Precision laser cutting services, rapid turnaround in the UK & Ireland

A. Stencil thickness should be determined by the finest pitch device or smallest aperture size on the image. Boards without fine-pitch devices are fine on 6 thou (0.15 mm), or if you need large volumes of paste, then 8 thou (0.2 mm) might be an option.

A. For most conventional devices (e.g., resistors, capacitors and non-fine-pitch ICs) an overall reduction of 5 to 10% from pad size is finest. Fine pitch ICs should normally be reduced in width to give an equal aperture to gap ratio (i.e., a 10 thou aperture on a 20 thou pitch device).

A. All stencils supplied by Sparks are produced on hardened high nickel content stainless steel ensuring compatibility with lead-free paste.

A. Ideally, your data should include paste layers that are unmodified (if your data is modified, it’s important to notify us to avoid a second reduction being applied). Where possible, including tracking, resist and silk screen layers can help in the pre-production of your stencil.