ZT-7 BGA, CSP & SMT HOT AIR REFLOW CENTER
Your Comprehensive Solution for BGA, SMT and CSP Rework &
Repair, Reballing, BGA  Alignment, Placement, Preheat and Reflow at the Bench

New! Order Securely On-Line.

The Zephyrtronics ZT-7 System "makes mounting / removal of through-hole and surface mount components easier than routine benchtop methods" and "minimizes thermal stresses due to temperature differentials during assembly and rework" and "enables the mounting of Ball Grid Arrays and other hidden pin packages on site."
  -- NASA Report, Jan. 9, 2004

Zephyrtronics, winner of the prestigious 1996 Vision Award for "Best New Product of the Year" at the Surface Mount International Exposition in Silicon Valley has introduced yet still another milestone product for the global electronic bench top with the world debut of its breakthrough product, the ZT-7000 BGA, CSP & SMT Hot Air Bench Top Reflow System.

Meticulous Precision
Temp Controlled Hot Air
Align, Place & Reflow
and/or Desolder and Remove

Uncanny Simplicity & Reliability: The amazingly easy-to-operate ZT-7-MIL was developed for prototype work, low volume production, secondary operations, and rework of electronic printed circuit board assemblies (PCBA’s) at the benchtop for BGA, CSP and/or SMT components.

With all of the critical process controls "built in," the Zephyrtronics ZT-7-MIL System was engineered to eliminate the worry over compressed air hook-ups, air pressure settings, external fanning equipment, external and awkward foot pedals. The ZT-7-MIL is a fully integrated system making the meticulous, temperature profiles of high volume production equipment now attainable right at the bench. 

The Zephyrtronics ZT-7-000 BGA, SMT & CSP Comprehensive Benchtop System Shown Above.

BGA Rework Video Demonstration: See the ZT-7 in Action As It DeSolders & Removes BGA's

Here’s Just a Few of the ZT-7’s Novel Features: This remarkable benchtop system features closed loop electronic digital temperature control; a digital countdown timer with audible beeper for process and profile uniformity; a heating zone with the unique capacity of both 1.) a "Z-Axis" which raises and lowers the heating zone to the targeted component on the substrate; and 2.) a "Y-Axis" which retracts and returns the heat zone before and after reflow allowing the technician to align, flux, prep, clean, inspect without the heat zone interfering. (Both the Z and Y axis travel are made via precision linear ball bearing slides which mean smooth, accurate and repeatable performance.

Unique Retractable Heat-Zone & Single-Spot Alignment: Most noteworthy is our exclusive and patent protected "Single Spot Alignment, Placement and Reflow Feature" due to the fact that the ZT-7000 System NEVER requires movement of the PCB Assy. once your BGA or CSP has been aligned and placed. The ZT-7-MIL brings the heat zone to the target unlike most other BGA "machines" which have elaborate (and expensive!) vision alignment systems that constantly need calibrating and which remotely place the BGA or CSP, only to require the board and the loose components to be moved afterwards to a distant heat zone. (Who on earth thought of that??) And what's even better, the ZT-7-MIL is universal for both BGA's & CSP's (You don't need to buy two different machines!)

BGA's and
GLOB TOPS
Align, Place & Reflow
and/or Desolder and Remove



LEADLESS CHIP CARRIERS (LLC's)
Align, Place & Reflow
and/or Desolder and Remove



QUAD FLAT PACK (QFP's) and SOL's
Align, Place & Reflow
and/or Desolder and Remove



SHIELDED COMPONENTS
Align, Place & Reflow
and/or Desolder and Remove



SMT SOCKETS
Align, Place & Reflow
and/or Desolder and Remove



PLCC'S and SOJ's
Align, Place & Reflow
and/or Desolder and Remove



CHIP SCALE PACKAGES (CSP's)
Align, Place & Reflow
and/or Desolder and Remove



RE-BALL BGA’S & CSP’S
Reball Your BGA's With Our BGA ReBalling Kit
 

Quick, Easy & Accurate BGA Alignment: To learn how to precisely align and place BGA’s & CSP’s to the substrate pads, to see how NASA "explains" this simple method of placing BGA's to the pads; and to learn how to redress your BGA & CSP pads without wick, click this link: Re-Dressing BGA Pads.

