Printed Circuit Board Reflow by Vapour Phase Heating

The popular commercial processes for reflow, namely infra‐red radiation and immersion in hot oil, have several disadvantages. By contrast, the vapour phase heating method for reflowing tin‐lead coatings presents many welcome features. A comparison is made of the technology of the three processes and details are given of the desirable properties of liquids for use in vapour phase heating. Various parameters are assessed in tabular form for the three techniques. The fact that fluxing is unnecessary in vapour phase reflow is clearly an added benefit.