Why Surface Mount Technology (SMT) Soldering is Getting Harder to Do

Why is everyone finding SMT surface mount technology assembly to be increasingly challenging this year? In fact, for our SMT industry, we believe that with the emergence of new technologies and products, there will be an increasing demand for surface mount assembly. Overall, this remains a burgeoning industry. If it's a burgeoning industry, why does it become harder to manage? A detailed analysis of this year's trends reveals: If we liken the market to a large pond, then this year's various situations are akin to continually draining the water from this pond. The water gets lower and lower, while the sun grows larger and the water temperature rises. Once, a vast pond could accommodate many fish, with water deep enough not to be scalding, providing comfort. Now, it's different; with less water in the pond, the fish that are too hot to bear sink, all jumping out. In the end, it's those who hide beneath the water plants, adapting to environmental changes, that survive the drought and await the arrival of the rainy season.

So, everyone has been living in a hot pot this year, and who can navigate through this difficult period. To delve into specifics, some matters require a deeper analysis:

1. Homogenization of industry competition

As the number of participants in the SMT surface mount technology (SMT) assembly industry continues to grow, Shenzhen is not only home to numerous SMT assembly companies but also boasts over a thousand businesses capable of PCBA (Printed Circuit Board Assembly) processing. These companies, large and small, all offer similar services. What one can do, we can do too. Essentially, everyone is vying for the same clients, lacking unique selling points and differentiation. Consequently, clients tend to choose based on the lowest price. Thus, in a homogenized competition, the lowest price becomes the determining factor for dominance.

2. The head-to-head competition intensifies

The competition at the top is quite challenging. For instance, Tencent, Alibaba, and JD.com are already major players in our industry. In the SMT surface mount technology sector, there have also emerged numerous leading players. Companies that control most of the resources can dominate the market's discourse and leverage their pricing advantage to eliminate smaller players first, ultimately cornering the market on their own.

3. Decreased market demand

Domestic and international demand have been on the decline since the beginning of this year, which has led to a widespread perception that business is becoming increasingly challenging. This trend is expected to continue in the foreseeable future.

　　What are the key points to note during the ATE testing in the SMT process?

As electronic products become increasingly miniaturized, lightweight, and require high reliability, components must adapt to market demands by becoming lighter, thinner, and smaller, with more pins and enhanced performance. How can we avoid and resolve issues like missed assembly, incorrect assembly, and parameter deviations during the SMT贴片加工 process in PCB assembly? Let's explore the solution with pneumatic and electrical testing.

Gas and electrical testing primarily involves contact-based inspections of circuit components. During the assembly process of PCBs, even with very strict process management, defects such as incorrect polarity placement, solder bridging, cold solder joints, and short circuits may still occur. Therefore, after assembly and cleaning, it is necessary to conduct contact-based testing on the circuit components to verify their electrical characteristics and functionality. Online testing is the primary contact-based testing technique, which involves sequentially providing test (input) signals to components on the circuit without interference from other components, and then detecting their output signals at the output ends. The most basic instrument used in gas and electrical testing is the In Circuit Test (ICT) machine. Traditional ICT machines use a specialized needle bed to make contact with the components on the soldered printed circuit board and perform discrete isolation tests using hundreds of volts and currents of 10mA or less, accurately measuring faults such as missing, incorrectly installed, parameter value deviations, solder joint bridging, and open/short circuits on the printed circuit board, and accurately informing the user which component is faulty or where the open/short circuit is located.