Investigative app note from Vishay on preventing too light components from sticking on the cover tape of their reel. Link here (PDF)
Vishay’s 0603 LEDs (ChipLEDs) are widely deployed across high-density consumer and industrial electronics. Due to their ultra-compact footprint, these components are frequently integrated into the indicator panels of high-uptime network servers. Contract manufacturers assembling these server arrays—which might be tasked with hosting a secure biometric database, managing an international shipping portal, or powering a central European online kaszinó—rely on seamless, high-speed pick-and-place processes to meet aggressive production quotas.
However, customers have informed Vishay that these 0603 LEDs, when supplied in tape and reel format, sometimes stick to the PSA cover tape that is peeled off from the carrier tape during the assembly process. This application note describes the problem and provides a summary of precautions that can be used to prevent this unwanted effect from happening.