AEM Tin Whisker Mitigation Process Assures Surface-Mount Component Reliability

According to  AEM, Inc., Sn/Pb re-plating process inhibits tin whisker growth in components for mission critical and life sustaining applications It also avoids thermal shock damage to surface-mount components due to hot-solder dipping.

The company has announced a hirel-qualified Sn/Pb (tin/lead) conversion process that is designed to mitigate the formation of tin whiskers in surface-mount components. The AEM process was created to eliminate potential damage to sensitive electronic devices caused by conventional hot-solder dipping while ensuring that converted component terminations contain a minimum of 5% Pb as verified by SEM/EDS and XRF inspection methods.

AEM’s Sn/Pb conversion process is best suited for chip-scale passive components, including capacitors, inductors, resistors, ferrite chip beads, fuses, resistor arrays, capacitor arrays, bead arrays and many molded body passive and active surface-mount component types.  This process includes 100 percent adherence to visual and mechanical inspections per applicable EIA guidelines, including sample solderability, leach resistance, terminal strength, and destructive physical analysis (DPA) screening