IPC-7526A

Stencil and Misprinted

Board Cleaning Handbook

Developed by the Stencil Cleaning Task Group (5-31g) of the

Cleaning and Coating Committee (5-30)of IPC

Supersedes: Users of this publication are encouraged to participate in the development

IPC-7526 - February 2007 of future revisions.

Contact:

IPC

Tel 847 615.7100

Fax 847 615.7105
March 2022 IPC-7526A

Table of Contents
1.0 SCOPE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 3.12.5 Solder Paste Inconsistency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.1 Statement of Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 3.12.6 Deficient Solder Paste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.2 Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 3.12.7 Excessive Solder Paste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.2.1 Problem Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 3.12.8 Defective Stencils . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

2.0 APPLICABLE DOCUMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 3.12.9 Poor Wetted Solder Joints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

2.1 Reference Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 3.12.10 Stencil Coplanarity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

2.2 Joint Industry Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 3.12.11 Inconsistent Component Pad Width . . . . . . . . . . 13

2.3 Surface Mount Technology Association 3.12.12 Alignment Accuracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

(SMTA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 4.0 STENCIL PRINTING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.4 American Standards for Testing Materials . . . . . 1 4.1 Introduction to Stencil Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.5 Federal Laws and Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 4.1.2 Surface Mount Trends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.6 Department of Defense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 4.2 Factors Affecting the Cleanability of
2.7 Occupational Safety and Health Administration . 2 the Solder Paste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.8 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) . . . . . . 2 4.2.1 Solder Paste Flux Composition . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.9 Department of Transportation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 4.2.2 Print Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.10 National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) . . . 2 4.2.3 Stencil Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.11 Air Quality Management Standards (AQMD) . . 2 4.2.4 Aperature Ratio Calculation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

3.0 STENCIL CLEANING PROCESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 4.2.5 Understencil Cleaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

3.1 Process Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 5.0 STENCIL PRINTER CHALLENGES

AS IT RELATES TO CLEANING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.2 Stencils . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
5.1 Aperture Fill & Release . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.2.1 Chemical Etching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
5.2 Gasket . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.2.2 Laser Cut Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
5.3 Area Ratio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3.2.3 Nickel Additive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
5.4 Interspacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.2.4 Electroform, or E-form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
5.5 Stencil Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.2.5 Stencil Material Compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
5.5.2 Application Specific Cleaning Challenges . . . . . 20
3.3 Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
5.5.3 On Printer Cleaning Mitigation Strategies . . . . . 21
3.4 Pallets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.5 Misprint Circuit Board Cleaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 6.0 UNDERSTENCIL WIPING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

3.6 Misprinted Solder Paste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 6.1 Understencil Wiping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

3.7 Single-sided Misprint Boards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 6.2 Understencil Wipe Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.8 Double-sided Misprint Boards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 6.2.1 Cleaning Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.9 Misprinted SMT Adhesives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 6.2.2 Dry Wipe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3.10 Misprint Process Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 6.3 Engineered Cleaning Solvents
for Understencil Cleaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3.11 Why Clean SMT Stencils? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
6.4 Wiping Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
3.12 Common Production Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
6.4.1 Dry Wipe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
3.12.1 Cleaning Stencil Underside . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
6.4.2 IPA Wipe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
3.12.2 Uncleaned Stencil Apertures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
6.4.3 Engineered Solvent Wipe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
3.12.3 Solder Paste Build up
on Bottom Side of Stencil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 6.4.4 Engineered Solvent-Aqueous Wipe/Dry/Vac . . . 30
3.12.4 Solder Paste Build-up on 6.5 Understencil Desirable Properties . . . . . . . . . . . 30
the Aperture Side Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 6.6 Determining Wipe Frequency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

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7.0 ENVIRONMENTAL, HEALTH AND SAFETY (EHS) 10.0 MISPRINT CLEANING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

REQUIREMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
10.1 Misprint Cleaning Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
7.1 EHS Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
10.2 Filtration Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
7.2 Employee Exposure to
10.3 Equipment Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Stencil Cleaning Materials/Ingredients . . . . . . . 31
10.3.1 Inline Cleaning Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
7.3 Hazard Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
10.3.2 Batch Cleaning Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
7.3.1 GHS Safety Data Sheet (SDS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Figures
7.3.2 GHS Hazard Classification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Figure 3-1 Typical Stencil Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
7.3.3 GHS Container Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Figure 3-2 Chemical Etch Stencil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
7.4 Other Employee Exposure Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Figure 3-3 Chemical Aperture Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
7.4.1 Fire Safety Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Figure 3-4 Laser Aperture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
7.4.2 Air Emissions / Permitting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Figure 3-5 Laser Aperture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
7.4.3 Solid Waste Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Figure 3-6 Nickel Additive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
7.5 REACH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Figure 3-7 Nickel Additive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
8.0 STENCIL CLEANING AGENTS AND
METHODS OFF THE PRINTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Figure 3-8 Electroform Aperture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

