7.3.2 Soldering Surface Mount Chip Components, Hot Gas Method Method

This procedure covers the general guidelines for soldering surface mount chip components. The following surface mount chip components are covered by this procedure. While all of these components are different, the techniques for soldering are relatively similar

Chip Resistors: The component body of chip resistors is made out of alumna; an extremely hard, white-colored material. The resistive material is normally located on the top. Chip resistors are usually mounted with the resistive element facing upwards to help dissipate heat.

Ceramic Capacitors These components are constructed from several layers of ceramic with internal metalized layers. Because metal heats up much faster than ceramic, ceramic capacitors need to be heated slowly to avoid internal separations between the ceramic and the metal layers. Internal damage will not generally be visible since any cracks will be inside the ceramic body of the component.

Note: Avoid rapid heating of ceramic chip capacitors during soldering operations.

Plastic Body: Another style of chip component has a molded plastic body that protects the internal circuitry. There are a number of different types of components that share this type of exterior package. The termination styles for plastic chip component packages vary considerably.

MELF: MELF - Metal Electrode Face cylindrical components. These may be capacitors, resistors, and diodes. It can be hard to tell them apart - since there is no universal coloring or component designators printed on the component bodies.