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Sometimes it is difficult to get a concise description of a
particular term, or fault, or process, or …… just about anything. The Electronics industry is littered with
its own terminology.
EMTWorldWide has teamed up with The SMART Group (Europe's leading trade association
for the electronics manufacturing industry) to create our Jargon Buster. This library of industry-specific
information is constantly growing. If there is a subject you would like us to cover then please let us know
just click here to enter your idea.
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Latest Jargon
WEEE and RoHS
Waste from electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) is the fastest growing waste stream in the UK, and in Europe the annual amount of WEEE is growing at a rate that is three times faster than the average annual rate of normal municipal waste... ...FULL STORY
12 July 2010
Legend ink
After the application of solder resist as part of the board manufacturing process legend is applied by screen printing and then a curing operation. Legend can be applied as a flood process then imaged and developed, and more recently there has been... ...FULL STORY
14 June 2010
0201 Chip Components (07 December 2001)
0201 is the latest solution to design and production of miniaturised products - or is it the latest threat to production yields? Based on process trials to date the former is correct, the latter less of an issue than first thought. 0201 chip......FULL STORY
Acoustic micro imaging (AMI) (07 October 2003)
The use of Acoustic micro imaging (AMI) in the failure analysis laboratory is relatively new and has become an integral part of the modern analysis tool kit. The technique is nondestructive in nature and gives important information about the samples......FULL STORY
Bill of Materials (09 April 2010)
The term ‘BOM’ is frequently used, but what exactly does it mean? In its simplest form, a Bill of Materials (sometimes also called Build of Materials), or BOM, is a list of all the components, connectors, terminations and wires that make up one......FULL STORY
Blow Holes or Pin Holes (07 November 2006)
These are considered by many people as defects in plated-through hole solder joints. In reality they have little effect on the reliability of the solder joint but they can be avoided or eliminated. The last time this author conducted reliability......FULL STORY
CAF (07 June 2002)
'Conductive Anodic Filamentation' (also referred to as CFF - Conductive Filament Formation) is a sub-surface failure mode of woven glass reinforced epoxy laminate PCB substrates. In the presence of voltage and moisture, conductive filaments......FULL STORY
Component Footprint or Pad - Jargon Buster (18 February 2008)
Surface mount and area array pads need to be a particular shape that corresponds to the size and shape of the component termination which is to be mounted on it. The proper shape and size of the pads will allow satisfactory, printing, placement and......FULL STORY
Conformal coating ? (07 May 2002)
A conformal coating is a 25-75µm thick (50µm typical), protective plastic membrane that adheres to an assembled PCB by literally 'conforming' to its varied profile. The number one reason for using a conformal coating is to protect the operational......FULL STORY
Copper dissolution (12 February 2010)
Dissolution/erosion of the plating or coating is not a new issue, but with the introduction of lead-free soldering materials, new process stages like selective soldering and higher process temperatures, it is a real issue, as the pictures show. To......FULL STORY
Cored Solder Wire (17 March 2008)
Cored solder wire has been used in the electronics industry for many years and is very familiar to everyone from production staff in a factory to the home hobbyist. Cored solder wire is simply a thin wire with flux running through the centre like a......FULL STORY
Crimping (07 January 2007)
The most common technique of interconnection for single and multi stranded wire is crimping - a process that has been used in the market for many years since the original concept was developed by AMP. Crimping has a good reliability record......FULL STORY
Dendrite Formation (07 May 2006)
A copper dendrite is the most common found on a printed circuit board assembly, dendrites however can be silver, tin, copper or other metallic materials. They occur when contamination is present on the surface of printed board in the presence of......FULL STORY
Double sided reflow in one reflow cycle (12 May 2009)
In any process there are always opportunities to improve, reduce the number of process stages or reduce the cost of manufacture. Each may not improve yield initially, may even increase manufacturing defects, but it must in time benefit some......FULL STORY
Dye Penetration Testing (29 May 2007)
Dye penetrants have been used for many years for a variety of applications, the most common being the testing of welded joints and castings prior to destructive analysis. They have also been used in surface coatings to detect minor imperfections. In......FULL STORY
Electrically Conducting Adhesives (07 November 2002)
There are two main types of ECAs. They can be highly filled with conductive particles, cured, and conduct in every direction, known as Isotropic ECAs. They can also be lightly filled with conductive particles, cured under pressure, and conduct only......FULL STORY
