Photographs of corrosion and surface defects

Photographs of flaws in the Allflex films were taken when the boards arrived in September '08 and again in March '09 after being stored in a dry Nitrogen environment. The first two photographs below show that there was already evidence for corrosion or poor quality of the copper surface on one of the 5 micron boards when they arrived from the manufacturer, but it is not clear that this problem became worse over time.

figure 1a: Photograph of 5micron/Left#2 flaw taken 09/08.

figure 1b: Photograph of 5micron/Left#2 flaw taken 03/09.

There are marks on one of the 5 micron center boards that from a distance look like fingerprints but actually turn out to be scuff/scratch marks:

figure 2a: Photograph of 5micron/Center#2 flaws taken 09/08.

figure 2b: Photograph of 5micron/Center#2 flaws taken 03/09.

Here are some other examples of flaws found on the 5 micron boards:

figure 2c: Photograph of 5micron/Left#2 flaws taken 03/09.

figure 2d: Photograph of 5micron/Center#2 flaws taken 03/09.

There is evidence for degradation of 2 traces on the same 5 micron center board that I was not able to verify already existed when the board came from the manufacturer:

figure 3: Photograph of 5micron/Center#2 bad traces taken 03/09.

Below are before and after photographs for one of the central 2 micron boards. There is evidence for either oxidation of the copper or left-over photo-resist material present upon arrival of the boards from the manufacturer. Again, it does not appear that these flaws got worse over time.

figure 4a: Photograph of 2micron/Center#2 flaws taken 09/08.

figure 4b: Photograph of 2micron/Center#2 flaws taken 03/09.

figure 5a: Photograph of 2micron/Center#2 flaws taken 09/08.

figure 5b: Photograph of 2micron/Center#2 flaws taken 03/09.

Almost all of the 2 micron boards have regular marks indicating possible left-over contamination from rollers:

figure 6a: Photograph of roller marks on 2 micron board.

figure 6b: Photograph of roller marks on 2 micron board

Here are some more examples of localized surface defects on the 2 micron boards:

figure 7a: Photograph of surface defect on 2 micron center#1 board.

figure 7b: Photograph of surface defect (oxidation?) on 2 micron center#2 board