SMT Stencil Nano-Coatings

Aculon® NanoClear® SMT Stencil Nano-Coating is the world’s premier stencil coating. With an extremely simple, quick, and effective coating process, NanoClear® will improve print quality, increase throughput, reduce defects and enhance printing with small apertures.

World's #1 Electronic SMT Stencil Nano-Coating

Aculon®, an award-winning & proven supplier to the SMT stencil industry, introduces Aculon® NanoClear®, the best-in-class SMT stencil nano-coating technology that improves print quality, increases efficiency, lowers total costs and enhances printing on all SMT stencils, both simple & complex.

Request your free test samples

The technology you need in NanoClear^® SMT stencil nano-coating

Faster release and improved print resolution is achieved as the paste is more easily released from the aperture walls due to the fluxophobic nature of the treatment. By using NanoClear®, your stencil will repel flux which means:

Better Quality Printing
Reduce Underside Cleaning
No Capital Equipment
Durable Treatment
Apply in less than 5 Minutes
Treat Sensitive Apertures
Treats Aperture Walls

Cost Effective
Industry Proven
Increased Print Reliability
Reduced Paste Transfer
Reduce Flux Bleed
Reduce Solder Ball Transfer
Improve First Pass Yield

Overcome (PD) Printing Dysfunction!

NanoClear® SMT stencil nano-coating has helped countless engineers overcome their issues with printing dysfunction (PD). Now you too can make PD a thing of the past with NanoClear. Cheap, simple, & works every time.

Solve Print Problems with NanoClear Stencil Coating

Eliminate solder stencil print issues with NanoClear

Improve SMT printer performance with Nanoclear

Solve critical SMT solder print problems

How it works

Performance you can trust

Faster release and improved print resolution is achieved as the paste is more easily released from the aperture walls due to the fluxophobic nature of the SMT stencil nano-coating.

As can be seen in the image the QFN printed with a Nanoclear stencils is drastically improved over uncoated.
Learn more

0.4 QFN in production (100µm stencil) with and without NanoClear

Chart showing nanocoating abrasion resistance to underwipe materials

NanoClear SMT Stencil Durability

NanoClear® is robust and can withstand significant use and abrasion from repeated printing and cleaning cycles. Independent testing proves that NanoClear® offers best-in-class durable performance. The ability of an SMT stencil treated with NanoClear® far outperforms the initial performance of all competitive materials. NanoClear’s ability to repel flux is maintained for over 100,000 abrasion cycles after treatment, while the performance of competitive spray applied material quickly falls off quickly from an already weak, barely fluxophobic starting point.
Learn more

NanoClear® Application Process

Application of NanoClear® SMT Stencil Nano-Coating couldn't be easier. With a NanoClear® dual wipe, water source, and just five minutes of time you can have an SMT stencil that has been properly treated with a robust and high performing coating of NanoClear®. Follow these simple steps:

Start with a visibly clean & degreased SMT stencil
Using heavy pressure scrub the Part A cleaner onto the bottom side of the SMT stencil for 60 seconds
Rinse with running DI (ideal) or tap water until all cleaner is thoroughly removed (Critical step!)
Dry SMT stencil after rinsing
Using heavy pressure scrub the Part B treatment onto the bottom side of the SMT stencil for 60 seconds

Download detailed application instructions

NanoClear^® Completely Coats the Aperture Wall!

In order to quantitatively prove what we have known since launch, that NanoClear® SMT Stencil Nano-Coating does in fact completely coat the aperture wall we completed a TEM analysis on a range of SMT stencils. As you can see from the results, NanoClear® successfully coats the aperture walls!

NanoClear^® SMT Stencil Nano-Coating Technical Bulletins

Listen to our Aculon team members walk though each technical bulletin in this video.

How much can you save with NanoClear^®?

Utilize the Nanoclear® Cost of Ownership calculator to quickly determine your cost savings, payback time, & additional uptime resulting from utilizing Nanoclear®. The Cost of Ownership calculator is an easy to use downloadable Excel file with no locked cells that is easily customized to match the specifics of your operation.

