Issues faced by High Reliability Industries such as Defence, Aerospace, Oil & Gas, Automative

Over the past 15 years the electronic industry has been moving away from lead solder due to environmental, health and safety issues. This has reached a point where a vast majority of ICs are only purchased in lead-free format. To enable this transition, lead-free solder was introduced, but the only catch with lead free solder was that it wasn't as good as leaded solder, for instance it melted at a higher temperature than lead solder.

But certain high reliability industries were made exempt from moving to lead-free, as they were operating in  important environments and at the time it was unknown how exactly lead free solder would hold up or perform in harsh conditions. Certain examples are :

Military / Defence - Missiles could be stored long term and then used, due to these extended timelines and the nature of its use it had to be 100% operational, so a risk could not be taken of the solder being lead free as no data was available regarding its long term effects.

Aerospace - Due to the G-force, height, pressure that the aircraft come under, it was as important from the safety standpoint that the aircraft system not to fail mid flight. Lead free solder as with Military / Defence had not proven itself yet to be as robust for harsh environment.

Automative - Due to high heat, vibration and safety issues; critical electronic systems in cars such as braking systems and airbags were also exempt.

Due to such changes in regulations where most of the other sectors had moved on lead free solder, many IC manufacturers have stopped producing leaded parts, they were producing just lead free parts. One factor that hit High reliability industries was that although high reliability parts cost more than commercial versions, in many cases the small volume consumption of these parts in lead form did not justify setting up a separate line to make a lead version of the component, therefore the high-reliability industries often struggle to find their ICs in the lead format.

Often they would have to buy them in lead free format and convert them to lead format, there is no credible and safe way to do this for BGA other than Retronix - IC Rescue Process, it is the only process that does not use any reflow cycles to achieve alloy conversion and therefore meets the IC manufacturer's specifications. Another issue that keeps the industry restricted at times is that they rely on tried and tested technology especially for missiles, aircraft control systems as they know it works.At time technology used by certain IC manufacturers for making certain components become obsolete and they stop making the parts altoghether, high reliability industries will end up buying a bulk of components with total guess work anticipating future requirements.

So the issues that they could face are : 

- They may only buy in lead free format which would have to be converted to Leaded version

- They may not be able to find the ICs at all.

- A component is needed which has been out of production and obsolete.

- Forced to buy large volumes of ICs, this could lead to component packages being broken open, a few are used and the rest become exposed leading to oxidisation and solderability problems.

Each of the problems can be solved and can save high reliability industries from having to spend too much time and effort on the ICs, contact us using this link - http://www.retronix.com/contact-us or email us on info@retronix.com

Do visit our website : http://www.retronix.com

A few interesting videos on our processes -

  

   

The Retronix IC Recovery process: Why it will change the landscape of the IC recovery market.

The philosophy of the Retronix IC recovery process is built around industry standards, adopted by the largest IC manufacturers. For them, when you are soldering ICs to PCBs, temperature and time are your enemy. The higher the temperature, and the longer the profile, then the more likely damage is to be caused. Think of passing your wet finger through a candle flame, no damage. Then think about holding it there for a minute! IC Manufacturers state (as a rule) no more than 3 or 4 reflow cycles should be carried out on an IC, but up to that number is fine:

Micron - "The maximum number of reflows is defined as three...product guarantees may be invalidated" (Ref 1.)

Xilinx - "Pg.11 JEDEC STD-20 compliant Packages capable of withstanding high reflow temperature rating (245 C-260 C) for 3 reflow cycles" (Ref 2.)

INTEL - "Many BGAs (including Intel BGAs) are rated for 3 reflow cycles" (Ref 3.)

Intel specifies two more points which are relevant, in the above referenced document, point 9.4.4.1 specifies, that the profile goes above 154 deg. after approx 1.9 minutes, and does not come below 154 deg. again till about 6.4 minutes. So it is above that temperature for approx. 4.5 minutes, moreover some profiles are even longer than this.

Keeping the above standards in mind, the Retronix IC Rescue process is different and unique as it manages to stay within all the stated manufacturers specifications, much shorter in terms of temperature and time, safe and well below stated reflow profiles.

Following comparison shows the traditional method  to the Retronix method, and how the Retronix IC recovery method is changing the landscape of the component recovery market.

The first time the component goes onto a PCB it has gone through a reflow profile, therefore the count starts from 1.

As can be seen from the comparison above:

The Retronix IC Rescue method is well within the manufacturers specifications, the process is automated, controlled and completely safe. 

Additional benefits of Retronix IC Rescue method include an automatic wash which makes sure each IC is clean, a mechanical test to verify functionality, including curve trace test, key functional test and memory test. A solderability test and XRF test to verify composition of leg or ball.

Watch a video on the IC recovery process: 

For more information on the reflow profiles and on our IC recovery process do contact us and we will be happy to set up  a meeting to discuss more on this process - (Click Here)

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Implementing faulty/counterfeit ICs in the supply chain can be dangerous. What are the options to avoid this?

