The Problem You Don’t See on the Line

In electronics manufacturing, precision is everything. Your SMT line is calibrated to place tiny passive components within microns. Your solder profile is dialed to a fraction of a degree. Your AOI systems catch microbridges and voids your operators could never see.
But while everyone obsesses over boards, components, and reflow profiles, there’s something else constantly at work on your production floor: the air.
Tiny particles — dust, fibers, microscopic fragments of packaging material — drift through your facility every second. They settle on solder pads before placement. They cling to optical sensors in AOI or AXI machines. They wedge into finished assemblies, sometimes triggering failures months down the road.
The truth is, air quality in electronics plants is often the last uncontrolled variable affecting yield and reliability. And standard cleanroom filtration isn’t catching as much as you might think.

Why Filters Alone Miss So Much

Most facilities rely on a combination of MERV pre-filters and HEPA systems in HVAC ducts. These do a good job filtering air that passes through them. But that’s the catch: much of your air volume — especially around racks, under conveyors, and between tightly packed lines — never gets pulled through those filters in a single pass.
Meanwhile:

• Every operator moving, every machine arm pivoting, every conveyor vibration re-suspends settled particles back into circulation.
• Static charges from low humidity pull particles onto sensitive surfaces.
• Local disturbances (like doors opening or pallets moving) create microbursts that send contaminants right where you least want them.

That’s why relying solely on duct-based filtration gives a false sense of security.

The Cost of Tiny Contamination Events

Even small particles can cause outsized problems:

• On PCBs: Microscopic fibers embedded in solder paste cause incomplete reflow, voids, or long-term corrosion sites.
• In optics: AOI cameras lose clarity, triggering false calls or worse — missing real defects that pass through to customers.
• In final assemblies: Particles caught under potting or inside enclosures can shift during use, leading to intermittent faults.

Your yield drops. Your field returns quietly tick upward. The financial drain from these small failures often outpaces even your most obvious scrap issues.

How Humidity and Ionisation Change the Game

1. Smart Fog isn’t just about keeping relative humidity steady for static control. It also fundamentally changes the physics of airborne particles through two main mechanisms.
   Precision Humidity Control
   Holding RH stable at 45–55% prevents the excessive dryness that lets dust stay indefinitely airborne and charged. Particles become heavier and settle naturally, reducing their residence time in critical process zones.
2. The Lenard Effect (Negative Air Ionisation)
   Smart Fog systems use ultra-fine dry fog to generate large populations of negative air ions. These ions attach to particles of all sizes, making them cluster together. As they get heavier, they fall out of the breathing and processing zones — without ever needing to be pulled through a HEPA membrane.

This effect reaches under racks, between conveyors, and inside the local air volume where boards, solder paste, and optical systems operate.

Why This Matters for Your Sensors and Inspection Systems

Many manufacturers overlook the downstream problem: even if a board escapes contamination, your production equipment might not.

• AOI and AXI lenses gradually accumulate microfilms of charged particles.
• Light scatter or absorption shifts inspection tolerances, forcing you to recalibrate more often — or worse, sending boards through with undetected defects.
• Laser etchers and measurement tools lose focus accuracy due to airborne scatter.

By reducing static and airborne particle count in the environment, Smart Fog protects these systems. You get longer periods between maintenance cycles, fewer “no trouble found” calls on false AOI rejects, and overall more stable throughput.

No Chemicals, No Residue, No Ozone

Unlike some plasma or corona ionisers that create ozone (which can be corrosive to sensitive metals and PCB finishes), Smart Fog systems are certified UL 2998 for zero ozone emissions. They use only clean, de-ionised water and air — meaning:

• No residues left on solder joints or surfaces.
• No risk of unwanted chemical reactions on flux residues.
• Completely safe for operators and fully compliant with ISO and local air quality standards.

FAQs: What Electronics Teams Always Ask

Q. Will this cause droplets or condensation on boards?
No. The dry fog droplets are under 4.2 microns and evaporate before reaching surfaces. Your boards, machinery, and optics stay completely dry.

Q. Do I still need my HEPA filters?
Absolutely. Smart Fog complements your existing filtration by tackling airborne particles directly in the room. That means your filters last longer and your environment is cleaner everywhere — not just inside the ducts.

Q. Is this hard to install?
No. It’s modular and typically installs above your production lines with minimal disruption. Most facilities see same-day integration.

Q. Can it connect to our building management system?
Yes. Smart Fog systems provide live RH and ion data that integrate into standard BMS dashboards.

Conclusion: Protect Your Yields from the Last Uncontrolled Variable

You’ve already dialed in your processes: solder profiles, pick speeds, placement force, reflow atmosphere. But if your air is still carrying microscopic contamination, all that precision is constantly at risk.
By combining stable humidity with natural ionisation, Smart Fog:

• Reduces particle counts throughout your production zone.
• Protects optics, sensors, and finished assemblies from subtle but costly defects.
• Cuts static, stops particles from clinging where they don’t belong, and improves your overall process stability.

In short: it takes the air — the most overlooked process input in electronics manufacturing — and makes it an asset, not a liability.