Diode lasers aid lead-free soldering
A
Rofin-Baasel product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team
Aug 29, 2005
Diode lasers can be used in production equipment to provide the focused energy required to melt today's lead-free solders.
As a consequence of RoHS legislation, most products sold in the EU after July 2006 will need to be lead-free in content.
Even products which fall strictly outside of this directive may encounter difficulties with regard to existing recycling legislation if they persist with using lead in manufacturing.
The main area of concern for manufacturers, particularly in the electronics sector, is of course the means of eliminating lead from the solders used in printed circuit boards.
A variety of lead-free solder substances are already available, but many of them require considerably higher temperatures to melt, and there have been reports that they do not flow or bond as well as the traditional lead solders.
Laser soldering has the advantage that the heat is applied only where it is required: at the joint itself; there is negligable heating to the surrounding components, unlike with RF or wave soldering, and so the higher temperature requirement can easily be satisfied.
Laser soldering is also very fast - much more power can be applied to the joint than using conventional "hot iron" soldering, and so each joint can be completed in a fraction of a second.
This has the key advantage that less energy is required overall to create the joint with the consequence that the joint also cools very quickly, more rapid cooling brings tougher joints with better conduction properties owing to the fine grain structure and short intermetallic zone.
Today, the laser type that is often preferred is the diode laser; its output wavelengths (808 or 940nm) are well absorbed by metals and can be coupled via fibre optics or standard optical lenses.
Such lasers are very compact, low maintenance and energy efficient.
Beam delivery may be simply by Cartesian CNC motion of either the laser head and optics or the PCB itself, such an arrangement facilitates easy application of solder wire via an automatic feeder.
Alternatively, for the most rapid throughput, if solder is pre-applied it may be possible to use a galvo deflection head to send the laser from solder joint to solder joint under computer control - the total move and settle time between consecutive soldering actions can then be measured in milliseconds.
Not what you're looking for? Search the site.
Contact Rofin-Baasel
Tel +44 1327 701 100
Other Rofin-Baasel stories
-
Rofin-Baasel introduces laser welding wires
Rofin-Baasel has brought out a range of fine, clean and straight laser welding wires to complement its welding systems. -
Welding system provides large working area
The nearly perfectly Gaussian beam of the Rofin slab laser gives a depth of focus measured in tens of millimetres. -
Manual welding laser systems explained
Brochure includes a short and concise explanation of the principles and concepts behind each of the five different Rofin manual welding laser systems. -
Soldering system provides reproducible joints
The unique rapid control of output power sets the laser apart from other means of heating for welding, soldering or surface hardening. -
Laser welding system aids toomaker
Investment in a new laser welding system from Rofin complements Mouldline's already comprehensive tool making service.
Browse by category
-
Capital Equipment (3,533)
- Capital Equipment (1)
- Compressors and Air Treatment (546)
- Electrical hardware (131)
- Electronics Manufacturing, Tools, Instruments (192)
- Machinery and Production Equipment (1,133)
- Manufacturing Machinery and Plant Equipment (478)
- Production line blowers and fans (74)
- Robotics, Handling and Storage (978)
- Consultancy and Services (927)
-
Control and Instrumentation (5,142)
- Cabling, Conduit, Signal Conditioning (818)
- CNC and Motion Controllers (190)
- Control and Instrumentation (3)
- HMIs/Operator Interfaces (297)
- Logic Controllers, Timers and Relays (96)
- Mid-range and Large PLCs (204)
- Plant- and Machine-Wide Communications (1,210)
- Plantwide control (1,354)
- Power Supplies, Uninterruptible Power (577)
- Smaller-Sized PLCs (393)
-
Drives, Motors and Controls (3,450)
- Drives, Motors and Controls (2)
- Industrial Drives/Controls (1,293)
- Industrial Motors (502)
- Linear Drives and Motors (121)
- Precision Motors and Gears (434)
- Stepper and Servo Drives, Motors, Controls (1,096)
-
Electrical and Electronic Equipment Design (4,327)
- Batteries, chargers and circuit protection (588)
- Connectors, Terminals, Busbars, Slip Rings (724)
- Electrical and Electronic Components (652)
- Electrical and Electronic Equipment Design (4)
- Electrical and Electronic Subassemblies (377)
- Enclosures and Equipment Cooling Fans (722)
- Knobs, Handles and Enclosure Hardware (430)
- PCs and Embedded Systems (830)
-
Engineering Design Software (6,388)
- 2D CAD software (203)
- 3D CAD software (1,199)
- CAM, CNC, production management software (583)
- Data, document management software (324)
- Electrical design software (168)
- Engineering Design Software (17)
- FEA and structural analysis software (377)
- File conversion software, data capture (358)
- Fluid, thermal, noise, vibration software (340)
- Materials design and moulding design software (153)
- Maths, charting, statistics, QA software (325)
- PLM and collaboration software (665)
- Process, instrumentation, automation software (269)
- Publishing and documentation software (234)
- Rendering, visualisation, styling software (208)
- Simulation, modelling, validation software (965)
-
Engineering Industry News, Resources (6,199)
- Electronic Resources for Engineers (273)
- Engineering Business News, Views (388)
- Engineering Conferences (438)
- Engineering Education, Resources, Standards (851)
- Engineering Exhibitions, Events (578)
- Engineering Guides, Newsletters (354)
- Engineering Industry Developments, Awards (635)
- Engineering Industry News, Resources (4)
- Engineering Industry Reports, Surveys (597)
- Engineering Recruitment, Employment (219)
- Engineering Seminars (421)
- Engineering Training Courses (458)
- Health and Safety Consultancy, Software (180)
- Health and Safety Events, Training, News (285)
- Health and Safety Legislation (403)
- Health and Safety Strategy, Risk Assessment (115)
- Machine Building (4,633)
-
Materials and Processing (3,041)
- Materials and components (2,272)
- Materials and Processing (5)
- Materials processing and testing (292)
- Rapid Prototyping (472)
-
Monitoring, Measurement and Quality (5,681)
- Data Acquisition Hardware and PC I/O Boards (491)
- Data acquisition Software and Communications (505)
- Data loggers (428)
- Electrical and Electronic Testing, PAT Equipment (645)
- Form/co-ordinate, optical, vision instruments (766)
- Gauges, Indicators and Instruments (449)
- Materials testing equipment (439)
- Monitoring, Measurement and Quality (1)
- Telecomms/network test equipment, software etc (159)
- Testing and Calibration Services and Information (522)
- Testing, analysing and monitoring equipment (1,276)
-
Powertrain Design (3,723)
- Bearings (986)
- Chains and belts (334)
- Gears, brakes, couplings and engines (1,482)
- Hydraulic Components (475)
- Lubricants (441)
- Powertrain Design (4)
-
Sensors (7,319)
- Accelerometers and Vibration Sensors (450)
- Barcode Sensors (103)
- Flowmeters and Flow Sensors (650)
- Gas, Chemical, Radiation, Magnetic Sensors (294)
- Humidity and Environmental Sensors (158)
- Level Sensors and Leak Detectors (539)
- Linear Position Sensors (417)
- Loadcells, Force Sensors, Torque Sensors (732)
- Pressure sensors (643)
- Proximity Sensors (715)
- Rotary Position, Tilt and Angular Sensors (565)
- Sensors (12)
- Temperature sensors (624)
- Vision and Colour Sensors (1,417)
- Small Mechanical Components, Joining, Tools (2,057)
- Valves, Pumps, Process Hardware (3,732)
