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Tin Whiskers Revisited
A while back I posted on the subject of Tin Whiskers. I also discussed the basics of what I found at that time on This Week in Radio Tech podcast. (episode 145 to be exact) Well, wouldn’t you know that the November issue of Electronic Design has an article on that same topic! Very cool. Article Link Here. You will also note a side box with other articles on the same subject.
This particular article gives more detail on what they are and how they grow. There are even pictures. I think this is pretty fascinating stuff and can explain some of your unknown issues with electronic devises, especially those made after the elimination of lead based solder.
Note in the article some of the failures in another side box: Stable short-circuits in low-voltage systems, transient short-circuits (ah, the intermittent issue), and the best of all Plasma-arcing in a vacuum! The last one is reported what caused three commercial satellites to fail. Now that is some serious, and expensive failures.
Enjoy the read. I did.
Cheers!
More on Tin Whiskers
A few weeks back I posted on Tin Whiskers. Well, look what I found on Phys.org today: Phys.org: Tin Whiskers.
Coincidental I say. I had a nice chat with Kirk Harnack on TWiRT on these suckers and how they can cause failures and you would never know they were the culprit. Pretty cool.
Anyone out there have a story or experienced a “tin whisker failure?”
Cheers!
Tin Whiskers
I was poking around the web during lunch and came across one of my favorite sites, EE Web. While browsing down the page I saw this blog/article post on Tin Whiskers. (For those looking for humor: I almost wrote Whiskey!)
Anyone ever run into an issue with tin whiskers? I know some manufacturers that have. The issue one had was between a PCB and a shield assembly. Over time with the help of dust the whiskers grew until they shorted with the shield. The solution was to make the gap between PCB and shield wider. Knowing that this can happen and if you start seeing intermittent oddities with a piece of equipment, check for tin whiskers. Blasting air will clean out the dust and any other catalyst, but it will not prevent regrowth.
EE Web is a great resource for electrical engineering articles and tools. Very easy to navigate. Do you have a favorite site? Pass it along and I will publish it.
Cheers!
Tech Notes from the Field 