Table of contents
- Preventing ESD damage（Jump to Part 1）
- Reducing pick-and-place errors（Jump to Part 1）
- Maintaining consistent solder print quality
- Reducing airborne particles
- Significant reduction in operating costs（Jump to Part 3）
- Reducing cooling costs（Jump to Part 3）
- Less sick leave（Jump to Part 3）
- Summary | 7 benefits of Dry Fog Humidification in SMT processes
7 benefits of Dry Fog Humidification in SMT processes
In surface-mount technology (SMT) processes, humidity control is essential to prevent electrostatic discharge (ESD) damage and problems with static electricity or dry air. Among all the methods to control humidity, the Dry Fog* Humidification system from IKEUCHI is the only one able to achieve all seven of these benefits.
*A fog formed out of ultrafine water droplets, each measuring 10 μm or less in diameter, which are created by specialized spray nozzles, to instantly evaporate into the air or bounce off any object instead of bursting on impact.
- Preventing ESD damage
- Reducing pick-and-place errors
- Maintaining consistent solder print quality
- Reducing airborne particles
- Significant reduction in operating costs
- Reducing cooling costs
- Less sick leave
In this article the main focus is on solder printing and airborne particles, in the table of contents under 3 and 4. The benefits of 1 and 2 were discussed in the previous article.
3. Maintaining consistent solder print quality
Humidity control is also essential when printing solder onto the circuit board using a metal stencil. Low humidity will cause solder to dry faster and clog the stencil openings, resulting in inadequate application of solder onto the board. This in turn has a significant impact on the reliability of solder joints.
If the humidity is too high, solder will absorb moisture resulting in excessive solder application, causing defects such as solder bridges, which lead to short circuiting, or causing components to stand up (tombstone or Manhattan phenomenon) during reflow soldering, leading to open circuits.
Appropriate humidity control helps maintain solder printing quality and product reliability. There are several methods to control humidity, but the use of this Dry Fog humidification system is very efficient due to its operating costs which will be described later.
4. Reducing airborne particles
Humidification suppresses airborne particles during the manufacturing process, reducing defects caused by particles adhering to the product. The table below shows the number of airborne particles measured before and after a humidity increase from 25% to 50% and clearly shows the number of particles decreasing drastically with an increase in humidity.
Summary | 7 benefits of Dry Fog Humidification in SMT processes
Controlling humidity in SMT processes provides seven benefits. Among all the methods to control humidity, the Dry Fog Humidification system from IKEUCHI is the only one able to achieve all of these benefits.
- Preventing ESD damage
- Reducing pick-and-place errors
- Maintaining consistent solder print quality
- Reducing airborne particles
- Significant reduction in operating costs
- Reducing cooling costs
- Less sick leave
Look out for additional articles. The benefits of 1 and 2 were discussed in the previous article and the next article will talk about the remaining benefits 5, 6 and 7.