Semi-Automatic De-Soldering: For de-soldering and removing components, there is a semi-automatic spring-activated vacuum probe that lifts the BGAor SMD up off the board once the solder reflows eliminating technician guesswork and preventing lifting pads. The solder reflows and the chip pops up into the nozzle! Witness the actual de-soldering process as the BGA reflows and lifts off of the PCB in this short, helpful Video: DeSoldering & Removing a BGA. The Demo is a "How To" that shows board prep, aligning, flux application, chip removal, cleaning and touches on inspecting the PCB and familiarizes you with the ZT-7 in action!

Patented
 BGA Alignment Template Eliminates Need for Expensive Split-Beam Vision Systems.

Noteworthy! Extra Low Velocity Hot Air Flow from ZT-7 Reflow Nozzles: The ZT-7-MIL has less than 16 CFM of air velocity from its Reflow Nozzles. Why is that important? Three critical reasons: 1.) Our extra-low velocity heated air from the Reflow Nozzle prevents unwanted adjacent component reflow. It’s no problem if your targeted BGA or SMT for soldering happens to be surrounded by small caps and resistors; 2.) The extra-low velocity heated air will not blow or scatter solder around the PCB where it should not be; and 3.) Our less-than-9 CFM of air velocity at the nozzle means that unwanted hydroplaning of small chips during reflow will not occur. Your component stays put because we don’t blow it out of alignment.

Our Secret? The low velocity air flow at the nozzle is only possible because Zephyrtronics has ample preheating air flow from below the PCB from our AirBaths. High volume, low temp preheat air flow from below translates into easy reflow from above with only minimal air velocity at the nozzle. And this is where nearly all the other SMT & BGA machines on the market really get it wrong because they have ineffective preheating (weak IR or hot plates) and therefore must compensate with high velocity air from their nozzles to achieve solder reflow. QFN's and E-Pads? Of course, our AirBath preheating advantage makes working with those pesky QFN packages easy as can be. Yes, those "e-pads" or "thermal pads" or "belly slugs" on the bottom side of the chip are no problem with your ZT-7 System! And this really becomes especially important if you are thinking of using lead-free solders.

The Modularity of Zephyrtronics: Perhaps best of all, the ZT-7 System  was designed to work in concert with the popular ZT-1000 Series of AirBath Bottom-Side Preheating Systems and ABC-1 Board Cradle. Indeed, any of the ZT-1000 Series of AirBaths will nest perfectly with the ZT-7 bringing all of the many utilities of our award winning AirBaths to your ZT-7 System.

The ZT-7 Handles Large PCB's Up to 20 1/2" (52 cm) Deep

The ZT-7 features two independent and 360° adjustments for both the nozzle and for the chip vacuum probe. Ideal when working with angled and/or skewed chips.

A Vast and Wide Selection of SMD & BGA Nozzles Available at Low, Low Cost: Since we are "the factory", we have been fabricating nozzles for the ZT-7 since 1998 and have a very large stock of nozzles from as large as 50mm x 50mm to as tiny as 2mm x 2mm IN STOCK!! Even Custom Nozzles are no problem and require as little as 10 days and cost no more than our standard stock nozzle. A partial list (we have far too many to list) of our nozzles are provided here: BGA/CSP Nozzles & SMT Nozzles. All Zephyrtronics nozzles are permanently "stamped" with both the part number and the size of the nozzle for your quick reference!

Front-Access Nozzle Dock Makes Changing Nozzles Quick & Easy. Nozzles "Lock In" Securely!

The ZT-7 Excels with Lead-Free Solder Alloys!  Because every ZT-7000 System includes the popular ZT-1-BGS-DPU "Big Grid" AirBath, working with lead-free alloys is a breeze. Unlike other "systems", with the ZT-7, one need not remove adjacent chips around the BGA before attempting to solder or desolder. The powerful capacity of the AirBath Bottom-Side Preheating System is the key element here.

Critical Post-Cooling Feature: And beyond the many benefits of bottom side convective preheating, the ZT-1 AirBath provides the essential "Post Cooling" of the PCB assembly after reflow. Post-cooling after reflow of Ball Grid Arrays & Chip Scale Packages is an absolute requirement to insure that the molten ball/pad interface cools quickly to avoid unwanted bridging and "opens". (Note: The importance of preheating and post-cooling at the benchtop and it many benefits is taught in our technical paper: Two Critical PCB Rework Processes: Pre-Heating and Post Cooling.)

