Articles

Following are links to two Reliability Matters podcasts hosted by Mike Konrad from Aqueous Technologies where Fred and Tim O’Neil from AIM discuss void mitigation and profiling

Episode 64 Solder Voiding Mitigation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1NK7MQ2cMM

Episode 65  A conversation with Tim ‘Neill and Fred Dimock about reflow profiling

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i20oNZbd57o

The connection between flux and reflow ovens is obvious, but are there ties to stills and race cars too?  Fred takes a tongue in cheek look at solder paste flux and the latest flux collection techniques while helping the reader to understand why and how different flux collection techniques work.

This updated presentation was given at the 2021 SMTA ICEHET conference in Markham, Ontario Canada (it was also presented to the SMTA Space Coast and Capitol chapters) where Fred explained the operation and configuration of an inline vacuum reflow oven. This presentation includes the previously reported voiding data generated when the Pyramax Vacuum reflow oven was at Universal’s Advanced Process lab, additional data from APL – including a discussion of unintended consequences, and the results of rework demonstrations at the American Competitive Institute.

Fred describes the numerous methods of managing flux in a reflow oven in a paper he presented at the 2021 SMTAI conference.

In August 2009, Circuits Assembly magazine published Fred’s article on how various reflow oven adjustments affected the thermal profile. This article quickly became a classic when it received the highest number of download requests that Circuits Assembly ever received in a year and it became the second highest the following year.

Fred explains why a continuous furnace is ideal for processes that require high production volumes, process consistency, and precision control in an a paper published in the September 2021 issue of Industrial Heating magazine. This overview discusses some of the temperature and atmosphere capabilities of continuous furnaces and addresses the various components that make up a continuous furnace.

In 2001, Fred presented a paper on TC accuracy and repeatability in a thick film firing process with peak temperatures of 850 degrees C at the 21^st ASM International, Heat Treating conference. Later he encountered an issue with TC accuracy and repeatability while adjusting the trim on a 25 inch wide 850 C  high temperature furnace while attempting to obtain cross belt uniformity of  +- 1 degrees C that had him look at how the accuracy of TC changed over multiple runs. This study showed that TCs accuracy was quickly lost and he added it to the presentation. Because of strong interest showed by the SMT community he also added data for SMT reflow temperatures. The final cross belt uniformity paper has been presented numerous times in North America and Asia, and the data is used as a part of his ½ day SMTA Fundamentals of Reflow Class. The original and updated cross belt uniformity papers are available here.