Solvent cleaning of handsets and terminals is now part of everyday life and protection of PCBAs are required to prevent solvent corrosion damage and device failure.Ultra-thin plasma coatings provide the lowest TCO for board-level protection and permit re-workability of the protected PCBAs.
Current Issues
Protecting products with large holes and gaps from increasing liquid challenges such as repeat cleaning with anti-bacterial wipes between multiple users and operators.
Increased need to protect from harsher environmental challenges, particularly in today’s world where more transactions are taking place outdoors by multiple operators in a cash-less society.
Differentiation from incumbent solutions
Mechanical seals are no longer viable as holes and gaps are actively built in as critical for 5G connection and the engineering tolerances are not feasible to maintain protection against devices being dropped or damaged.
Incumbent conformal coatings delivered by parylene and liquid dispensed methods can attenuate signals which is not acceptable for reliable connection and timely data transfer.
P2i's Solution
Barrier Coating will be critical post SMT for all PCBAs before being assembled into products to protect from corrosion damage as it is inevitable that environmental challenges and anti-bacterial wipe solvents will get inside the device.
Additional benefits of providing Splash-proof to prevent initial water and solvent ingress will depend on the specific product design and the manufacturer’s qualification and reliability specifications.