Solder paste matrix

What exactly is the criteria needed to determine the right solder paste. I have been fortunate enough in the past to have a solder paste work "halfway" for me and to modify the reflow profile or simply just "drop in" a paste and monkey with the profile and have it look and perform well. Now I'm tasked with perfroming an evaluation between several (about 12-15) different manufacturer's pastes and we will be sending the boards out to be cross-sectioned, SIR tested, etc. Maybe some of you guys out there can share if you have gone through this before. Thanks!

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| What exactly is the criteria needed to determine the right solder paste. I have been fortunate enough in the past to have a solder paste work "halfway" for me and to modify the reflow profile or simply just "drop in" a paste and monkey with the profile and have it look and perform well. Now I'm tasked with perfroming an evaluation between several (about 12-15) different manufacturer's pastes and we will be sending the boards out to be cross-sectioned, SIR tested, etc. Maybe some of you guys out there can share if you have gone through this before. Thanks! Jason: Your project has five phases: 1 Pre-reflow solder paste evaluation. Phil Zarrow (www.itm-smt.com/) wrote a good article to get you started. 2 Reflow evaluation. You know how to do this. 3 Contamination testing. J-STD-001 does a good job of describing contamination testing. There are good labs to support you. 4 Contamination evaluation. From one perspective, you're in trouble, because the standards are not current. From another perspective, you don't really need a standard. 5 Cross section evaluation. Your lab will help. Good luck Dave F

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