It is well known that it can be difficult to find a genuine and reliable supply of electronic components particularly when they are scarce or out of production by the original manufacturer. Although refurbished components are sometimes frowned upon for being 'unsafe' and therefore are not a part of the PCB repair process, sometimes this can be the only solution to get around components which are scarce or hard to source.

Especially for a component supplier or broker, the biggest risk is loss of credibility; should a faulty, substandard or counterfeit IC be sold to one of the customers, and hence to avoid or substantially reduce the risk of this to occur; component test is advised. But what are the different tests that can be performed? Listed below are a few of the important tests that are done on a sample or even the whole batch at times to determine authenticity:

Visual Inspection : This is a very effective component testing method, by using optical inspection it can be determined if the components are in good condition, whether there are any damages or any minute defects.

XRF Analysis : This is a non-destructive method to determine what alloy the termination consists of. This is particularly useful for businesses belonging to the high reliability industries such as defence, medical, aerospace, Oil & Gas sectors.

Solderability Test : This test verifies whether the component is re-solderable and also if it is good enough to be placed back on a PCB with reflow.

Electrical Test: Also known as BEST (BGA & Electrical Silicon Test) used to check the electrical parameters of every pin to pin e.g. current, voltage, diode resistivity, and silicon connectivity. 

Key Function Test : Some devices may need tested by creating a circuit to ensure that they are operating as expected. With the help of the component datasheet, a circuit can be created and the key aspects of the IC can be checked. For example MOSFETs can be tested to confirm that they still meet the manufacturer's specifications.

Flash Memory Test / Memory Programming : Components can be programmed to check for counterfeit programmable components. Device ID codes can confirm if the devices were blank or programmed. Already programmed FLASH parts can be erased back to factory default settings.

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Retronix Develop Unique Re-tinning Tool for Aerospace Customer

An Aerospace company had a large amount of LGAs with a gold pad finish that they wanted to convert to a lead finish. They wanted the re-tinning to comply with the GEIA standard, the issue was that the components were very small and any standard tooling would not have been able to perform the service on the components.

Retronix developed a very cost effective piece of tooling that held the row of the components and allowed them to be processed automatically without causing any issues.

The components were then XRF tested to verify compliance and shipped to the customer within 5 days.

Anti Counterfeit IC Testing : Visual Inspection

As part of the Retronix Anti-Counterfeit IC testing service a customer approached us asking for our level 1 authenticity test, specifically the visual inspection service.

The customer send us approximately 3000 qty - NUD4700 type parts and asked to pick a random sample of 11 for visual inspection to check for authenticity. The reel information and datecodes given were the following: 

    Where :

  

    M = Date Code

    MNH = Device Code

    . = Pb-Free Package

The first check straight away points out certain discrepancies.  Markings do not match the information on the datasheet, and the direction of the text with reference to the Anode was found to be incorrect, further inspection about the device itself revealed the following:

As it can be seen from the datasheet image and from the image that is sourced from Mouser Electronics, the bottom side of the device should be connected to the Cathode and continue onto the entire bottom side. But as can be seen with the image of the device on the right that these devices have two isolated pins with the bottom side being the outer casing and not a contact, this shows us that the device in question is not as per standard and is considered suspect.

Continuing investigation of the device for further inspection shows:

1                                              2        

Device contacts are found to be incorrect, Anode and Cathode are formed into a gull wing as can be seen in 'Image 2' and not as they originally should have been as shown in 'Image 1'

Conclusion :

The visual inspection of the sample puts the batch as suspect and cannot be termed original as per standard datasheet and information available about the device. The report along with all photographic evidence and technical information was provided as a report to the customer as suspect counterfeit. This gives the customer a good insight into future purchases from the buyer and also this current purchase which could have caused big issues in case the customer would have gone on and implemented the same into his supply chain.

Are you interested in getting your IC purchases tested and have complete peace of mind? We have a huge range of IC testing services which can be found  here : Tell me more

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Mr.Tony Boswell at SMT Nuremberg 2013, talking about the new processes at Retronix Ltd.

Tony talks about the electronic component recovery business, and that Retronix have developed a process that avoid any additional reflow cycles, Tony also goes on to explain that it is not just economic factors but supply chain shortages that have led to a growing demand for IC Recovery.

Source: EMS Now

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Retronix Expands its Temperature Testing Capability

Retronix has taken delivery of a TPO412A Thermostream Temperature Forcing System in response to the increasing demand from customers to temperatures test ICs and other components. Capable of temperature extremes beyond -55°C to +125°C this nitrogen fed temperature forcing system allows Retronix to test ICs at commercial, industrial and military temperature ranges. Customers are asking Retronix to confirm certain product data sheet parameters at temperature and there is an increasing demand from OEM customers to characterise commercial grade ICs at wider temperature extremes. Retronix also plans to develop its extensive  Curve Trace Test capability to include test at temperature.

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