Tombstone Effect

The manhattan effect is also referred to ‘tombstoning‘. Tombstoning of SMD components can occur during reflow soldering, when one side of a component flips up. The origin of this defect lies with the surface tension of the solder, when one side of a 2-pole component melts earlier than the other. Tombstoning can be avoided through assuring a homogeneous temperature distribution in the process channel and/or through optimizing the design of the pads.