Determination of Shear Stress at a Solder Paste/Stencil Interface

Abstract

AbstractTo create a model for the release process of solder paste during stencil printing for surface mount applications it is necessary to determine the shear stress developed at the interface between the solder paste and stencil sidewall. An experiment has been developed to determine the value of the shear stress for solder paste samples. For the purpose of this experiment a Micro-mechanical tester has been adapted and programmed to provide both a shear thinning cycle and a pull-off cycle that simulate aperture fill and stencil lift-off. The shear stress developed at the solder/stencil-sidewall interface is estimated from the data obtained during the pull-off portion of the Micro-mechanical test procedure. The micro-mechanical tester is fitted with a set of parallel plates that can be adjusted for plate separation and surface roughness.The experiment consists of two parts: (1) the shear thinning cycle and (2) the horizontal pull-off. After application of the solder paste and adjustment of plate separation, a back and forth movement of the upper plate provides shear thinning of the paste. This step is necessary to simulate the shear thinning that occurs from the application of squeege pressure during aperture fill. The horizontal pull-off then simulates the lift-off step of the stencil printing procedure. During the horizontal pull-off data is. taken which allows calculation of the force developed as the upper plate is pulled away from the lower. Results from this experiment show the values of shear stress that develop during pull-off with a variation of surface treatments and plate separations.This paper will present the experimental set-up, a description of the relationship between this experiment and the actual stencil lift-off process, and shear stress data that has been acquired for a variety of solder pastes and plate separations.