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FEBRUARY 2020 I PCB007 MAGAZINE 93 Strong Acid Cleaners There are also strong acid cleaners available. The cleaning effect is quite good, and some companies use this method. However, I do not recommend strong acid cleaners for an ENIG surface. Conclusion Before implementing a new cleaning prod- uct or process, compatibility and feasibility tests must be performed. Failure method and effect analysis (FMEA) needs to be carried out. FMEA is a systematic, proactive method for evaluating a process to identify where and how it might fail and assessing th e relative impact of different failures. The intent is to identify the parts of the process that are most in need of change. When introducing new technology, such as a new cleaning process, you have to estimate the effect on wastewater treatment, solder mask adhesion, assembling, reliability, etc.; a few examples will often suffice. In addi- tion, the supplier must be contacted. TDS and MSDS need to be observed. Judy Warner and Tony Mattingly, senior product manager at Rogers Corporation, discuss the state of materials at the company, as well as a general business update. Click the image to view video. Rogers' Materials and Business Updates On the environmental side, the impact on wastewater treatment needs to be checked; some of these cleaners may contain complex- ing agents with repercussions on waste treat- ment. Furthermore, interactions with other parts of the PCB stackup or substrate need to be evaluated. For example, a strong alkaline cleaner is suitable for a nickel-gold surface, but not for tin-lead, reflowed tin-lead, or a PCB on an aluminum carrier. Finally, the behavior of copper and immersion silver when subjected to the new cleaning agent also needs to be checked. PCB007 Nikolaus Schubkegel retired in February 2019. For the past 12 years, Schubkegel worked at Umicore Galvanotechnik GmbH in Germany as a technical service engineer for Taiyo products. Before that, he worked as a process engineer in the solder mask department at the former IBM-PCB plant (later STP) in Albstadt, Germany. Schubkegel obtained an M.Sc. degree in chemical engi- neering from the Polytechnic Institute in Timisoara.