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USC doctoral student unravels ‘tin whisker’ mystery

sc.edu

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Re: USC doctoral student unravels ‘tin whisker’ mystery

#11

Post by pixl97 »

cantrevealname wrote: post #4

I assume whiskers cause a short circuit. Why can't the circuit board be coated with plastic, epoxy, non-conductive paint, or something to prevent the whiskers from causing a short?

You can't just spray anything on the board. Most coatings would separate from the board over time with due to thermal or mechanical stresses. There are many coatings that do work for this, but cause additional expense due to additional labor in finishing, and possibly design to make sure the components that need protected most can actually be coated.

Re: USC doctoral student unravels ‘tin whisker’ mystery

#13

Post by Osmium »

dav wrote: post #12

If the functionality loss is caused by these whiskers shorting circuits, why can't one simply restore functionality by lightly scraping the soldering to knock off the whiskers?

The whiskers are often far too short for that to work, and that assumes the whiskers are even exposed such that you could "scrape" them. Furthermore, there'd be a risk you'd end up depositing the whiskers elsewhere on the circuit...

Re: USC doctoral student unravels ‘tin whisker’ mystery

#14

Post by monochromatic »

> While manufactures had been able to control some whiskers by mixing small amounts of lead into tin solder, the 2006 European Union ban on lead in most electronic equipment had ignited a debate among scientists about whether whiskers would remain a perpetual problem.

Oh Europe. Yes, let's ban the use of minuscule amounts of lead so that people will have to replace entire devices when they fail.

Re: USC doctoral student unravels ‘tin whisker’ mystery

#15

Post by schwarz »

monochromatic wrote: post #14

> While manufactures had been able to control some whiskers by mixing small amounts of lead into tin solder, the 2006 European Union ban on lead in most electronic equipment had ignited a debate among scientists about whether whiskers would remain a perpetual problem. Oh Europe. Yes, let's ban the use of minuscule amounts of lead so that people will have to replace entire devices when they fail.

that's not necessarily true.

As a mechanical engineer I used to work in an electronics factory. there is still a lot of soldering done by hand. not to mention that the operators of the automated soldering machines. during this soldering process there is a considerable amount of fumes, even though you're using blowers and filters, that the workers are exposed to. Lead is known to be hazardous for long exposes. So I guess keeping the manufacture-workers safety is as important as the end user's one.

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