In this video I describe some tips on fixing bridging from a small pitch FPGA, here a Xilinx Spartan 3, PG208 package. The largest non-BGA package available for this family.
I started with a toaster oven, and some solder paste, dispensed with a small syringe. From there I placed the IC carefully on top of the PCB, and put in the toaster until the solder reflowed. Once it was cooled, I noticed some bridges from using a little too much solder paste. This video explains how I cleaned up the solder bridges using some solder wick. It comes down to needing to tin the tip before each application of the wick. When it comes to tinning the tip, it’s not something that is required in all soldering, but here, in this scenario, it is required. It also helps to use fresh wick each time.
PITFALLS:
The kind of problems that you can run into when soldering a device like this may be the following:
- Don’t bother trying to solder this by hand with an iron. Just don’t. Use a toaster, and solder paste. You don’t need a fancy reflow controller, just stick the board in a toaster until the solder reflows. Set it to max temperature (I use broil). Don’t use the toaster for food. Next.
- Don’t put the solder paste on top of the IC pins. Put the solder paste down on the pads, and then put the IC on top of them. Doing the opposite will not work as well.
- Do make sure that you have soldermask between all the pins on your gerbers before sending out. That is a rookie mistake, to have a footprint made that somehow omitted or doesn’t include the solder mask. Without it, the bridges will happen more easily.
- Do use a good quality soldering iron. Consensus these days is that the entry level iron you should use is either the Hakko 888 or the Weller I have. Each runs about $100-150.
- Do double check your footprint pads are the right size. Don’t make the leads too long on high speed designs, or the capacitors / collectors won’t be able to dispense electricity to the IC fast enough.