InsightsCan Technical Cleanliness Be Achieved Without an Additional Cleaning Step?
A practical case from high-voltage production shows how particle risks can be assessed and cleanliness requirements reliably secured without automatically adding an additional cleaning step.
— Risk Assessment Reliably Safeguarding Particle Risks in High-Voltage Electronic Assemblies
Particle contamination from upstream process steps can impair the function of sensitive high-voltage electronic assemblies. To reduce this risk, many production lines use additional cleaning systems for particle removal.
Our customer also cleaned its high-voltage electronic assemblies in a separate process step before applying the protective coating in order to minimize the residual contamination risk as far as possible. However, since the protective coating used also serves as an insulating material and may provide sufficient protection, the question arose whether this additional cleaning step was actually necessary.
Eliminating the separate cleaning step would simplify the production process and reduce costs. However, this required a reliable assessment of whether the specified Technical Cleanliness and the reliability of the electronic assemblies could also be ensured without this intermediate step.
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— challengeTechnical Cleanliness Without an Additional Cleaning Step
The customer needed to determine whether the specified Technical Cleanliness of the high-voltage electronic assembly could be reliably achieved without additional cleaning.
The key question was not only whether particles were present, but whether they would pose a risk to function and reliability under later operating conditions. For this reason, particle risk, protective coating and electrical stress had to be assessed together.
— investigationClimate Stress Testing With and Without Particle Contamination
To assess the impact of potential particle contamination, the high-voltage electronic assembly was subjected to climate stress testing. Assemblies with and without additional particle contamination were tested.
The objective was not only to examine the visible cleanliness of the surface, but to evaluate the actual resilience of the assembly under humid climate conditions. The key question was whether the protective coating would provide sufficient protection even without prior cleaning.
By comparing the test results, the particle risk could be evaluated on a sound technical basis. This made it possible to assess whether the specified Technical Cleanliness could be achieved without an additional cleaning step.
— AnalysisCritical Factor in the Interaction Between Humidity and Voltage
The investigation showed that Technical Cleanliness cannot be assessed in isolation. The decisive factor was not only whether particles were present on the surface, but how particle risk, protective coating, humidity exposure and high voltage interact.
During the in-depth analysis, a critical weakness in the insulating material was identified. Under humidity exposure and high voltage, the protective effect of the coating was not sufficiently stable. In later operation, this weakness could have impaired the functionality of the electronic assembly and increased the failure rate.
This showed that the additional cleaning step was not the only relevant lever. The process control of the protective coating was also decisive for the reliability of the high-voltage electronic assembly.
— SolutionOptimizing the Process Parameters of the Protective Coating
Based on the analysis, the process parameters of the protective coating were adjusted. The focus was particularly on the flash-off and drying of the insulating material.
The optimized parameters improved the degree of crosslinking in the material. As a result, the protective effect of the coating increased under the combined stress of humidity and high voltage.
This meant that not only the particle risk was assessed, but the entire process was specifically secured. The customer gained a reliable basis for achieving the specified Technical Cleanliness without an additional cleaning step while ensuring the quality of the high-voltage electronic assemblies.
— ResultAchieving Technical Cleanliness While Reducing Process Effort
The investigation showed under which conditions the specified Technical Cleanliness can also be achieved without additional cleaning. At the same time, it became clear that the reliability of the electronic assembly does not depend solely on particle contamination, but on the interaction between cleanliness requirements, protective coating and subsequent operating stress.
This gave the customer a technically sound basis for decision-making. The additional cleaning step could be evaluated, the process could be specifically optimized and the quality of the high-voltage electronic assemblies could continue to be reliably secured.
Have Technical Cleanliness Assessed Without an Additional Cleaning Step
assistance moduleTechnical Cleanliness
If particulate contamination has already caused anomalies or cleanliness requirements need to be secured in production, the Technical Cleanliness assistance module supports the assessment and narrowing down of potential risks.
The module is tailored to the specific issue at hand and helps derive suitable measures for the respective process.
whitepaper-collectionTechnical Cleanliness in Electronics Manufacturing
Particulate contamination can affect the reliability of electronic assemblies. The Whitepaper Collection provides a technical overview of risks caused by particle contamination, test methods and possible corrective measures in electronics manufacturing.
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