SMT Stencil

Manufacturing of form-stable printing templates

In the manufacturing of electronic devices SMT components are now generally accepted. Before the assembly of these SMT components solder paste is printed onto the component pads of the printed circuit board.

A prerequisite for this screen printing are form-stable printing templates, which are today usually manufactured from steel, more rarely from nickel or polyimide. From the English language the term for these templates "stencil" has been adopted.

The material thickness of the stencils defines the volume of solder paste deposited  by the screen printing process.

Apart from the classical SMT assembly, screen printing with stencils is used in the production of high density chip housings, ceramic Multilayers, FlipChips and OLEDs (Organic Light Emitting Diodes).

An optimal printed result requires:

• precision in position and size of the apertures
• smooth and burr-free side walls of the apertures
• flat, unstressed material
• uniform tension distribution over the entire surface