8.1 Stencil Cleaning Agents and Methods . . . . . . . . 33 Figure 3-9a Cleaning a Stencil Using a Brush . . . . . . . . 6

8.2 Matching the Cleaning Agent to Process . . . . . 34 Figure 3-9b Damaging of Small Features
After Brushing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
8.2.1 Manual Stencil Cleaning
using Pre-Saturated Wipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Figure 3-10 Cleaning Stencil Underside . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

8.2.2 Solvent Cleaning with No Water Rinse . . . . . . . 34 Figure 3-11a Uncleaned Stencil Aperture . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

8.2.3 Solvent / Water composition Figure 3-11b Uncleaned Stencil Aperture . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

with No Water Rinse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Figure 3-12a Excess Solder Paste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
8.2.4 Aqueous Engineered Compositions Figure 3-12b Solder Paste Bridging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
with a Water Rinse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Figure 3-13a Lack of Solder Paste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
8.2.5 Low VOC Aqueous Engineered Compositions
Figure 3-13b Open Solder Joint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
for Ultrasonic Stencil Cleaning Machines . . . . . 35
Figure 3-14a Solder Paste Applied Inconsistent . . . 9
8.2.6 Low VOC Aqueous Engineered Compositions
for Spray-in-Air Cleaning Machines . . . . . . . . . 35 Figure 3-14b Inconsistent Solder Paste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
8.2.7 Aqueous Engineered Compositions . . . . . . . . . . 35 Figure 3-14c Tombstoning of a Component . . . . . . . . . . 9
Figure 3-14d Tombstoning of a Component . . . . . . . . . . . 9
9.0 STENCIL CLEANING METHODS
OFF THE PRINTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Figure 3-15a Inadequate Application of Solder Paste . . . 10
9.1 Stencil Cleaning Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Figure 3-15b Inadequate Solder Paste Deposition
9.2 Common Cleaning Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Creating Poor and Potentially Weak
Solder Joints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
9.2.1 Manual Wipe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Figure 3-16a Excessive Application of Solder Paste . . . 10
9.2.2 Ultrasonic Cleaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Figure 3-16b Excessive Application of Solder Paste . . . 10
9.3.1 Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Figure 3-17a Solder Balls Surrounding the SMT Pad
9.3.2 Semi-Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Due to Excessive Solder Paste on
9.3.3 Automated Wash/Rinse Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Bottom Side of Stencil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
9.3.4 Pallet, Radiator, Squeegee Blades, Tooling . . . . 39 Figure 3-17b Solder Balls Surrounding the SMT Pad
Due to Excessive Solder Paste on
Bottom Side of Stencil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Figure 3-18a Solder Spheres Migrating From
Solder Pad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Figure 3-18b Loose Solder Spheres (Balls) . . . . . . . . . . 11
Figure 3-18c Loose Solder Spheres (Balls) . . . . . . . . . . 11

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Figure 3-19a Good Solder Joint Wetting . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Figure 6-9a Desirable Print . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Figure 3-19b Good Solder Joint Wetting . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Figure 6-9b Undesirable Print Showing Flux
Figure 3-19c Bad Solder Joint Wetting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Bleed That Bridge Solder Prints . . . . . . . . 27

