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.
Published Version
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