Picosun Oy, Finland, reports that it has developed atomic layer deposition technology in which nanolaminates specifically tailored to form dense, conformal, and hermetic seals are deposited on printed circuit board assemblies (PCBA).
This seal protects the PCBA components from the corrosion caused by moisture and impurities in the ambient air and blocks metal whisker propagation. As ultra-thin films, ALD coatings have the additional benefit of allowing postprocessing of the PCBA, and they do not increase its mass or dimensions. Furthermore, as a gas-phased technique, ALD is gentle to the surface, it can be applied at moderate temperatures, and it is environmentally friendly.
Metal whisker formation and corrosion are some key factors that cause PCBA performance degradation over time. Metal whiskers are thin filaments or threads growing out from solders, components, and interconnects on the PCBA, and they can cause short-circuiting that leads to a system failure. This is particularly fatal in sensitive applications such as medical, automotive, space, aviation, military, and industrial control electronics.
"Our comprehensive selection of industrial ALD systems guarantees an optimal solution to every customer, allowing fast and economic processing of even large area PCBAs in just one process run,” states Juhana Kostamo, Managing Director of Picosun.
