Soldering Techniques for Fine‐pitch SMDs

To better understand trends and user experiences with fine‐pitch surface mounted component assembly, the author's company has surveyed a number of manufacturing engineers involved in the processing of such devices, including telecommunications equipment, business equipment, computers and related peripherals, test instruments, automotive electronics and military electronics. This paper summarises the findings of this survey. It reviews the various fine‐pitch devices, the special process steps required to assemble these components, conditions under which mass reflow techniques have proved acceptable, and the reported advantages and limitations of the alternative localised reflow processes.