PCB Surface Finish Lead-Free HASL vs ENIG - PCBONLINE

PCB surface finish is a metal or organic coating on PCB pads that protects the copper and boosts solderability. Lead-free HASL (hot air solder leveling) is the most common PCB surface finish, and if you don't specify which surface finish you want, we assume you want lead-free HASL for your boards.

For more information, please visit lead-free hasl.

However, lead-free HASL is not allowed for flexible PCBs and rigid PCBs with a thickness smaller than 0.5mm. You have to replace it with ENIG (electroless nickel immersion gold) or OSP (organic solderability preservatives). This article reveals HASL and ENIG and compares them.

Part 1: HASL and Lead-Free HASL

HASL means using tin/lead solder to spray the PCB pads and then using hot air to blow the PCB surface so that the pad surface is level. The thickness of HASL is 1mil to 2mil (25.4μm to 50.8μm, or 0.025mm to 0.05mm).

HASL is a cheap PCB surface finish. And its solderability is good.

However, HASL doesn't meet the lead-free requirements in most of the world, and in most cases, we use lead-free HASL.

The properties of lead-free HASL are pure tin. The thickness of lead-free HASL is 0.1mil to 1mil (2.54μm to 25.4μm, or 0.0025mm to 0.025mm).

Lead-free HASL is the default surface finish from the PCB manufacturer PCBONLINE. Compared with HASL, PCB pads with lead-free HASL look dim, and the soldering temperatures are higher.

	HASL	Lead-free HASL
Properties	Tin and lead (37% of lead)	Tin (lead less than 0.5%)
PCB pad finish	Glossy	Dim
Solderability	Good	A little worse than HASL
Reflow soldering temperatures	210℃ to 245℃	240℃ to 270℃
Wave soldering temperatures	About 250℃	About 260℃

Though lead-free HASL is common, it can't be applied to rigid PCBs with a thickness smaller than 0.5mm and flexible PCBs, neither HASL. These boards can't bear the spraying force. If you spray tin on these boards, they bend, and only the middle of the boards is sprayed with tin. Sometimes, rigid PCBs with a thickness smaller than 0.5mm may even break if you apply HASL or lead-free HASL to them.

In such cases, you can choose the other PCB surface finish -- ENIG. Or you can also change lead-free HASL to OSP. But OSP is easy to oxide. If you don't solder the PCBs at once, OSP oxides. And the manufacturer has to seal and package the OSP PCBs at once.

Part 2: What is ENIG

ENIG, also known as immersion gold, or chemical Ni/Au, is one of the best PCB surface finishes for almost all PCBs. In any case, if HASL or lead-free HASL can be used, you can replace it with ENIG. But inversely, HASL or lead-free HASL can't replace ENIG.

ENIG means plating a nickel alloy coating on the PCB pads and then a gold coating with chemical reactions. Besides PCB pads, ENIG can also be applied to other areas, such as the PCB edges or wires for thermal dissipation purposes. The thickness of ENIG is 1μm, 2μm, and 3μm. (From the equation 1mil=25.4μm, you can understand how thin the PCB finish ENIG is compared to HASL.)

ENIG PCB pads have a gold color and look shiny. Besides, the solderability of ENIG is the best among all the PCB surface finishes. And because gold has a dense crystal structure and is hard oxide, the protection of ENIG to copper of the PCB pads is also excellent.

Part 3: ENIG vs HASL vs Lead-Free HASL

ENIG PCBs are high-standard PCBs and they are usually used for high-end applications. As we mentioned above, ENIG can take the place of HASL and lead-free HASL in any case if your budget allows, but HASL and lead-free HASL can't replace ENIG.

Below is a comparison between EENIG and HASL.

	ENIG	HASL	Lead-free HASL
Meeting lead-free requirements or not	Yes	No	Yes
Price	High	Low	Middle
Thickness	1μm, 2μm, and 3μm	25.4μm to 50.8μm	2.54μm to 25.4μm
Finish method	Chemical reactions	Spraying	Spraying
Properties	Nickel and gold	Tin and lead	Tin
Applications	Can be used for almost all PCBs	Simple FR4 PCBs with a thickness larger than 0.5mm	Common rigid PCBs with a thickness larger than 0.5mm

Contact us to discuss your requirements of multilayer pcb design tips. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.

Part 4: One-Stop PCB Manufacturer Hassle-Free

PCBONLINE is a one-stop advanced PCB manufacturer founded in 1999, with two large advanced PCB manufacturing bases and one assembly factory. If you have needs for PCB and PCBA fabrication, PCBONLINE can be your reliable PCB/PCBA supplier from prototypes to bulk production.

In PCB surface finishes, PCBONLINE has these advantages:

• PCBONLINE can fabricate surface finishes including lead-free HASL, ENIG, hard gold plating, immersion silver, OSP, carbon ink, immersion tin, and palladium plating.
• We can achieve selective PCB surface finishes on your PCBs without a limit.
• Our engineers do free DFM (design for manufacturing) and you can stay hassle-free for your project.
• We manufacture flexible PCBs, rigid-flex PCBs, high-frequency PCBs, FR4 PCBs, HDI PCBs, AlN PCBs, alumina PCBs, aluminum PCBs, copper-base PCBs, and glass PCBs.
• We not only fabricate and assemble PCBs but also source electronic components for PCB assembly and assemble the PCBA to be box-built.
• One-on-one design and engineering support throughout your project.
• Free sample and functional jig testing for bulk production.

