General Competition (November 1993)

Solder Jet Technology Development

Sponsor: MicroFab Technologies, Inc.

• Project Performance Period: 1/1/1994 - 12/31/1996
• Total project (est.): $2,437,000.00
• Requested ATP funds: $1,639,000.00

Trends in consumer electronics towards smaller size, lighter weight, and greater power and complexity all are straining today's electronic packaging technologies. In response, manufacturers have developed a variety of innovative packaging systems that pack greater and greater functionality and components in less and less space. But these high-density components require equally high-density methods for soldering the leads to circuit board contacts. At present, the solutions involve complex, expensive, and time-consuming processes including photolithography and (for very demanding situations) vapor deposition, etching, or plating. MicroFab Technologies proposes an elegant alternative -- "write" the solder patterns on circuit boards with the high-temperature equivalent of an ink-jet printer. MicroFab specializes in unusual applications of ink-jet technology, and their preliminary research suggests that the basic concept could be applied to delivery fine molten drops of solder to circuit boards rapidly and with precise control. The proposed "solder jet" would be far more flexible than any existing soldering system -- probably driven directly from CAD images of the solder pattern -- thus greatly reducing prototype and development time. It would also allow manufacturing techniques that are impossible or unfeasible with current technology, such as localized replacement of solder on boards (for rework or custom connections), depositing solder in different thicknesses on the same board (components differ in the amount of solder required for the best connection), or using more than one type of solder on the same board (temperature-sensitive components could be attached with lower-temperature solder after other components already are in place.) Project objectives include the development of "solder jet" dispensers for both low- and high-temperature solders capable of producing 50 micrometer droplets on demand at rates up to 4,000 per second, and prototype electronic assembly equipment using the dispensers.

For project information:

David B. Wallace, (214) 578-8076

ATP Project Manager

Carlos Grinspon, (301) 975-4448
carlos.grinspon@nist.gov