrelyonensuringtheovenisaccuratelyrepresentedwithinthesoftware.Todothis,thesoftwarewillneedtounderstandtheovenmakeandmodel,thenumberofzonesandthelengthofeachzone. ProvidingtheNPIengineerishappywiththepredictedresults,theywillthenmakephysicalchangestotheovenparametersandstoretheprofileunderauniquereferencenumber.Thereferencenumberwilltypicallyconsistoftheitemcode,therevisionlevelandwhethertheprofileisforthetoporbottomsideofthePCBA. Sothereyouhaveit:thekeystepsthatyourEMSprovider willgothroughtocreatetheperfectovenprofile toensureyourproductsarebeingbuilttoaconsistentlyhighstandard. Ifyou’reinterestedinfindingoutmorehowanEMSprovidergoesaboutsettingupandcontrollingtheirreflowovensthenfeelfreetocontactamemberoftheJJSteam. YoucanalsosubscribetoourblogforregularupdatesonEMSindustrynews. SHARETHISARTICLE LEAVEACOMMENTONTHISPOST RESOURCES LATESTSTORIES 11Aug,2022 WhatarethedifferencesbetweenanEMSproviderandanODM? 04Aug,2022 Softfruit:thefinalfrontierforroboticsinagriculture? RESOURCES GetadeeperunderstandingofoutsourcingmanufacturingbydownloadingindustryeBooksandin-depthguides. DISCOVER SUBSCRIBETOESCATECCONTENT News,articles,educationandmuchmore. 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