Plasma Surface Engineering: An Enabling Technology Designed to Clean and Protect Printed Circuit Boards

Abstract

Long term reliability and performance of printed circuit boards (PCBs) are strongly affected by the presence of surface contaminants from the manufacturing and assembly processes. Flux and solder residue, dust particles, oils and greases are often found on the assembled boards and can inhibit the successful application of conformal coatings that are used to protect the electronic components. Surface contaminants can cause coating delamination, dendritic growth, electromigration, corrosion and result in compromised coatings. In the first part of this paper, the fundamental mechanism of plasma-induced removal of organic contaminants from PCBs will be presented. While vacuum based plasmas are considered the traditional solvent-free technology for surface cleaning, a new approach involving air plasma operating under atmospheric pressure conditions is gaining interest due to its adaptability for industrial inline processing. The low concentration of oxygen that is available in the plasma gas is effective in vaporizing organic contaminants leaving behind a clean surface. Additionally, atmospheric plasma processes focusing on the development of functional nanocoatings on PCBs have been investigated. These plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) processes involve the delivery and vaporization of small volumes of solvent-free precursors that react with the plasma to form thin coatings on polymer substrates. Depending on the chemical structure of the precursor used, adhesion promoting, water repellant or electrical barrier coatings of 30–100nm thickness can be deposited. These protective functional coatings do not require any curing or special handling and no chemical waste is generated. The latest developments in atmospheric pressure PECVD for electronics protection will be presented in the second part of the paper. Besides the improvement of device performance and reliability, the application of PECVD has the potential to replace chemical substances such as primers known to have harmful impact on human health and the environment.