Figure 3-19d Bad Solder Joint Wetting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Figure 6-10a Spray Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Figure 3-20 Inadequate Stencil Coplanarity . . . . . . . . . 12 Figure 6-10b Stencil Printer Orifices Designed to Wet
Understencil Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Figure 3-21 Inconsistent Solder Mask Thickness . . . . . 13
Figure 6-11a Flux Build-up and Solder Balls Observed
Figure 3-22 Component Pad Width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 in Stencil Apertures After First Print on
Figure 3-23 Alignment Accuracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Highly Dense Apertures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Figure 4-1a Ferrite Bead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Figure 6-11b Flux Build-up and Solder Balls Observed
in Stencil Apertures After First Print on
Figure 4-1b Chip Resistor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Highly Dense Apertures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Figure 4-1c BGA Bottom 368 Solder Balls . . . . . . . . . 14
Figure 6-12a Flux Build-up on Stencil Bottom Side
Figure 4-2a Ferrite Beads in the tip After Three Prints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
of a 25 Guage Needle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Figure 6-12b Flux Build-up on Stencil Bottom Side
Figure 4-2b BGA 0.400 mm Pitch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 After Three Prints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Figure 4-2c BGA 0.300 mm Pitch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Figure 6-13 Flux Streaks Following Dry Wipe . . . . . . . 29
Figure 4-3 Incompatible Cleaning Solvent and Figure 6-15 IPA/Dry/Vac Wipe Example . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Solder Paste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Figure 6-16 Engineered Solvent Wipe/Dry/Vac . . . . . . 30
Figure 4-4a Stencil Printing Cycle Time . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Figure 6-17 Solvent-Water Azeotrope Wetness on
Figure 4-4b Stencil Cleaning/Wipe Frequency . . . . . . . 15 Stencil Bottom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Figure 4-5 Interaction Plot for Boards/Second . . . . . . 16 Figure 9-1 Manual Wipe Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Figure 4-6 Examples of an Acceptable Print . . . . . . . . 16 Figure 9-2 Ultrasonic Cleaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Figure 5-1 Illustration of the Stencil Aperture Figure 9-3 Spray-in-Air Cleaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Gasket – Highlighting (red circles) the
Figure 10-1a Solder Balls Wedged into No Solder Mask
Gasketing Challenges for a NSMD
Defined Channels and Via Holes . . . . . . . . 40
vs. SMD Pad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Figure 10-1b Solder Balls Wedged into No Solder Mask
Figure 5-2 Area Ratio Impacts Transfer Efficiency . . 18
Defined Channels and Via Holes . . . . . . . . 40
Figure 6-1 Image of the Stencil Printing Process . . . . 23
Figure 10-2 Board printed with wet solder paste . . . . . 40
Figure 6-2a Desirable - Smooth and Clean
Figure 10-3 Reflowed Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Aperture Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Figure 6-2b Undesirable - Irregular and Uncleaned Tables
Aperture Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Table 3-1 Lists Process Recommendations when
Figure 6-3 Understencil Wipe Process . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Cleaning Different Types of Contaminants
from Misprinted Boards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Figure 6-4 Excessive Solder Paste on Paper
Can Indicate Process Related Issues . . . . . 26 Table 4-1 Stencil Aperature Size and Area Ratios
Stencil Thickness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Figure 6-5 Image of an Understencil Wipe Design
Within the Stencil Printing Machine . . . . . 26 Table 7-1 Permissible Exposure Limits (PELs) . . . . 31
Figure 6-6 During the Wet Wipe, Solvent is Wicked Table 7-2 Ratings for Flammable Liquids . . . . . . . . . 32
Through Small Orifices to Wet an Area Table 8-1 Stencil Cleaning Agents and
of the Wiper Roll. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Processing Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Figure 6-7 Vacuum System Designed to Extract
Trace Solder Balls and Chemical Residues
from the Bottom Side of the Stencil. . . . . . 27
Figure 6-8 Flux Smeared Across the Bottom Side
of the Stencil After a Dry Wiping
Sequence (UV Tracer in Flux Illuminated
by Back Light). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

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Stencil and Misprinted Board Cleaning Handbook

1.0 SCOPE

1.1 Statement of Scope This handbook addresses understencil cleanliness during stencil printing, removal of solder paste from
stencils following the cleaning process and misprint PCB board cleaning considerations.

1.2 Purpose The goal in stencil printing is to place an exact amount of material in a precise location on the PCB. The print
medium might be solder paste, adhesive/glue, flux, or thick film materials. The squeegee speed or pressure can affect the quality
of the material deposition, the stencil is the primary control mechanism for material deposition. The purpose of this handbook
is to provide the assembler best practice guidelines for understencil cleanliness during the stencil printing process, and stencil
cleaning once the stencil is removed from the stencil printer. The document also addresses best practices for cleaning a PCB that
was misprinted.

1.2.1 Problem Statement: The stencil and PCB must be well aligned and in very tight contact (gasketing) to achieve an acceptable
print. The problem is that poor contact between the stencil and the board can cause poor quality prints resulting in soldering defects.
A common root cause of gasketing issues is solder paste on the stencil’s contact side. The cleanliness of the stencil is critical to
the success of the stencil printing process. Insufficient solder is the primary cause of defects originating from the stencil printing
process; therefore, stencil cleanliness is an essential process step for delivering the proper amount of solder paste to the PCB pads.

