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Requesting opinions on cause of striations & pitting.

2014-08-20 by Matt Rhys-Roberts

Hi, thanks for adding me to the group.

I've just done a quick trial etch, with fair results for my first attempt in years.

A scan of this board is at https://www.sendspace.com/file/5yy3qw , or if that's broken I can repost it again or somewhere else.

I used a 600dpi inkjet transparency (ok I know not great), Mega UV exposure box for 2.5 mins after a 5min pre-heat, sodium metasilicate developer at 20'C for about 3 mins, rinsed, etched with fresh sodium peroxidisulfate at 50'C for about 8 mins, rinsed, then wiped clean with resist stripper.

The main problem I have is that there are fine vertical streaks of copper remaining on the board, and some track pitting. I can only think that I should have exposed the board for longer, as perhaps there was some resist still remaining when I etched the board.

(The bottom of the TQFP footprint got accidentally rubbed away while I was trying to check if any resist was still clinging, oops!)

I think that the streaking problem is from the resist clinging due to underexposure/underdevelopment, but tell me what you think.

In any case, please would you kindly take a look at the results and give me your opinions?

Many thanks,

Matt.

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