Comparison of PCB Surface Treatment Effect Using UV Equipment and Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Equipment

Low pressure mercury lamp type UV equipments have been widely used for cleaning and modification of PCB surfaces. To enhance the productivity of the process, we newly developed remote DBD type atmospheric pressure plasma equipment. The productivity of both equipments could be compared by measuring surface contact angle for various transferring speed. By the result of the measurement, we could verify that the productivity of the atmospheric pressure plasma be superior to the productivity of the UV equipment. XPS experiments confirmed that the surface effect of the UV and atmospheric pressure plasma processing are similar for each other. Organic contamination level was reduced after the processing and some surface elements were oxidized for both cases. Finally, the atmospheric pressure plasma equipment was adapted to flip chip BGA's flux printing process and it was concluded that the printing uniformity be enhanced by the atmospheric pressure plasma surface treatment.