EnviroSense's Ultrasonic Gold Contact Cleaner TM* has been developed for the cleaning of process and atmospheric residues, from gold slot connector tabs, on AGP and PCI type assemblies. Residue build-ups from solder mask “bake-out’ curing, out-gasing, assembly reflow out-gasing, fingerprint oils, Kapton tape residues, and handling along with contaminants on conveyor systems are several of the reasons for design of the unit. These residues, if not cleaned, will eventually contaminate slot connector test fixturing. Test failures and “down” time for cleaning and/or replacing of the slot testers can be greatly reduced. The unit is designed to use EnviroSense’ non–alcohol and non-flammable #816/18.54A saponifying chemistry.
The PCA is put into the brush tray and the gold contact fingers (only) are moved back and forth between the opposing brushes. The brush tray contains the #816 chemistry. After brushing the gold contacts, the PCA is moved to the rinse section and the contacts are set into a slot in the ultrasonic tubular guide. This rinse section is filled with deionized water. There is a horizontally directed ultrasonic transducer that emits a narrow band of energy through the deionzed water and tubular wave guide. This energy greatly improves the rinsing of the chemistry from the contacts. After rinsing, the contacts can either be dried with wipes, rack air-dried or dried using filtered air from a cannister or compressor.
* Patent pending