Eliminating Electronic Component Stresses through Controlled Laser Soldering Available to Purchase

A procedure is discussed wherein an infra‐red detector is used for controlling the quality of solder joints being formed by laser‐beam heating on printed circuit boards while, at the same time, automatically inspecting the quality of each joint. The joint‐by‐joint soldering method avoids the thermally induced stresses between the components and the printed circuit board which can occur when the entire board is mass soldered by conventional means. It also eliminates the ‘after the fact’ human inspection process, while at the same time making available real‐time data for process control of the soldering operation.