I have a method im using and im not sure if it will burn out the chip

[electronicsdevil]

hello, i have a pencil blow touch and i am able to use tweezers to get a hold of each end of a memory module on a stick of DDR ram and use the blow tourch to heat up each side of the chip where the pins are. this process takes around 5-10 seconds and then i am able to remove the chip because the solder has melted.
after doing this i am unable to touch the chip as it will burn me, there is no cosmetic damge to the chip it just got hot when in-direct heat was melting the solder .

my question is: is the chip dead? if so what is the best way to de-solder a TSOP32 chip (memory module) on and off a board without a rework station. thank you for any help i recieve.

 

[DM51]

Welcome to CPF, :devil:.

I'm not sure how relevant this is to lights, but it sounds an intricate problem and I'll move it to MMM for you. I'm sure someone there will know how to tackle this.

 

[Th232]

I know it's been moved once, but given that this is an electronics question, I'd say it's better off over there?

A blowtorch is probably way hotter than the chip can handle, especially if you're subjecting it to that heat for 5-10 seconds.

A recent thread here might help:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=297292

 

[DM51]

I know it's been moved once, but given that this is an electronics question, I'd say it's better off over there?

Good point - I'll move it to Non-Flashlight Electronics.

 

[Brian10962001]

I've seen GPU's torch cooked to reseat their solder balls a couple times. I've personally heat seated several Xbox GPU's, I think you'll be ok as long as the ram looks physically intact. The only thing I've ever seen kill a RAM module is burnt off connector's.

 

[DIWdiver]

The standard practice in the industry is to gently heat the entire board (at least the area around the chip to be changed) to around 150 degrees C, then apply hot air to the chip until the solder melts. I don't know exactly what "hot" is, but it's definitely much lower than the heat generated by any flame.

The expensive and very fancy rework station we recently got at work takes around 5 minutes to change a chip. If you are getting one off the board in 5-10 seconds, that's way too hot. But if you don't damage the board, the only risk is to the to the chip. If you already know the chip is bad, so what!

The problem is when you place the new chip on the board. Overheating a chip can cause immediate failure, but it can also cause cracks in the packaging, which can let air contact the surface of the chip. This can cause the chip to fail in a week, a month, a year, or even longer.

So the bottom line is if you aren't damaging the board, it's okay to remove a bad chip with the torch, but when attaching a new chip, it's best to use a soldering iron or temperature controlled hot air gun (assuming you don't have access to a reflow oven, which would be even better).