Laser soldering of small pitch BGAs on Plexiglas substrate PCBs
The paper presents the results of the study and the procedure of soldering 200µm pitch BGAs on circuits on PMMA (Poly-methyl-methacrylate or Plexiglas) substrate, starting from the paste deposition process, fine placement of the BGAs and finally soldering. The novelty in this research is that it had to face two restrictions. The combination of PMMA substrate, transparent to laser, and SnBi, ecologic solder paste, which required a low and very well-controlled soldering temperature, and the small size of the BGAs which needed a punctual soldering. These particularities led the team to use laser for soldering, due to the possibility of highly accurate energy calculation and very small size of the focused beam.
Laser soldering control using optical imaging
Purpose – The use of lasers to selectively solder joints in electronic assemblies has a number of advantages over methods which involve heating of the whole assembly. However, the localised energy delivery means that the heating and melting behaviour of the solder is particularly dependent on external and process influences. This paper aims to propose a new approach to monitoring and feedback control of the melting process through image acquisition and processing.Design/methodology/approach – In order to evaluate the proposed feedback strategy, a series of experiments have been performed using a semiconductor diode laser controlled by a PC, which also performs image acquisition and processing operations. Two main processing techniques, based on edge detection and Fourier analysis, have been evaluated.Findings – It has been shown that the proposed technique is capable of controlling laser pulse duration to correct for variations in joint geometry, material parameters and laser energy delivery and results i...
The application of semiconductor diode lasers to the soldering of electronic components
Work being carried out at the University of Hull into the application of high power laser diodes to the soldering process is described. The commercial availability of semiconductor diode lasers has brought an exciting new soldering tool to the manufacturers of electronics assemblies: trends in electronics assembly are to increasingly high-density interconnections and increasing device functionality. Packages are reducing in size and pin-out counts are increasing. Currently 0.010–0.016 inch lead pitch devices are being introduced by many manufacturers. Lasers can be used with advantage in the soldering of such fine and precise devices and high-power semiconductor laser diodes can be used to build compact, flexible and controllable soldering units. With computer control of the power and duration of the laser energy it is possible to ensure consistent and reliable soldering. To achieve this, however, the various parameters involved in the laser beam-solder assembly interaction need to be carefully defined. This paper reports on our identification of these parameters and the salient design features of an automated diode laser soldering system.