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Selective soldering is a process used in electronic assembly to solder specific components to a printed circuit board while leaving other areas unaffected. There are several technologies for performing this task, including all-in-one and one-at-a-time methods, with varying levels of precision and speed. The most accurate method is laser welding, but it is slower than all-in-one systems.
Selective soldering is one of the processes used in the construction of various electronic assemblies, usually printed circuit boards. Typically, the process involves soldering specific electronic components to a printed circuit board, while leaving other areas of the board unaffected. This is in contrast to the various reflow soldering processes which expose the entire board to molten solder. In practice, selective welding can refer to any method of welding, from manual welding to specialized welding equipment, as long as the method is precise enough to apply the weld only to the desired areas.
It is common for a circuit to go through several soldering processes during its construction. For example, a circuit may have all of its less sensitive components, such as resistors, installed and then soldered using an oven reflow process. The board would then undergo a selective soldering process to install its most sensitive components under different or more controlled conditions, such as within a very specific temperature range.
There are several technologies for performing the task of selective welding. These can solder the desired connections all at once or one at a time. Typically, all-in-one technologies require specialized tools for each different set of tasks they need to perform. While such tools aren’t usually needed for technologies one at a time, they tend to take much longer to perform a given task.
The mass selective immersion method can weld many connections at once. This method requires the construction of a special tool, which can only be used to solder one set of connections to a specific circuit design. The equipment for this method has a series of small holes through which the molten solder is pumped, creating a series of small puddles. The circuit is then placed on the fixture, which dips the desired areas of the board into the puddles of solder.
Another all-in-one technology is the selective aperture method. This technology typically uses a special tool that masks all parts of a circuit except where soldering is desired. In those locations, the equipment has an opening or opening. The circuit board, with the fixture attached, is then immersed in the molten solder, which only reaches the areas exposed by the fixture.
Miniaturized wave systems for selective soldering are one of the least expensive methods. This technology uses what amounts to a very small bubble of molten solder. The circuit is moved over the bubble and placed on it where a solder connection is desired. While this technology requires no special tools, repeatedly moving the circuit, making only one connection at a time, is a very slow process.
Laser welding systems are the fastest and most accurate of single-type technologies. With this method, a computer program quickly positions a laser to individually heat each solder connection. This is a very precise method that requires no special tools; however, it’s still much slower than all-in-one systems.
