SMT Stencils 101

Column from: Greg Smith

Greg Smith has worked in the electronics industry since 1989. He was the owner and president of a stencil manufacturing company for 23 years before joining Fineline Stencil. After the merger of Fineline Stencil and MET, he became the manager of stencil technology for BlueRing Stencils. Greg writes and presents white papers, works with customers on stencil design, and performs root-cause analyses to improve customer yields. 
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December 18, 2019

SMT Stencils 101: Root-cause Stencil Design, Part 3—Tearing Down Bridges

One issue that commonly occurs is the width of the copper land pad is larger than it should be, and if the stencil is not designed properly, bridging can occur. If bridging at print occurs, the primary areas to address are aperture width and area ratio. Greg Smith explains.
November 12, 2019

SMT Stencils 101: Root-cause Stencil Design, Part 2—Tombstones

In Part 1 of this two-part column series, I discussed how one can address the challenge of solder balls before completing a build or starting production build. In Part 2, I will explore the second challenge we often hear about: tombstoning.
November 06, 2019

SMT Stencils 101: Root-cause Stencil Design, Part 1—Solder Balls

Many times, the contract manufacturer does not have input into the board design, and when the board, stencil, and components arrive, PCB assembly is expected to be completed quickly and efficiently.
July 25, 2019

SMT Stencils 101: What Are Industry-standard Stencil Designs?

If you’ve been in the SMT industry for any length of time and involved in ordering stencils, you may have instructed your stencil supplier to design your stencil to "industry standards" or per IPC standards. These are very loose terms and may be interpreted differently by different stencil manufacturers. In this column, stencil expert Greg Smith discusses how his company interprets these guidelines and looks at general design principles that should be applied to every stencil.
January 24, 2019

Overcoming the Challenges of Miniaturization with New Stencil Technologies–Solder Paste Release, Pt. 2

If the stencil technology used is not matched to the component technology, insufficient solder paste and/or excess solder paste can result in increased first-pass defects. Part 2 of this column series discusses the importance of stencil coatings to meet the challenge of solder paste release from the very small openings in the stencil.
December 17, 2018

Overcoming the Challenges of Miniaturization with New Stencil Technologies, Part 1: Solder Paste Release

Product miniaturization continues to challenge capabilities in both design and manufacturing in the surface-mount assembly process and has the potential to increase first-pass defects more than ever. Looking at these first-pass defects, time and time again, the solder paste printing process is identified as the largest contributor. This two-part column will look at solder paste release during printing, and how new stencil technologies can reduce first-pass defects.
October 30, 2018

A Brief History of Solder Stencil Manufacturing

Greg Smith, manager of stencil technology at BlueRing Stencils, made his his first SMT stencil in the 1980s. In this new column, SMT Stencils 101, Greg will discuss the fundamental concepts and principles in surface-mount technology (SMT) stencils, beginning with a bit of a history, and the latest developments and technologies in stencils.
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