Because the exit air temperatures of the ZT-7 and the ZT-1 are both electronically maintained by easy-to-use digital controllers on the front panels, technicians can confidently expect the same thermal profiles at the bench that are routinely achieved with high end, high volume production reflow equipment such as conveyor ovens, IR/Vapor reflow wave solder machines. Aren't you glad you did not buy one of those other machines that don't work?

The ZT-7 Selected by NASA & JPL

Don't let the simplicity and affordability of the ZT-7 lead you to underestimate its capacity, its power, its utility or its quality performance. This is the very same ZT-7 chosen by both NASA and JPL for soldering the BGA's and SMD's on the two high-reliability and highly successful Mars Rovers. Even the largest full metal-topped BGA's used on both of the Mars Rovers were soldered with the Zephyrtronics ZT-7 Hot-Air Reflow Center!

Indeed, NASA engineers prepared a 39 page document touting the ZT-7 system in a report for its employees which includes nearly 300 color photographs of how to install and operate the Zephyrtronics ZT-7. Zephyrtronics now includes this helpful report inside of every ZT-7 that we ship to our customers along with the Zephyrtronics detailed ZT-7 Owners Manual. We don't know of any other manufacturer of SMT or BGA reflow machines that can make that claim.

Additionally, the ZT-7 is used by engineers and technicians at Raytheon® at their Tomahawk and Patriot Missile projects and is also currently in use by Boeing®, Harvard, M.I.T., Sony®, Intel®, International Rectifier®, National Semiconductor, Xilinx®, LSI Logic®, Motorola®, Agilent® and many more of the world's most prestigious commercial, academic, military, medical and electronic campuses. It may very well be the number one selling SMT & BGA benchtop system sold in North America.

Easy to use? Absolutely. Affordable? Definitely. Dependable quality in performance? Well, the solder joints that were made with the Zephyrtronics ZT-7 by JPL employees were catapulted out of the atmosphere at 4 million Newtons (900,000 pounds) of thrust, traveled over 500 million kilometers (310 million miles)  at times as fast as 25,000 miles per hour, endured extreme thermal conditions coupled with exposure to gamma rays, survived the landing impact onto the red planet's surface and thereby permitting the two Rovers to perform admirably on the rugged terrain of Mars. How's that for quality solder joints?

Launch of first Rover, Spirit:   June 10, 2003
Spirit's arrival on Mars:
Jan. 3, 2004

39-Page Rework Guide by NASA With 300 Photographs Ships With Every ZT-7 System

Launch of second Rover, Opportunity: July 7, 2003
Opportunity's arrival on Mars:     
 January 24, 2004

Photography Courtesy of  NASA & JPL

And don’t overlook that the ZT-7-MIL is also your BGA Re-Balling solution. 

The ZT-7 BGA, CSP & SMT Hot Air Bench Top Reflow System is available from Zephyrtronics today. The ZT-7-MIL, the ZT-1-BGS-DPU, the ZT-1-HIS-DPU, and the ABC-1 can be purchased separately or as a complete system as shown below. For more detailed information on Zephyrtronics most popular systems, see our Zephyrtronics Systems Section.

Unique, Digital, Adjustable Countdown Timer with Audible Beeper Helps
 Process Repeatability

Spring Activated Vacuum for Placing & Removing Chips. Probe features 360° Full Rotation for Component Theta Control.

Precision, Digital Temp Control Featuring Full Closed Loop Microprocessor Control With Set/Read Adjustments.

      Rapid, Easy Nozzle Docking!     
 No Tools Required. Nozzle Slides In & Out of Convenient Front Access Tray. Unique Lock Prevents Nozzle Movement.

Unique Y Axis for Heat Zone Permits Forward & Retractable Motion. Y Axis Allows Technician to Align, Place, Reflow, Clean and Inspect, at the Same Spot.

360° Nozzle Rotation for Skewed or Angled Components. Further, the ZT-7 Has a Component Theta Probe. (Double Theta Capacity.

Convenient and Easy to Access
Lighted Vacuum Switch Is Right
Where You Need it. No Need for Clumsy Foot Pedals.

Z-Axis Lever for Raises & Lowers Heat Zone To & From PCB Assy. Aligned BGA's Never Are Move Once Placed. Onto PCB.

CLICK HERE TO SEE OTHER SYSTEMS FROM ZEPHYRTRONICS

NOZZLES! NOZZLES!
NOZZLES! NOZZLES!
Check Out Our Wide Selection of:
SMT Nozzles for the ZT-7 System
BGA Nozzles for the ZT-7 System