I repaired a PC motherboard that was damaged by something that dragged over the surface. A QFP's pins were bent sideways and shorted together. I bent them back with a dental pick and reflowed the solder, and the board works now.
My question is about the plating that flaked off from the bent pins. It looked like nickel or tin. I had to remove it to prevent it from shorting. Will that leave the pins vulnerable to corrosion?
You will probably be okay. It was likely the tin/lead or tin/lead-free solder on pins. If you are saying it scratched the pins. The pins are usually nickel with tin plating (other option is gold pins) to make soldering easier.
gb
The QFPs pins may be plated in nickel over the raw metal of the leads but they are most assuredly not made of nickel as the base material. Some common materials for lead frame base metals are Cu, Cu-Zr, Cu-Fe, Cu-Mg and another composition commonly known as Alloy 42.
- mkaras
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