If you need PCB design, fabrication, assembly, and box build assembly, please feel free to contact PCBONLINE by email at info@pcbonline.com.

Conclusion

This article gives an introduction to HASL and ENIG separately and compares them. ENIG is universal for PCBs, especially for high-reliability PCBs. HASL doesn't meet the lead-free requirements but lead-free HASL does. If you don't know whether HASL can be used for your PCB or not, ENIG must be okay. You can also contact PCBONLINE for suggestions.

© This article is an original work of the PCBONLINE team. Please indicate the author PCBONLINE if you reprint. If the article is reproduced without permission or indicating the author's source, PCBONLINE reserves the right to investigate the infringement.

The process requirements in the PCB production are very important, which directly determines the quality and positioning of a board. Such as HASL, gold plating pcb , ENIG.

Due to the good quality of ENIG, the price is higher too. Many customers choose the most common HASL process.

Many people know the HASL process, but they don’t know what the difference is between HASL and HASL-LF. Please refer to the difference as below:

1. On the surface, Lead-tin is brighter and lead-free tin (SAC) is dim.

2. Lead in HASL is harmful to humans, but lead-free not. The lead eutectic temperature is lower than lead-free, which depend on Lead-free alloy composition. For example, The eutectic of SNAGCU is 217 degrees, the pcb soldering temperature is eutectic temperature plus 30 to 50 degrees. The lead eutectic is 183 degrees. The mechanical strength and brightness with lead is better than lead-free.

3. The Lead content in HASL-LF is not more than 0.5, while HASL has a lead of 37.

4. The lead will increase the activity of the tin wire during the welding process, so Lead wire is easier to use than lead-free wire. However, lead is toxic and not good for the human body. What is more, Lead-free tin will have a higher melting point than lead-tin, so the solder joint is much stronger.

Introduction

In printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing, a protective and conductive coating is applied on the copper traces to facilitate soldering of components. The two most common solder coatings are Hot Air Solder Leveling (HASL) using tin-lead solder alloys and Lead-free HASL using tin-based lead-free alloys. This article provides a detailed comparison between traditional leaded HASL and modern lead-free HASL processes.

Overview of HASL Process

The Hot Air Solder Leveling (HASL) process deposits a thin solder coating on the PCB conductors to protect them from oxidation and provide a solderable surface. The key steps are:

• PCBs are pre-heated to warm them up before soldering
• Flux is sprayed or foamed over the board to remove oxides and improve solder wetting
• Boards pass over a pumped wave or fountain of molten solder
• Excess solder is air-knifed off as boards leave the solder wave
• Hot air levels the remaining solder to a uniform thickness

This coats the exposed copper traces with a smooth solder layer ready for component assembly. Lead-tin alloys like Sn63/Pb37 used to be common for HASL but environmental concerns over lead has led to a transition to lead-free solders.

Traditional Leaded HASL Coatings

Traditional HASL used tin-lead solder alloys containing 30-40% lead to coat PCBs. The most common composition was 63% tin (Sn) and 37% lead (Pb) or Sn63/Pb37:

• Melting point of 183°C allowing lower solder bath temperatures
• Good wetting on copper traces
• Ductile coating absorbs mechanical shocks and stresses
• Resists corrosion and oxidation of copper conductors

However, lead is a toxic heavy metal banned under RoHS. This prompted a shift to lead-free HASL processes using tin-based solders.

Lead-Free HASL Materials

Lead-free HASL eliminates lead and uses greener tin-based solder alloys. The main options are:

1. Pure Tin (Sn100)

• Melting point of 232°C requires higher solder bath temperatures
• Prone to tin whisker growth causing electrical shorts
• Harder coating prone to cracking under stress

2. Tin-Copper (SnCu)

• Eutectic Sn0.7Cu0.05 alloy melts at 227°C
• Improved strength, hardness and wetting over pure tin
• 3-4% copper reduces risk of tin whiskers

3. Tin-Silver-Copper (SAC305)

• Eutectic Sn96.5Ag3Cu0.5 alloy with 217°C melting point
• Silver content improves fatigue resistance and strength
• Small copper addition prevents tin pest corrosion

4. Tin-Bismuth (SnBi)

• Low melting alloys like Sn42Bi58 (138°C) or Sn57Bi43 (179°C)
• Bismuth reduces melting point significantly
• Lower process temperatures than pure tin
• Brittle with poor drop/shock resistance

Among these, SnCu and SAC alloys are most popular for lead-free HASL. The specific alloy is selected based on soldering process needs and costs.

Lead-Free HASL Coating Thickness

Lead-free HASL coatings are typically thinner than traditional leaded HASL:

• Leaded HASL – Average thickness of 100-300 microinches (2.5 – 7.5 μm)
• Lead-free HASL – Average thickness around 50-100 microinches (1.25 – 2.5 μm)

Thinner coatings are used to conserve higher priced lead-free solders and account for their higher hardness. Thick leaded deposits tend to crack and warp under board flexure.

Lead-Free HASL Process Differences

Switching from leaded to lead-free HASL requires optimizing the soldering process:

• Higher preheat temperatures – About 150-160°C needed for lead-free solders compared to 130-140°C for leaded.
• Higher solder pot temperatures – Lead-free solders need around 240-255°C bath versus 200-210°C for leaded. This imposes stricter requirements on solder pot metallurgy.
• More aggressive fluxing – Extra flux aids wetting of lead-free solders onto copper traces.
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