Kimberly Flanagan, Technical Support Engineer, and Phil Zarrow discuss how Solder Fortification® Preforms can help reduce voiding and increase joint solder volume during PCB assembly.
Phil Zarrow: Kim, Solder Fortification® Preforms. What exactly are they?
Kimberly Flanagan: Solder Fortification® Preforms are a type of preform that are used in conjunction with solder paste for PCB assembly. They help to reduce voiding and increase the amount of solder volume in your joint.
Phil Zarrow: What are some of the applications that you've seen these used for?
Kimberly Flanagan: Some of the applications that solder fortifications can be used for are pin-in-paste applications to increase the amount of solder volume, or in conjunction with BTCs, or even leaded components, to help increase the amount of solder volume or decrease the amount of voiding
Phil Zarrow: I've personally used these to work with pin-in-paste or intrusive soldering, and I like the fact that they're invisible to the process because they come packaged on tape & reel and my pick-and-place machine just sees them as another component, so I'm not adding another machine or process.
Kimberly Flanagan: One of the most beneficial aspects of the solder fortification preforms is that they come in tape & reel so you can include them into your PCB assembly process without incorporating a separate process, so they can be used right with your placement of your components, and you're not adding any other steps.
Phil Zarrow: Right. My pick-and-place machine just sees them as another chip component.
Kimberly Flanagan: Correct.
Phil Zarrow: What sizes do they come in?
Kimberly Flanagan: They do come in chip sizes, so 0201s, 0402s, 0603s, and 0805s.
Phil Zarrow: Pick your solder volume?
Kimberly Flanagan: Yes.
Phil Zarrow: Kim, where can we find out more information?
Kimberly Flanagan: You can find out more information from our website, www.indium.com/, or you can contact me directly at kflanagan@indium.com.
Phil Zarrow: Kim, thank you very much.
Kimberly Flanagan: Thanks Phil.