Mitigating Lead-Free Issues in Electronic Circuit Board Manufacturing With an Advanced Conformal Coating to Manage Tin Whisker Risk

This project involves the development of a new coating, Whisker Tough (TM), that has been designed to mitigate the risk of conductive tin whiskers causing short circuits on electronic components and circuit boards. Past testing by contractors and government labs showed the ability of tin whiskers growing on tin plated components to puncture conformal coatings that currently exist. Starting in 2006 with a "physics of failure" approach, the Whisker Tough Project identified the key material properties that determine whether a conformal coating will be punctured by a tin whisker growing beneath it. Whisker Tough is being designed "from the ground up" to have the key material properties that will prevent tin whisker punctures. This will allow military hardware to be built using tin-plated lead-free commercial electronic components, and then coated with Whisker Tough to prevent any short circuits from tin whiskers. Whisker Tough (TM), a polyurethane, is designed to implementable into the common manufacturing practices in the aerospace business.