Download NanoClear Cost Calculator

Real-World Results

NanoClear® Reduces Defects by 50%, Increases Throughput by 35%

Rauland-Borg, an integrated communications technology company that builds nurses call stations and school bell systems, used Aculon’s NanoClear® stencil treatment to reduce SMT defects by 52% and save over $400,000 on a $5000 investment.
Learn more

Performance Durability Webinars Technical Resources & Docs Case Study Before & After Best Practices

Performance

Stronger Formulation

Faster release and improved print resolution is achieved as the paste is more easily released from the aperture walls due to the fluxophobic nature of the treatment. The Aculon® NanoClear® Stencil treatments are now 50% stronger due to a greater concentration. As can be seen from the contact angle graph, a treated stencil is 8 times more oil repellent than an untreated stencil even after 100,000 abrasion cycles.

Better Quality Printing

The better quality printing is due to the reduction in bridging as the flux is now repelled from the aperture walls. Tests have shown that treated stencils show significantly reduced the cleaning cycle frequency resulting in both improved print quality and better manufacturing efficiency.

Chart showing number of prints without bridging possible with NanoClear

Click on the image below to view larger version

Chart demonstrating NanoClear print quality improvements

Durability

Fluxophobic and Abrasion Resistant

Independent testing proves that NanoClear® offers best-in-class durable performance. The ability of a stencil treated with NanoClear® far outperforms the initial performance of all competitive materials. NanoClear’s ability to repel flux is maintained for over 100,000 abrasion cycles after treatment, while the performance of a well-known vacuum applied competitive material quickly falls off after 5000 abrasion cycles from an already weak, barely fluxophobic starting point.

Chart showing NanoClear oil contact angle and abrasion cycles

Competitive Abrasion Testing

Aculon recently conducted abrasion durability testing pitting NanoClear® vs FCT-MicroShield OC-1500®. The test featured 750 grams of added weight and 4 layers of DEK UFP ECO® Roll or 4 layers of Green Monster® for each stencil coating.

DEK ECO® and Green Monster® are 2 types of abrasion rolls that are designed to mimic a constant wipe application to a coated substrate. This is done to determine how long the coating lasts, and what repellent properties still exist after constant abrasion.

As the above graph illustrates, NanoClear® significantly outperformed the MicroShield® in resistance to abrasions. With the DEK ECO® Roll, NanoClear® never reached contact angle failure threshold after 70,000 abrasions. MicroShield® reached failure threshold around 18,000 abrasions. With Green Monster®, NanoClear® failed after 38,000 abrasions, while MicroShield® failed after around 15,000 abrasions.

Webinars

“Working from Home” Webinar Series: Solder Stencil NanoCoatings

April 2, 2020
Download webinar presentation slides

Hosted by:
Edward Hughes, C.E.O of Aculon
Mario Gattuso, Senior Business Development and Product Manager at Aculon.

Learn how NanoClear®️ improves print quality, boosts productivity, and lowers costs. This webinar will also discuss the advantages of NanoClear®️ over alternative spray coatings recently coming on the market.

Stencil NanoCoatings: How to Improve Print Quality, Boost Productivity, and Lower Costs

March 9, 2016
Download webinar presentation slides

Hosted by:
Edward Hughes, C.E.O of Aculon
Mario Gattuso, Senior Business Development and Product Manager at Aculon.

Nanocoatings Aren’t Just For Fine Pitch Anymore

March 9, 2016
Download webinar presentation slides

Hosted by:
Chrys Shea, President of Shea Engineering Services.
Edward Hughes, CEO Of Aculon Inc®, producer of NanoClear®

This webinar explains why leading OEMs and CEMs are adopting stencil nanocoating technology to improve quality, enhance productivity and reduce costs and this webinar will share the data to back the claims!

Technical Resources & Docs

Technical Papers/Articles

Instructions and Documentation

Case Study

Rauland Borg Discovers Benefit of Surface Coating on Stencils

How NanoClear® Reduced Defects by 50% and Increased Throughput by 35%

Improving SMT Yield and Reducing Defects: A Rauland Case Study

As the focus of the case study, Rauland Borg demonstrates a business benefiting from the significant reduction in costs and increased efficiency by switching to NanoClear® SMT products.
Read Rauland case study

Improving SMT Yield and Reducing Defects: A Rauland Case Study

Rauland-Borg, an 80-year integrated communications technology company that builds nurses call stations and school bell systems. Rauland runs a factory that builds four- to eight-layer PCBs, replaces BGA, CBGA, QFNs, typical double-sided boards, with their smallest part to date an 042-Aperio. Rauland’s SMT Engineer, Jimmy Crowe, embarked on an SMT improvement process, eventually discovering NanoClear®.
Read NanoClear® case study

About Rauland-Borg & Jimmy Crow

Rauland is an American manufacturing company based in Mount Prospect, Illinois that produces workflow and life-safety solutions for hospitals and schools worldwide. Rauland is a division of AMETEK Inc., a leading global manufacturer of electronic instruments and electromechanical devices with manufacturing, sales and service locations across the United States and other countries throughout the world.

