This standard prescribes general requirements for the characterization and testing of solder pastes used to make high quality electronic interconnections. This specification is a material quality control document and is not intended to relate directly to the material's performance in the assembly process. Solder paste users are referred to 6.3 for a listing of requirements information and options that should be addressed when procuring solder paste.

Purpose This standard defines the characteristics of solder paste through the definitions of properties and specification of test methods and inspection criteria. The materials include solder powder and solder paste flux blended to produce solder paste. Solder powders are classified by the shape of the particles and size distribution of the particles. It is not the intent of this standard to exclude particle sizes or distributions not specifically listed. The flux properties of the solder paste, including classification and testing, shall be based on J-STD-004, or equivalent. The requirements for solder paste are defined in general terms. In practice, where more stringent requirements are necessary, additional requirements shall be as agreed between user and supplier (AABUS). Users are cautioned to perform tests (beyond the scope of this specification) to determine the acceptability of the solder paste for specific processes.