ABSTRACT

The aim of this paper is to study the thermal profile process of manufacturing Printed Circuit Boards (PCB). The thermal profile process controls the cycle time and temperature level of the oven, in other words, the solder joints have to reach the correct cycle time of the soldering temperature. Therefore, it is challenging to simultaneously control the temperatures in different zones with specific cycle time in each zone. The solder paste and components should be well-matched in the heating slope for each zone; the solder paste has different types and different manufacturers. Also, these variables (temperature and time in each zone) are interconnected and thus, result in good quality in solder joint, also to determine which variables are more significant to get good solder quality by using design of experiment (DOE). Minitab software will be used for DOE. The data of the research will be collected from real assembly line of PCB. In addition to the aim of the research it is also to get a better yield via improving the time of the PCB assembly process. Hence, the outcome to all of these attempts of optimizing the assembly line of PCB for continuous improvement is to deliver good quality products, reduce cost, and minimize the time of delivery and meet the customer expectations.