Surface mounting technology assembly guidelines for Fairchild鈥檚 microcouplers

Optocoupler technology, consisting of a light source and a photosensitive detector surrounded by a transparent light pipe housed in an epoxy plastic package, has been around for the last 30-40 years. Traditional optocouplers offer insulation safety and electrical signal isolation between input and output. However, today锟絪 DC/DC converters demand optocouplers that are highly efficient, capable of handling higher temperatures, and available in much smaller packaging than ever before.

Fairchild锟絪 microcoupler products are simple to handle in the assembly area and use the same assembly process as the BGA platform. Since all of the solder balls are at the edge of the microcoupler package and are visible with readily-available, bottom-side inspection equipment, costly and time-consuming X-ray inspection could be dropped from the inspection process altogether. In addition, the microcouplers meet the new Pb-free requirements.

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