Heat Level Mode in Vapour Phase Soldering Using Lead-Free Solder Paste for Surface Mount Technology: A Review

Abstract

The paper aims to review the process of vapour phase soldering (VPS) by using heat level (HL) mode. The origin of vapour phase soldering (VPS), the factors involved to control the temperature and wettability of VPS process, the related analysis and technology to improve the quality of the VPS process and the produced assemblies are briefly described in this paper. The topics focused include the principle, setup, advantages, and limitations of heat level (HL) mode. Next, the fundamentals of vapour phase soldering are explained in detail in terms of the VPS model setup, process, and procedures as well as the principle of film-wise condensation phenomenon. The comparison of VPS process with other methods of soldering (infrared reflow soldering and convection soldering) in terms of the advantages and disadvantages of each process is done on the next part. Finally, three modelling approaches of VPS process are analyzed which are the single cell board level model with explicit approach, the component level Finite Difference Method (FDM) and the system level Multiphysics Finite Difference Method (FDM). The final part of the paper highlights the required improvements on the system for further research directions.KeywordsVapor phase soldering (VPS)Heat level (HL) modeGalden fluid42Sn-58Bi solder pasteComputational fluid dynamic (CFD)