ESD (07 January 2002)
Anti-Static Purely a (surface) treatment to prevent the build up of a static charge. Eg. Anti-static hand lotion Conductive Materials that have a surface resistivity of 1 x 103 to 1 x 106 Ohm/Sq Eg Metal, silicon,......FULL STORY
Filled Via Holes (07 April 2008)
An ever increasing number of via holes are being used in modern printed circuit design and as with most electronics, they are getting smaller. A via hole is a connection through the board or only to selected layers of the board. They are used to......FULL STORY
Fillet Lifting (07 February 2006)
Fillet lifting, a fairly new term in the industry, is specifically associated with lead-free soldering processes. Originally the phenomenon was highlighted by research engineers during the early introduction of lead-free alloys. Basically during the......FULL STORY
Flip Chip (07 March 2005)
A flip chip is silicon die or integrated circuit that has been specifically fabricated for mounting directly on to a PCB. The silicon die is fabricated in the same way to form the circuitry for use in standard packages like Small Outline Intergrated......FULL STORY
FR4 Laminate (07 December 2002)
FR4 laminate is the usual base material from which plated-through-hole and multilayer printed circuit boards are constructed. "FR" means Flame Retardant, and Type "4" indicates woven glass reinforced epoxy resin. The laminate is constructed......FULL STORY
Halogenated fire retardants (07 April 2004)
Printed circuit boards by their nature are a potential source of ignition. Because of this it has been standard practice to include fire retardants within the resin system used for the circuit board. Halogens are the Group 7 elements in the......FULL STORY
Immersion Tin Finish (27 October 2008)
Immersion processes like silver and tin have an organic deposited as part of the process that reduces the oxidation that would be expected with a pure tin or silver surface. Tin and silver dissolve into the solder and become part of the solder joint......FULL STORY
Incomplete solder coverage (18 January 2010)
Solder coverage relates to the ability for solder to wet successfully across the pad surface, and decreased coverage is often highlighted when an alterative surface finish is used on the pads of the printed board. It can typically be seen on surface......FULL STORY
Intermetallics (07 March 2004)
Intermetallics are compounds that form when certain combinations of two or more metals are mixed together in certain proportions and react to produce a solid phase that is distinctively different from the constituent elements. Much of the......FULL STORY
Intrusive Reflow (07 January 2006)
One method of soldering all surface mount and through components in a single operation is Pin In Hole Reflow, or Intrusive Reflow soldering, which has steadily gained importance over the last ten years. Basically all through hole locations to be......FULL STORY
Lead-free fillet tearing (30 November 2009)
It’s a fact that lead-free fillet tear in plated through hole joints is not uncommon. The images show two examples of this phenomena; optically and by using real time X-ray inspection. These images show a typical example found on the surface of......FULL STORY
Leadless Ceramic Chip Carrier (LCCC) (07 February 2007)
LCCCs are usually confined to use in high reliability military products and are constructed in ceramic. It is not a component in its own right but a package that would contain a die which is wire bonded to terminations within the component. These......FULL STORY
Legend ink (14 June 2010)
After the application of solder resist as part of the board manufacturing process legend is applied by screen printing and then a curing operation. Legend can be applied as a flood process then imaged and developed, and more recently there has been......FULL STORY
LGA - Land Grid Array (07 July 2006)
A new component package format which is being increasing used in the industry is an "Land Grid Array" LGA, also referred to as a QFN "Quad Flat No Lead" or MLFP "Micro Lead Frame Plastic" package. The package is generally smaller, has a low stand......FULL STORY
Microsectioning PCBs (26 May 2009)
Microsections are an essential tool in the quality evaluation and control of PCB manufacture. It is very important that the people who produce and assess these microsections are trained and supervised by a person who is well versed in the methods of......FULL STORY
OSP (07 October 2004)
The protective coatings generally defined as organic coatings are referred to as OSPs (Organic Solderable Protector). The most common coatings are benzotriazole and imidazole, both of which are organic nitrogen compounds. Benzotriazole has long been......FULL STORY
Package on Package POP/STACK Packages (23 May 2008)
An area array device (like a BGA) provides high packing density with a relatively easy introduction cycle, often after a few years of experience. Over the last couple of years engineers have started to experiment and in some cases implement STACK......FULL STORY
Piecing the jigsaw together (07 April 2007)
Biscuits, Placks, Jigsaw's and Multi images are just some of the terms used for printed board panels holding more than one circuit image. The use of multiple images in a single panel can provide advantages during manufacture and it may also provide......FULL STORY
Pin In Hole Intrusive Reflow (07 April 2003)
