A few questions about soldermasks.

Thread Starter

doby

Joined Aug 17, 2011
54
I've just competed my first go at smd soldering without a soldermask in place and much to my surprise it went a lot smoother than I anticipated, in fact it was perfect. I'm now in two minds whether I actually need to bother with a soldermask or if just tinning the copper will provide sufficient protection against oxidation and corrosion.

I realise there are other benifts to a soldermask but I'm unsure if it's actually worth the hassle given that I had no trouble with the soldering.

The pcbs will be part of a marketed product so maybe a soldermask is required? I know lead solder is big no in this respect and I obviously want to meet any directives that may exist on selling a product containing a pcb.

Can anyone shed any light on this?
 
The solder mask allows a PCB to be machine soldered. Conformal coatings can prevent oxidation. The silk screen will help in stuffing the board. The PCB house may not allow a silk screen without a soldermask.
 
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