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Investigation of moisture uptake into printed circuit board laminate and solder mask materials

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Abstract

Presence of moisture in a printed circuit board (PCB) laminate, typically made of glass fibres reinforced epoxy polymer, significantly influences the electrical functionality in various ways and causes problems during soldering process. This paper investigates the water uptake of laminates coated with different solder mask materials and exposed to saturated water vapour and liquid water. The solder masks are characterised for their microstructure and constituent phases using scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The observations are correlated with the moisture absorption characteristic such as diffusivity, permeability, and solubility. In addition, the effect of a reflow soldering simulation on microstructural changes and on increase of water uptake of the materials has been analysed.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by the Danish Council for Independent Research, Technology and Production Sciences through the ICCI Project and in part by the Innovation Fund Denmark through the IN-SPE Project. The authors would like to acknowledge the commitment and help of the industrial partners.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Materials and Surface Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Building 425, 2800, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark

    Hélène Conseil-Gudla, Visweswara C. Gudla, Shruti Borgaonkar, Morten S. Jellesen & Rajan Ambat

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  1. Hélène Conseil-Gudla
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  2. Visweswara C. Gudla
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  3. Shruti Borgaonkar
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  4. Morten S. Jellesen
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  5. Rajan Ambat
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Correspondence to Hélène Conseil-Gudla.

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Conseil-Gudla, H., Gudla, V.C., Borgaonkar, S. et al. Investigation of moisture uptake into printed circuit board laminate and solder mask materials. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 28, 6138–6151 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-016-6292-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-016-6292-5

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