Pin-in-hole, intrusive, pin-in-paste and multi-spot soldering are all terms used to describe a reflow process that allows through hole components to be soldered without the need for wave soldering or purchasing selective soldering systems. ......FULL STORY
Polymer Circuits (07 November 2004)
Polymer thick film (PTF) technology is a method of providing conductors, resistors and insulators on traditional printed board substrates and has been widely used in the Far East for consumer, telecom and computer products. The polymer is the basic......FULL STORY
Polymer Solder Balls (17 December 2007)
The use of plastic balls that are metallised and fixed to the base of Ball Grid Array (BGA) and Chip Scale Package (CSP) packages is not new and have been circulated in the industry for the last five or six years. Technical papers on the use and......FULL STORY
Popcorning (07 February 2005)
Popcorning is now a well known phenomena having existed during the early introduction of SMT. The name was probably coined due to the noise that can be heard when a component cracks during rework. It is surprising how the "pop" can easily be heard......FULL STORY
Press Fit Technology (07 April 2005)
Press fit technology has been around as a method of interconnection since the early 70's and essentially is based on forcing a square peg in a round hole to form the electrical connection. Originally these parts were used on passive backplane boards......FULL STORY
Printed Board Laminates (07 June 2006)
In percentage terms the major cost of the single-sided and plated through-hole board is the base laminate. FR4 laminate has been discussed in a previous issue of EM&T. Care must be taken over material selection in terms of cost and mechanical and......FULL STORY
Reflow Solder Spots (07 July 2003)
So what are solder spots ? They appear to be the next big problem in modern reflow assembly, in fact in any process that involves solder paste. The spots are visible on the surface of pads which have not been pasted prior to reflow. The spots are......FULL STORY
Reflow Soldering (07 December 2004)
Reflow soldering is a relatively simple process. Solder in the form of paste is heated in contact with components and the PCB. Depending on the alloy the solder paste particles become liquid at around 180ºC. In the case of lead-free paste the......FULL STORY
Reliability what is it? (07 November 2001)
Quality and reliability are not free but poor quality and reliability will cost a considerable amount but not always in terms of pure cash. Reliability comes from good design not manufacture, if a product design will not stand up to its intended......FULL STORY
REWORK (07 October 2001)
Cleaning Solvent Cleaning material, usually alcohol based used to remove flux residues after component removal and also after component replacement. Conduction rework Direct contact method for removing and replacing components. Physical......FULL STORY
Rework & Repair (07 January 2004)
Rework is the act of reprocessing non-complying articles, through the use of original or equivalent processing, in a manner that assures full compliance of the article with applicable drawings or specifications. Repair is the act of......FULL STORY
Rosin Fumes (07 October 2002)
Rosin, or colophony, as it is sometimes known has been used as the basis of soldering fluxes since the first flux cored solder was produced. It is not a single pure chemical but a cocktail of resin acids plus other acids and neutral compounds. It is......FULL STORY
Scoring Printed Boards (11 May 2010)
Scoring offers the benefits of minimum wasted design space and thus allows maximum utilisation of laminate material during the production of a panel of PCBs The scoring process is conducted by removing material from both side of the panel in......FULL STORY
Secondary Reflow of Lead-Free Joints (01 July 2007)
Control of board temperature is very important during wave soldering to avoid secondary reflow on the topside of the board. This can occur when a board passes over the solder wave and the heat is transferred through the board by conduction. Correct......FULL STORY
Selective soldering (12 February 2009)
There are essentially three methods of selectively soldering through hole components on a predominately surface mount printed board design. Arguably there are five if robotic or manual hand soldering are included, but the latter is not automated.......FULL STORY
Solder balling (18 March 2009)
There are two types of solder balls generally seen after wave and selective soldering; consistent/repeating or random balls. Random solder balls The balls vary in size and are positioned randomly on the base of the board. Some evidence of......FULL STORY
Solder Beading (17 April 2009)
The term solder bead is used to differentiate it from solder balls. A solder bead is a solder ball, but its location is normally constant, unlike solder balls.......FULL STORY
Solder Dross (16 January 2009)
Every company that is operating a wave/selective soldering system has it, but what is it and how can you reduce it or dispose of it? Dross is 85-90% solder so it is valuable to the company. During wave soldering in air, oxides form on the surface......FULL STORY
Solder leveled - Hot Air Solder Leveled (HASL) (17 November 2008)
The solder leveling process became popular in the early 80s and was still the most commonly specified finish for surface mount boards in the late 90s and early 2000. Eliminating the solder coating under the solder resist reduced the possibility of......FULL STORY
