I am not sure if it is the appropriate to post this question here. I have a question regarding PCB SMT process. We found some PCB board after de-paneling using router cut, some of its residues being deposited over the PCB board. What would be the root cause of such issues and how can we prevent it from happening again.You can refer the below picture that I have enclosed.
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2\$\begingroup\$ Those boards have a bad case of JPEG artifacts that make it impossible to see the residues. Please post a high resolution, in-focus photo. \$\endgroup\$– TransistorCommented Dec 22, 2018 at 9:43
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\$\begingroup\$ Are you doing the depanelization in-house or is a PCB or PCBA vendor doing it? \$\endgroup\$– Spehro 'speff' PefhanyCommented Dec 22, 2018 at 18:49
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\$\begingroup\$ @Spehro Pefhany We do it in-house. \$\endgroup\$– DragonbornCommented Dec 24, 2018 at 0:58
1 Answer
What would be the root cause of such issues
A router will produce dust as it operates. Some of the dust will end up on your board.
There might also be a sanding operation to smooth the board edges after depanelization, where dust could be produced.
The dust should be fiberglass (assuming you designed the board with clearance of copper from the board edge), so it shouldn't normally affect the operation of your circuit. If you will use your board in a clean-room environment or something you may have other reasons not to want dust on it.
and how can we prevent it from happening again.
You could just talk to your vendor --- maybe they just need to adjust the dust collection system at the router machine. But this will probably not 100% eliminate the dust on the board.
You could use shears to depanelize the boards rather than a router.
You could require your vendor to clean the boards after depanelizing.
You could aqueous wash your boards after assembling the parts onto them, which you might do anyway to remove solder flux.
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\$\begingroup\$ thanks for your comment. I will look into it based on what you said. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Dec 24, 2018 at 1:02