Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1330321
42 PCB007 MAGAZINE I JANUARY 2021 circuit boards. They don't want soldering irons at very high temperatures touching those com- ponents because they're going to crack. The intent is to be able to teach the new technology to the students. Initially we taught through-hole and hand-soldering techniques. We still teach those processes for through-hole technology, but since then, the component siz- es have shrunk down to the size of a speck of pepper. The methodology of assembling those, and the specific paste required, has changed. We need to have conversations with the com- ponent and the material suppliers as to how to apply and use their materials. Our knowl- edge is developed with two conversations, one being with the clients who are in the training room and the process developments they're doing. Secondly, it's with the people making the material—paste and solder manufacturers like Indium, AIM and Alpha—and finding out what they're doing, because they must be de- veloping new products for the new technolo- gies in process. The other conversation is in the relationships from the cleanliness programs. There are a lot of issues going on with cleanliness. Histori- cally these processes used solvents for clean- ing printed circuit boards, and when aqueous cleaning came into vogue it created an entire- ly new process with new materials. The ques- tion then was, how are those materials going to be used and processed so they don't harm the product or harm the individuals who are using them? That's how we developed our knowledge of the new technologies that are evolving. As trainers we don't get too involved with the elec- tronic functionality portion of the circuits, but rather the assembly of those electronic circuits. Johnson: What I'm hearing is that, while the basic skill set that you teach might be the same, is, at the same time, more complex be- cause of so many factors. You have to be con- cerned with more things. I mean, back in the Dark Ages, it was through-hole, one kind of board, and one solder, and there was plenty of room to do that and if you didn't learn how to solder, well, you were good enough. That's not true anymore. Lambert: Correct. One of the things that hap- pened is the laminate materials changed. To- day there are many microwave products being developed, and we need to know how to han- dle those versus the traditional FR-4 materials, and so on. We have to learn how to handle those new laminates, and then know how to teach that to the students. Johnson: Right. There's the skill set around different materials, much smaller components, cleanliness, and even contamination becomes much more of an issue. This is becoming much more like a cleanroom kind of semiconductor application—at least, semiconductors 20 years ago. That certainly adds complexity to it and skill set; I get that. Keeping track of the inter- actions between the packages and materials and so forth, for the people you're teaching— whose job is that? Is that the job of the person who's doing the soldering to know that infor- mation? Or is that something they should be leaning on their management to tell them? You train on this technique and there are in- teractions between materials and components, and you're teaching them that? That's a part of the instruction? Leo Lambert