Solder Resist (07 July 2002)
Solder resist is a permanent coating of a resin formulation, generally green in colour, which encapsulates and protects all of the surface features of a printed circuit board except the specific areas where it is required to form solder joints,......FULL STORY
Solderable Finishes (07 January 2003)
To facilitate the soldering of components to the copper features of printed circuit boards, it is usual for the board fabricator to apply a solderable finish. The simplest and least expensive solderable finishes are the organic solderability......FULL STORY
Stencils for SMA (07 March 2002)
Surface mount assemblies require well-defined solder-paste deposits, which are widely achieved by printing through metal stencils. Using first principles, experience and observation, a deposit thickness is chosen, typically 0.1 to 0.2 mm. This......FULL STORY
Surface Insulation Resistance (07 March 2003)
Surface Insulation Resistance (SIR) testing, is a non-destructive methodology used to evaluate electronic assembly materials and processes as one measure of reliability. The goal of SIR testing is to catch dangerous propensities for......FULL STORY
Surface Tension (07 November 2003)
A property of liquids, due to molecular forces existing in the surface film of all liquids, which tends to contract the volume into a form with the least surface area. That is, the molecules on the surface of a liquid are not acted upon by the same......FULL STORY
Temporary masking (27 July 2007)
Temporary masking is the general term which applies to tape, latex or polymer coatings which are applied selectively to the surface of a board by the PCB fabricator or just prior to the assembly stage. Specific surface features and plated......FULL STORY
Thick Film Technology (07 August 2002)
Thick Film Technology has the advantages of circuit miniaturisation together with increased reliability, low weight, and low cost at medium to high volumes. By using a Thick Film circuit on a PCB many benefits are gained - reduced component count,......FULL STORY
Tin Whiskers (07 December 2003)
Tin whiskers are single crystals of b-tin that grow from the surface of some tin coatings. There are several types of growth. Usually these are described as filament, nodule and mound. Filaments are the typically high aspect ratio growths that look......FULL STORY
Tombstoning (07 April 2002)
Tombstoning (the phenomenon whereby small stand-off components such as chip-capacitors and resistors stand on one end) has a number of causes, some process related, some related to the flux chemistry and some to the component itself. The prime cause......FULL STORY
Underfills (07 September 2002)
The current trend to make electronic assemblies smaller, lighter and faster is pushing designers towards the use of chip scale packages, micro BGAs and flip chip technology. There comes a point where the reliability of the whole assembly is......FULL STORY
Vapour Phase Soldering (07 March 2006)
Vapour Phase Soldering (VPS) has been around in the industry for many years and was one of the only two serious options during the early introduction of surface mount technology. In the early days engineers had the option of brown belt for single......FULL STORY
Via Holes (09 November 2007)
The electronics industry is demanding smaller and smaller via holes to allow further interconnection to advance on mobile products. The PCB manufacturing techniques are moving ever closer to IC fabrication technology in an attempt to provide the......FULL STORY
Wavesoldering (07 August 2001)
Wave Soldering or is it Flow Soldering? It depends on your age and if you like a generic title or one of the first trade names for the process. A wave soldering system is normally one of the first pieces of capital equipment a company will purchase......FULL STORY
WEEE and RoHS (12 July 2010)
Waste from electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) is the fastest growing waste stream in the UK, and in Europe the annual amount of WEEE is growing at a rate that is three times faster than the average annual rate of normal municipal waste......FULL STORY
Wetting (07 December 2006)
This is a physical phenomenon which relates to liquids, usually in contact with a solid surface. Wetting may be achieved by a reduction in surface tension of either the liquid or the surface it is placed on. A simple example of this is water on a......FULL STORY
What is Pb-free? (07 May 2004)
Are you going lead-free? If you are covered by the RoHS directive the answer has to be yes, but how do you know? What is the definition of lead-free? Interestingly this is an area of the legislation which, at the time of writing, is not yet......FULL STORY
X-Ray Inspection (07 September 2001)
Over the last couple of years various forms of automatic inspection have become popular, specifically X-ray techniques to allow invisible joints to be assessed. It is perfectly feasible to use either a manual or fully automated system but whichever......FULL STORY
Yield Measurement (07 February 2002)
There are no easy methods for companies to compare their manufacturing yields with other similar businesses - a procedure that is a necessity to understanding their World Class Manufacturing status. The lack of process yield data for company......FULL STORY
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