Sometimes, you may find that the lead finish of your component is not flawless. Anomalies may be observed on the lead finish if magnified by 200x or greater. Why is this?
- Remark: Lead finish is the process of applying a coat of metal over the leads of a component to:
- protect the leads against corrosion
- protect the leads against abrasion
- improve the solderability of the leads
- improve the appearance of the leads
These anomalies may be testing scratches. The scratches are from test probes from the manufacturer’s ATE ( Automated Test Equipement ) indicating these parts have been tested 100% at the factory.
For surface finish quality inquiries, it is a pass/fail for solderability test. If solder wets to the surface, it would pass.