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Setting Up Ion Chromatography Capability
Abstract
As board shops, contract assemblers, and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) begin to understand the power of ion chromatography (IC) as a method to improve the quality and reliability of manufactured product, more will seek to bring this once-specialized science in house. However, there is a broad gap between the purchase of an ion chromatograph and realizing the benefits of a finely tuned chromatography lab. This paper is intended for those contemplating setting up an IC lab to educate them on all of the little things involved that are seldom mentioned in the glossy sales brochures. This paper contains many of the practical considerations in setting up ion chromatography that the authors wish they had when they started.
Introduction
Since the late 1970s, the cleanliness of printed circuit boards (PCB) and printed wiring assemblies (PWAs) has been determined using resistivity of solvent extract (ROSE) testing1. While the method functioned acceptably as a process control tool for high solids rosin fluxes and solvent cleaning, it is inadequate for use with modern, more complex fluxes and associated complex cleaning chemistries. Automated ROSE testers have been shown2 to have a lack of repeatability and reproducibility, but their use continues until something better comes along. Ion chromatography (IC) has long been used in the pharmaceutical industry, but the application of IC to the evaluation of PWA cleanliness did not begin until the early 1990s.
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