During the manufacturing of printed circuit boards, the quality monitoring is a very important aspect. The surface finish of the PCB must prevent oxidation and must provide good solderability. One principal structure is the “electroless nickel immersion gold” or ENIG plating. It consists of an electroless nickel (can also be NiP with different content of P) plating, covered with a thin layer of gold, which protects the nickel from oxidation. Another version includes an additional Pd layer. This is known as ENEPIG.
This report shows that the SPECTRO MIDEX and SPECTROCUBE XRF instruments can be used for quality monitoring during PCB manufacturing. Both the instrument and the application are set up to comply with the performance criteria from IPC-4552A.
Learn more in this informative application report.