Dry Cabinets & Humidity Controlled Storage Solutions
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What Are Dry Cabinets or Desiccant Baking Cabinets?
Dry cabinets, also known as desiccant cabinets, humidity controlled cabinets, nitrogen cabinets, or low humidity storage cabinets, are essential tools in the electronics manufacturing industry. They provide a controlled, moisture-free environment for storing moisture-sensitive devices (MSDs) and printed circuit boards (PCBs), surface mount technology (SMT) parts and feeders, semi-manufactured goods and optical lenses.
With the increasing use of lead-free soldering and its higher process temperatures, the risk of moisture-related defects like cracking, de-lamination, and the popcorn effect has significantly increased. When MSDs and PCBs absorb ambient moisture, exposure to reflow oven heat causes rapid moisture vaporization, leading to internal component damage. This poses a major threat to product reliability and increases manufacturing costs.
Desiccant and Nitrogen Cabinets mitigate this problem by maintaining ultra-low humidity levels, preventing moisture absorption and ensuring component integrity. They are crucial for MSD storage, PCB storage, and component drying/baking.
The IPC/JEDEC J-STD-033 standard specifically mandates controlled storage for MSDs to prevent moisture-related failures. low humidity storage solutions are a primary tool for meeting these requirements. By maintaining the specified temperature and humidity levels, they ensure manufacturers comply with the standards, guaranteeing the quality and reliability of their electronic assemblies. In essence, they are critical for proper MSD handling and MSD storage life.
Why Proper MSD Storage is Important
Plastic encapsulated components, including semiconductors, are being manufactured in increasingly smaller sizes. Moisture trapped inside sensitive devices, such as thin fine-pitch components and ball grid arrays (BGAs), can expand during the SMT re-flow process, causing damage like micro cracking.
This issue is particularly prevalent in plastic-molded components, such as PBGA’s, especially during high ramp rates and elevated temperatures of the re-flow assembly process.
Proper MSD storage is critical to prevent these defects and maintain the integrity of moisture-sensitive components. Utilizing solutions, such as a SMT Dry Box Desiccant Cabinet and Humidity Management Software, ensures optimal storage conditions for moisture-sensitive devices, protecting them from environmental humidity and reducing the risk of damage during re-flow. Explore our selection of effective MSD storage strategies to safeguard your components and enhance your electronics manufacturing quality.
SMT BOXES Dry Cabinet Technologies
Desiccant Dry Cabinets
A desiccant storage cabinet is an enclosed, humidity-controlled unit designed to protect moisture-sensitive materials. By maintaining the specified humidity levels, they ensure manufacturers comply with the industry standards, guaranteeing the quality and reliability of their electronic assemblies.
Baking Dry Cabinets
A baking cabinet is a specialized storage unit that combines controlled heat with desiccant-based
de-humidification.
It’s used to remove moisture from moisture-sensitive components, particularly in electronics manufacturing, optics storage, and pharmaceuticals device industries.
Nitrogen Dry Cabinets
A nitrogen dry cabinet is a specialized storage unit that uses nitrogen gas to create and maintain an extremely low-humidity, oxygen-free environment. Unlike desiccant cabinets that remove moisture, nitrogen cabinets displace the ambient air with nitrogen, which is inherently dry and inert.
benefits of a smt dry box desiccant cabinet
Superior Moisture Protection:
Humidity Controlled Cabinets maintain ultra-low humidity levels, typically below 5%, ensuring optimal protection for moisture sensitive items like electronics and pharmaceuticals.
Prevention of Corrosion and De-lamination:
By controlling humidity, desiccant cabinets prevent corrosion in metal components and de-lamination in multi-layered
materials such as PCBs.
Preserves Electronic Components:
Proper moisture sensitive storage in a Desiccant Cabinet reduces the risk of short circuits and other moisture-related issues in electronic devices, and saves you money.