The following are services that we can provide your company:

JGAR Lab Services will perform most analysis within 24-48 hours of receipt of sample. Phone and email communications will be ongoing during the investigation. When results are finished your company will receive a full analysis with digital photographic documentation and prompt email report with results of the investigation. JGAR use MIL-STD-883 or IPC-A-610-D class II & III for investigation of microcircuits and solder issues.

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This process involves mounting samples in epoxy using experienced techniques to ensure the highest standard for sampling for examination under metallurgical or Scanning Electron microscopy. This process can reveal:

• printed circuit board and assembly problems
• component evaluation
• BGA (Ball Grid Array) to board attachment problems
• plating thickness
• plating measurements
• stress fractures
• contamination
• copper weight of PWBs
• substandard materials
• PWB through-hole and via examination
• solder quality

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A Ball Grid Array (BGA) is a surface-mount device and is processed in a standard surface mount assembly line. Many peculiarities of Printed Circuit Board (PCB) layout can result in failures of BGA assembly during ramp up and series production start-up. These include: screen printing, placement, soldering, and inspection. BGA solder joints cannot be inspected using conventional inspection methods. 5DX-ray may show solder shorts, but with micro sectioning of the rows of a BGA we are able to see each ball in detail. The analysis will determine ball height, grain structure, folds, process fractures, stress fracture origin, etc. Then a detailed photographic report will be email within 24 to 48 hours. BGAs are one of our specialties.

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Shear testing is performed to determine the shear strength of a material. A peak maximum shear rupture point can me captured and charted to determine component integrity. This test reveals many factors on a Printed Circuit Board (PCB) assembly such as solder paste effectiveness, component contamination, PCB pad failures, and process evaluations.

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This technique requires several steps. First we do the initial optical view of the integrated circuit package for OEM markings. Then we decapsulate components using various techniques depending on packaging. After successful decapsulation, the die is examined under 1200-1600X to determine accuracy matching the data sheet including part numbers and logos etched on die. The JGAR team has 20 years of die verification experience.

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Decapsulation is a failure analysis step performed to open a plastic package to facilitate the inspection, chemical analysis, and electrical examination of the the die and the internal features of the package. Chemical etching consists of manually dispensing red fuming acid (HNO3) on the surface of a package to remove the plastic material covering the die.

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This is a technique that can be used to assure a component satisfies certain required properties. The typical approach to verifying properties of components are to check the background, look for external anomalies, and decapsulate and inspect using increasing magnification microscopy. Inspection will include; die, bond wire, layer construction integrity, and data sheet matching. Our materials engineer has over 20 year experience with electronic component evaluation.
 

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Dye penetrates have been used for may years for a variety of applications. A small vacuum pump is used to remove air in the sealed  container to assist the penetration process. The same technique is often used when micro sectioning components and on printed boards to help eliminate air being trapped. This technique is used especially with BGA and flip chips. Once the dye has dried, a shear test or micro section analysis can be performed. Under a black light the dye will fluoresces and any fractures or voids will illuminate.

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The purpose of this test is to: A) verify that marking or color coding will not become illegible or discolored on the parts (including printed wiring boards) when subjected to solvents and processes normally use to clean solder-flux, fingerprints, and other contaminants from printed-wiring and terminal-board assemblies, and B) to verify that component protective coatings and encapsulant materials are not degraded to the point where electrical or mechanical integrity is disturbed when subjected to solvents and processes normal used to clean solder flux, fingerprints, and other contaminants from printed-wiring and terminal-board assemblies, etc.

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Delidding/Decapping is a mechanical process that may require a specialized tool for a ceramic package or the grinding or prying technique of a metal package. A lapping surface grinder is normally used for this process.

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Using a McBeth color matching light source lets us spot color differences before your customers do! SpectraLight III is so precise, that it's the world's most accurate simulation of natural daylight. The McBeth has 5 different light settings for the best color matching in the market.

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• Energy dispersive spectrometry detection and identification of non-organic elements above carbon on the periodic table
• SEM magnification levels up to 200,000X
• Analytical applications such as semiconductor constructional analysis
• Quantitative analysis of metals and alloys

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Much like transmission x-rays, XRF has an equal number of production and analytical applications.. A traditional use for XRF is the measurement of plating thickness. XRF can efficiently and precisely measure surface finish thicknesses. It can also be used for process control, incoming material quality control and qualification of components, assemblies and processes.

One advantage XRF has over other elemental analysis techniques is that it is nondestructive. The relatively low energy x-rays do not damage electronics components, circuit boards, or assemblies; therefore, components can be used immediately after testing.

As with any other analysis technique, knowledge of the sample can increase the precision of the result. XRF operators are at a severe disadvantage when attempting to gather quantitative data from an unknown system with multiple layers. XRF is known as a surface technique, but the XRF incident x-rays can penetrate through multiple layers.

X-Ray Fluorescence is used to measure plating thickness as well as provide material analysis.