Today, Rauland responds to market needs worldwide with two distinct communication system product lines: Responder, designed for the healthcare industry and Telecenter systems which serve the educational market.

The Problem

As with many electronics manufacturers printing with SMT equipment, Rauland was experiencing a high number of defects related to the printing process. Jimmy Crow, an SMT Process Engineer at Rauland, was tasked with identifying the problem and determining the best options to help the company reduce defects, and thus, save money. Jimmy learned from previous studies that 65% of defects on an SMT line are a result of the screen printing process.

The Method

Jimmy decided to troubleshoot the printing process using a systemic approach to root out the problem areas on the line. The method used was a “trifecta” of solutions, changing three key elements.

After converting to a new wipe material and ceasing usage of IPA in favor of Zestron Vigon, Jimmy still wasn’t seeing the target results. The “magic bullet” in Rauland’s process was Aculon’s NanoClear® Stencil Treatments. By treating the stencil with NanoClear®, the stencil becomes fluxophobic and repels solder paste much faster, improving print quality and reducing cleaning intervals.

The Results

This three dimensional approach yielded staggering results for Rauland’s SMT line. Instead of wiping every 4-6 cycles as normal, they were able to extend wipe intervals to around 25 cycles for many of their products! This added process efficiency freed up 8 seconds per board, an incredible 35% throughput increase.

It wasn’t just a throughput increase that Rauland found after implementing their new SMT program. Within 3 months, SMT defects had dropped by over 50% and ATE defects had declined by over 42%.

There is the old adage: services can be cheap, quick, and high quality. Combined, only two of those three are possible. Rauland’s SMT printing process has identified the way to have all three. By wiping at increased intervals, the process is faster and more efficient. By reducing defects, consistency in quality has improved, saving additional costs. Powered by Aculon’s NanoClear® Stencil Treatment, Jimmy Crow and Rauland have provided a great model that all SMT printers can mimic for fantastic results in their printing processes.

"The Nanoclear® was the missing piece of the puzzle. We had done all the things we were aware of. I learned about NanoClear® at one of the IPC conferences. Then a friend of mine told me, “Jimmy, the things you are trying to do; there’s a few people out there already doing it.” That’s when I was introduced to Aculon®…and found out you guys were already doing what I was trying to do in a production environment. When I added the Aculon® NanoClear®, it was the missing piece of the puzzle."

Jimmy Crow. Rauland-Borg

Before & After

Best Practices

Best Practices for Durability

Use soft, non-abrasive Understencil Wiper Paper such as Eco Roll SCER360 or Hyperclean PP4200
Utilize a solvent wipe rather than a dry wipe – engineered solvents are best for lead-free no-clean pastes
Utilize pH neutral cleaners. (See below for confirmed compatible cleaning systems.)
Reduce understencil wipe frequency

Survives Aggressive Cleaning

Testing proves that NanoClear® survives stencil washing in even the most aggressive stencil washing solutions. In general Aculon® NanoClear® is compatible with organic (solvent) based cleaning systems and non-caustic aqueous cleaning systems (pH < 11). See below for confirmed compatible cleaning systems:

Zestron: SC 210, SC200, SC202, SD301, SD100
Kyzen: Aquanox A8820, Cybersolv C8622, Kyzen E5616, Aquanox A881D, Cybersolv C3400
Tech Spray: 1570, 1571,1572, and 1574
Nano Stencil LLC: Nano Stencil Clean

Cleaning Test Reports

A treated stencil was subjected to the following tests:

Download the Zestron Compatibility Test Report

Ready to Improve Your Print Process?

Interested in seeing how NanoClear® can improve your process? Get in touch with any questions and to arrange for your free test samples.