2.0 APPLICABLE DOCUMENTS

The following documents are provided as possible sources of additional information.
2.1 Reference Documents
IPC-7525 Stencil Design Guidelines
IPC-A-610 Acceptability of Electronic Assemblies
IPC-7093 Bottom Terminated Components
IPC-CH-65 Guidelines for Cleaning of Printed Boards and Assemblies
IPC-SC-60 Post Solder Solvent Cleaning Handbook
IPC-SA-61 Post Solder Semi-Aqueous Cleaning Handbook
IPC-AC-62 Post Solder Aqueous Cleaning Handbook
IPC-CA-82 General Requirements for Thermally Conductive Adhesives
IPC-3406 Guidelines for Electrically Conductive Surface
IPC-3408 General Requirements for Anisotropically Conductive Adhesive Films

2.2 Joint Industry Standards

J-STD-001 Requirements for Soldered Electrical and Electronic Assemblies
J-STD-005 Requirements for Soldering Pastes

2.3 Surface Mount Technology Association (SMTA)

Stencil Printing Fundamentals Stencil Printing 101

2.4 American Standards for Testing Materials

ASTM Standards & Publications can be found at https://www.astm.org/Standard/standards-and-publications.html
2.5 Federal Laws and Standards
CAA Clean Air Act
CWA Clean Water Act
CERCLA Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act
RCRA Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
SARA Superfund Amendment and Reauthorization Act

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IPC-7526A March 2022

2.6 Department of Defense

MIL-C-85447 Cleaning Compounds, Electrical & Electronic Components

2.7 Occupational Safety and Health Administration

OSHA 29CFR 1910.106 Flammable and Combustible Liquids
OSHA 29 CFR 1910.134 Respiratory Protection
OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1000 Air Contaminants

2.8 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

EPA 40 CFR 63 National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for Source Categories
EPA 40 CFR 82 Protection of Stratospheric Ozone
EPA-453/R-94-081 Guidance Document for the Halogenated Solvent Cleaner NESHAP
EPA 40 CFR 117 Determination of Reportable Quantities for Hazardous Substances
EPA 40 CFR 136.36 Toxic Criteria for those States Not Complying with Clean Water Act Section 303(c)(2)(B)
EPA 40 CFR 261 Identification and Listing of Hazardous Waste
EPA 40 CFR 302.4 Designation of Hazardous Substances
EPA 40 CFR 355.30 (b) Emergency Release Notification
EPA 40 CFR 370 Hazardous Chemical Reporting: Community Right to Know

2.9 Department of Transportation

DOT 33 CFR 153.203 Procedure for the Notice of Discharge

2.10 National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)

NFPA 35 Definitions of Flammable & Combustible Substances

2.11 Air Quality Management Standards (AQMD)

AQMD Rules & Compliance can be found at http://www.aqmd.gov/home/air-quality

3.0 STENCIL CLEANING PROCESS

3.1 Process Overview Stencil printing is a well-known and proven process technology for surface mounted and through hole
components. Solder paste deposition on fine pitch and area array packages offer an attractive, cost-saving, and high-volume
production process. The cleanliness of the stencil is critical to the success of the stencil printing process. Insufficient solder is the
primary cause of defects originating from the stencil printing process; therefore, stencil cleanliness is an essential process step for
delivering the proper amount of solder paste to the PCB pads. Stencil cleaning must remove all solder particles and flux vehicle
from stencil apertures without damaging the stencil, bonding adhesive or mounting mesh.
The degree of cleanliness required varies with complexity of the board design. Stencils are usually cleaned to a visually clean
condition. Cleaning misprinted circuit boards requires the removal of un-reflowed solder paste and ionic contaminants. An
inadequately cleaned misprint can leave undesired residues on the processed assembly, potentially impacting quality and reliability.
For additional information on assembly cleaning processes, please refer to IPC-CH-65.
When cleaning the stencil after removal from the printer, the most effective cleaning processes integrate mechanical and chemical
cleaning forces. Cleaning chemistry suppliers work closely with cleaning equipment manufacturers to provide an integrated
process. Stencil cleaning faces the challenge of removing solder paste and Surface Mount Technology (SMT) adhesive from tiny
apertures while not damaging the stencil. To achieve reproducibility in cleaning, the process requires a mild chemistry integrated
with stencil cleaning equipment that removes solder paste and SMT residues from fine apertures without damaging the stencil.
In summary, the stencil cleaning objectives are the removal of contaminants in the form of non-reflowed solder paste and uncured
adhesives. Process engineers are seeking robust processes that provide practical, cost effective, safe, and environmentally friendly
methods.