A new generation of cover tape reportedly enables near-flawless placement of today’s shrinking chips on circuit boards without sticking, static charge or contamination. Combined with longer reels, 3M™ pressure-sensitive cover tape 2698 can help to eliminate pick-and-place errors, minimize downtime and increase productivity—reportedly at the same cost as other tape.

Wafer-level chip scale packages and other electronic components are embedded into circuit boards at high speed using a stamping machine that picks up components from reels of carrier tape and stamps them onto each board. The thinner, lighter nature of these packages can lead to unit stick. The cover tape 2698 is a transparent, polyester film tape with synthetic, room-temperature, pressure-sensitive adhesive zones at its sides. It is available in standard widths and 600-m-long reels designed to reduce changeover time and enable productivity improvements. In addition, it will work in existing industry-standard equipment.