A technique wherein everything on a circuit board is coated with a non-conductive polymer except the contacts to be soldered, the edge-card connectors and fiducials.
Used to protect the board and circuitry during the assembly and packaging operations. Among other things, the solder mask helps prevents solder bridges between adjacent pads and traces during the wave soldering process. Liquid Photo-imageable (LPI) is our standard process.
Generate your soldermask artwork with a swell of 0.008" to 0.010" larger than the component and solder side pads. Our manufacturing process needs at least 0.005" mask between pads in order to adhere to the board. Anything less than that has the potential for lifting and re-depositing on surface mounts that would then prevent solder coverage.
A layer applied to the surface of the substrate that prevents solder from sticking to any metalization except where holes are patterned into the mask.
A non-conductive coating on the PCB, used to protect the circuitry on the board from damage in later stages of processing. Usually, responsible for the board's green appearance.
An insulating pattern applied to a printed circuit board that exposes only the areas to be soldered.
A layer of passivation material covered on top of outer-layer conductor (Cu) that has openings to allow solder wet to the Cu pads and prevents solder bridging in the rest area. These openings are called Solder Mask Openings.
A resin type resist that encapsulates the printed circuit board, so when it is being assembled, molten solder will not stick to the board except on pad holes or lead frames.
A coating material used to mask or protect selected areas of a pattern from the application of solder. Usually applied to a PCB to allow solder to adhere only to the pads and other unmasked areas. Also referred to as ‘solder resist’.
Solder mask or solder resist is a lacquer like layer of polymer that provides a permanent protective coating for the copper traces of a printed circuit board (PCB) and prevents solder from bridging between conductors, thereby creating short circuits. Solder mask was created primarily to facilitate wave soldering used in mass assembly. The solder mask is most often applied with a green tint but is available in a wide variety of colors and finishes.
