SMT Assembly and Finish Coating

Application of solder paste on all pads on which components should be placed requires maximum precision. The LPKF ProtoPrint S4 stencil printer, a manual stencil printer for SMT prototyping and low-volume production, performs this task.

The mechanical resolution down to a grid size of 0.4 mm (16 mil) allows stencil printing in the ultrafine pitch range. The stencil thickness (between 100 µm and 250 µm) determines the amount of solder paste to be applied.

For PCB prototyping, milling of polyimide stencils with LPKF circuit board plotters is a genuine alternative to laser-cut steel stencils, especially from a cost perspective. Solder paste stencils (SMT stencils) can usually be milled in-house in less than ten minutes.

For a large number of functions to be accommodated in a small space, tiny components are needed. The small dimensions of modern electronic components make manual assembly of circuit boards difficult.

For the complex SMD assembly, LPKF offers the ProtoPlace E4 pick & place system for precise assembly of PCBs with fine-pitch components.

LPKF ProtoFlow S4 is the ideal reflow oven for lead-free, RoHS-compliant reflow soldering, through-hole paste curing and other thermal processes that require precise control.

The solder mask coating protects the surfaces and conductive traces on a circuit board. Creation of short circuits between closely spaced pads is prevented by the professional surface finish applied in the soldering process.

LPKF ProMask is an easy-to-apply green solder mask. The professional surface finish is especially ideal for SMT prototypes with small trace spacings. LPKF ProLegend can apply any marking to the board – without using environmentally harmful wet chemical processes.